School Day Calculator
How long the school year is, how long each break is, and when the year opens and closes. Counted from 128 boards' own 2026-2027 calendars, not from a rule of thumb.
How many days are in the school year?
177 to 187 days of class
Boards that print an instructional-day count publish between 177 and 187 days. That figure already has the weekends, statutory holidays, breaks and PA days taken out of it, which is why it is so much smaller than the 42 weeks the year spans.
How many days is winter break?
12 to 16 days off
Almost every board closes for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. The number that matters is the run of days off, not the dates printed: a break printed as Dec 21 to Jan 1 carries the weekends either side with it.
How many days is March Break?
7 to 16 days off
Nothing like as standard as winter: 7 days off in the shortest province and 16 in the longest, because some take one week and some take two. This is the one worth checking rather than assuming, and boards inside a province differ too. A week out either way is a holiday booked on the wrong days.
How many days is summer break?
63 to 75 days estimate
An estimate, and the only answer on this page that is. Summer ends in the 2027-2028 school year, whose calendars are not published yet. This counts from each province’s last day to where its next opening falls against Labour Day, which is the pattern every province holds to.
The school year, province by province
Every province's year drawn on the same axis, so the differences are visible rather than tabulated. Each bar runs from the day most of that province's boards open to the day most of them close, with the two long breaks cut out of it.
The numbers behind the picture
| Province | First day | Last day | Winter break | Spring break | Summer | Boards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon | Aug 24 | Jun 11 | 16 days | 16 days | ~72 days | 3 |
| Nunavut | Sep 1 | Jun 18 | 16 days | - | ~73 days | 2 |
| Nova Scotia | Sep 3 | Jun 30 | 16 days | 9 days | ~63 days | 8 |
| Ontario | Sep 8 | Jun 29 | 16 days | 9 days | ~69 days | 70 |
| British Columbia | Sep 8 | Jun 29 | 16 days | 13 days | ~69 days | 41 |
| Prince Edward Island | Sep 8 | Jun 25 | - | 7 days | ~73 days | 2 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Sep 9 | Jun 24 | 12 days | 10 days | ~75 days | 2 |
First and last day are the dates most of that province's boards share; a board that differs shows its own on its calculator. Break lengths are the run of days off, weekends either side included. A dash means the calendars we hold for that province do not name that break. Summer is estimated, as explained above.
Calculators by province
Pick your own board and the numbers come from its calendar rather than its province's average.
How these are counted
From the board's own calendar Every date is read from the calendar the board published, not from a provincial rule. Where a board prints its own instructional-day count, that is the number used.
Days off, not printed dates A break printed Monday to Friday is nine days off once the weekends either side are counted, and nine is what a family plans around.
Estimates are labelled Only summer is estimated, because it ends in a year nobody has published yet. Every other figure on this page is read from a calendar.
Not counted yet
A province gets a calculator once its boards' calendars are on the site. These have their boards listed and their calendars still to come.
Alberta 63 boards
Manitoba 38 boards
New Brunswick 7 boards
Northwest Territories 8 boards
Quebec 72 boards
Saskatchewan 27 boards