Families who locked in flights or hotels around a mid-October school break may need to check their dates again.
A number of private schools across Dubai recently notified parents that this year's half-term has been moved forward by a week. The new dates were communicated as pupils returned to school to start the 2026-27 academic year.
New dates
For those schools making the change, the October half-term break will now run from Monday, October 12 to Friday, October 16, giving the opportunity to take a nine-day holiday including both weekends.
Many schools had originally given October 19 to October 23 as half-term dates before revising them. Dove Green Private School, Greenfield International School, Jumeirah Primary School and Dubai British School are among those that have written to parents to confirm the update. In a notification seen by The National, one Dubai school told parents: “We have been informed that the October half-term break will take place from Monday 12 to 16 for all schools. The school calendar will be updated accordingly.” The school apologised for any inconvenience to families.
Why the change
The change is not arbitrary. The Ministry of Education in February announced a new three-year academic calendar for public and private schools, running until 2029, which fixed the first midterm break at October 12 to October 16.
Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority, responsible for regulating private schools in the emirate, has adopted the ministry's calendar. Instead of adhering to earlier schedules, schools are now adopting unified calendars and revising half-term dates following the ministry's decision.
Schools using the ministry's curriculum must follow its national calendar. Private schools outside the Ministry of Education curriculum can apply for approval to split their midterm break between October and February instead, as long as the combined total remains at or below five school days.
Schools in Sharjah follow the emirate's own regulator. Schools teaching Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi curriculums typically follow a different academic year and are not part of this change.
Schools design their calendars based on their specific regulatory frameworks- whether Ministry of Education, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, emirate-level or curriculum-specific. This explains why holiday dates differ between schools and why parents should verify their school’s calendar instead of assuming a uniform UAE holiday schedule.
UAE school calendar
The first term began on Monday, August 31, according to the Ministry of Education school calendar. The term will last 13 weeks, comprising 67 teaching days.
Schools will have a midweek break at the start of December for Eid Al Etihad or UAE National Day. According to the Cabinet decision, the holiday falls on December 2 to December 3 and is celebrated in schools and the public and private sectors.
Schools will take winter break from Monday, December 14 to Sunday, January 3, 2027. For most students, the last school day before the break is Friday, December 11. Classes resume on January 4.
According to the Ministry of Education calendar, the winter break has been reduced by a week. In the 2025-26 academic year, the winter break ran for four weeks from December 8 to January 4, but over the next three years it will run for only three weeks.
Most schools will also have spring break from Monday, April 5 to Friday, April 11, 2027. As with half-term, schools outside the unified calendar may set different winter and end-of-year dates. The academic year will end on July 2, 2027.
