School Years

The schedules adopted vary widely. In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn and ends during the following spring or summer. The summer may or may not be part of the term system. Semester, trimester and quarter are all synonyms for an academic term , which refer to terms of specific periods as described below: In most of Australia, the primary and secondary school year lasts about 200 days, from late January or early February to early or mid-December, and is split into four terms: Terms 4 & 1 and 2 & 3 are respectively usually deemed 'summer' and 'winter' respectively for purposes of sports participation and uniform standards. Australian states and territories vary their approach to Easter when determining the dates for the holiday at the end of Term 1. The exact dates vary from year to year, as well as between states, and for public and private school. In Tasmania until and including 2012, the school year was split into three terms, the first one being the longest and including an extended Easter holiday . However, in 2013 Tasmania introduced a four-term year, to conform to the rest of the country. In the year 2000, due to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the state of New South Wales extended the break after Term 3 to three weeks. Most Australian universities have two semesters a year, but Bond University, Deakin University, CQUniversity, Griffith University, the University of New South Wales and the University of Canberra have three trimesters. Many universities offer an optional short summer semester. The Austrian school year for primary and secondary schools is split into two terms, the first one starts on the first Monday in September in the states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland and on the second Monday of September in Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The first term ends in Vienna and Lower Austria on the first Friday of February, in Burgenland, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on the second Friday of February and in Upper Austria and Styria on the third Friday of February. There is a one-week break between the two terms. In the second term there are the Easter holidays, the Mayday Holiday on May 1 and the long weekends of Pentecost, Ascension and Corpus Christi. The school year ends in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland on the last Friday of June, in Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on the first Friday in July. The Barbadian school year is fashioned after the British system, and as such, it follows a scheduling with three terms per school year. The long school holiday period is 9 to 10 weeks from the end of June until the first week of September. In Brazil, due to the Law of Directives and Bases of Brazilian Education, the academic year must have 200 days, both at schools and at universities.