The Dutch school year 2026-27 for parents: holidays by region, test weeks, report dates and the groep 8 timeline

Dutch schools run on a calendar Indian parents were never told about: three holiday regions, advisory dates that schools may move, two monitoring test rounds a year, and for groep 8 a fixed national timeline that decides secondary school. This page puts the whole 2026-27 year in one place so you can plan around it, with the government's published dates.

School holidays 2026-27 by region

The Netherlands is split into three holiday regions so that not everyone travels at once. Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Utrecht, Almere, Hoofddorp, The Hague and Rotterdam are in Midden. Eindhoven is in Zuid.

The summer, Christmas and May holidays are fixed by the ministry. The autumn and spring dates are advisory, and a school may move them, so the school guide (schoolgids) wins over this table. Many schools extend the May holiday by a second week, 1 to 9 May 2027; check yours before booking flights to India.

Two things Indian families get caught by. First, Dutch schools do not close for Diwali or Holi; an absence for a festival is a request to the head, and Dutch schools are strict about unauthorised leave outside the holidays, with fines possible for "luxeverzuim". Second, the summer holiday is six weeks, not the ten of an Indian summer, and it moves a fortnight depending on region.

When the monitoring tests fall

Most schools run the pupil monitoring tests (Cito Leerling in Beeld, IEP, or similar) twice a year:

• M tests, mid-year: usually late January to early February.
• E tests, end of year: usually late May to June.

The results come home on the report a few weeks later, as levels I to V and an ability score. We explain how to read them in Cito scores I to V. Groep 3 to 7 take both rounds. Groep 8 takes the doorstroomtoets instead of the mid-year round.

The rounds matter more than the report dates. Anything you change in your child's routine in October shows in the January tests; anything you change in March shows in June. For groep 7 that is the whole game, because the groep 7 results are the main evidence for the school advice.

Reports and parent meetings

Most Dutch primary schools give two or three reports a year, typically in November or February and in June or July, with a ten-minute parent meeting (oudergesprek, sometimes with the child present) after each. The February report usually carries the January monitoring results. Ask for the ability scores and the growth line, not only the levels; schools have them and will show them if asked.

The groep 8 timeline, 2026-27

These dates are national and fixed.

Note the spring holiday: Zuid schools are off 13 to 21 February, inside the test window, so Eindhoven schools test earlier in the window. What the test measures and how the advice is built is in Doorstroomtoets 2027, and what the three advice levels mean is in VWO, HAVO or VMBO explained.

Other dates worth knowing

• Kangaroo maths competition (W4 Kangoeroe): usually the third week of March, in participating schools from groep 3 up. Ask in September whether the school takes part.
• Koningsdag, 27 April 2027, and Bevrijdingsdag, 5 May 2027, fall inside or next to the May holiday.
• Studiedagen (staff training days): five to eight scattered days when the school is closed. They are in the school guide and catch every new family at least once.
• Schoolreisje and kamp: the day trip and, in groep 8, the two or three day camp, usually in May or June.

When to start extra support so it counts

Working back from the dates above:

Groep 7, September to December 2026. The window that matters most. Weekly maths at the 1S level in the Dutch styles, and Dutch reading practice, so the January 2027 M tests already show movement. This is where families who want a VWO advice need to be.

Groep 7, February to May 2027. Second window, aimed at the June E tests, which are the last full results before the advice is formed.

Groep 8, September 2026 to January 2027. For this year's groep 8 children the advice is being written now. Support in this window is about the doorstroomtoets raising a cautious advice, and about arriving in the brugklas ahead.

Groep 3 to 6, any time. No dates to beat. The best moment is the first report that says "doing fine" for a child who was ahead in India, which is the mechanism we explain in my child was ahead in India and is now average here.

We keep this page updated each September with the new year's dates. If you want a plan that fits your child's groep and the dates above, the placement demo is free and takes 30 minutes.

Questions parents ask

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