School holidays change in Russia every year. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Education annually adjusts the schedule of classes in accordance with holidays and weekends, which change from year to year. Agree that it is not logical to set the beginning of the holidays on such days.
Educational institutions have the right to draw up their own schedule, and decide on what date to start and end the educational process. Thus, even if schools have the same programs, they may have a different academic calendar.
The Ministry usually makes amendments to the educational process six months before the start of the academic year, that is, the information will become finally known sometime in March 2017. However, focusing on the experience of past years, and knowing what days public holidays fall on, it is possible to roughly calculate what date certain holidays will begin for schoolchildren.
As you know, at present in Russia, the educational process in schools is carried out in quarters and trimesters, so the weekend schedule will be different.
School holidays when studying in quarters
Autumn weekends usually run from late October to early November. The date of the end of the autumn holidays depends on the National Unity Day. In 2017, the fourth of November will fall on a Saturday, which means that the day off will be moved to 11/06/17 - Monday.
Thus, the autumn holidays are expected to take place from October 28 to November 6 inclusive.
Winter holidays usually run from the end of December to the second decade of January. New Year holidays are the same for all forms of education. The beginning of studies falls on the first working day after the New Year holidays. Most often it is the tenth of January.
First graders have extra winter holidays. This is due to the fact that young children need time to get used to the usual stresses at school.
Spring break is at the end of March and beginning of April. At this time, the calendar does not contain public holidays, so what date the holiday starts and ends depends on what days the weekend is.
- Rest in the spring should be expected from March 26 to April 1.
- Weekends in Russia in the summer traditionally occupy all the summer months.
- Summer vacation will begin on June 1 and will last until August 31.
School holidays when studying in trimesters
For those studying at school according to the trimester system, the situation is similar to the previous one. The Ministry of Education in Russia has not yet prepared a corresponding order. In this case, we will also try to calculate the schedule of the educational process, looking at the calendar for 2017-2018. This is even easier to do, since in this type of school they use the 5 + 1 principle when teaching. Simply put, they study for five weeks, then rest for a week. That is, the process of obtaining knowledge has a clearly defined cyclical nature.
After 35 days of training comes a seven-day rest, and this is repeated throughout the school year. The exception is the New Year holidays. In trimester educational institutions, schoolchildren have the same days off as in a regular school. So, let's consider specifically how many days you have to rest in such establishments.
Autumn holidays include two periods:
| first | 09.10.17 – 15.10.17 |
| second | 20.11.17 – 26.11.17 |
The New Year holidays, as noted above, are identical with similar weekends in a regular school, so how many days they last, the question does not arise.
Winter holidays also consist of two periods and look like this:
| first | 25.12.17 – 08.01.18 |
| second | 19.02.18 – 25.02.18 |
In the spring-summer period, the rest of students will look like this:
- Spring break will be from 04/09/18 to 04/15/18.
- The longest summer weekend traditionally starts on 06/01/18 and ends on 08/31/18.
Existing deviations from the norm
Communicating with each other, schoolchildren from different cities of Russia have noticed more than once that holidays, for example, in Moscow do not coincide with their rest. This can happen for many reasons:
- Despite the fact that all educational institutions are subordinate to one department, the learning process can be conducted by different methods, which means that the pace of mastering the material by students in different schools can be different.
- In addition, various force majeure situations may affect the start and end time of the weekend. So, for Siberian students, the situation seems quite normal when school classes are canceled due to severe frosts. Local departments of education can adjust the educational process in educational institutions under their jurisdiction.
Recently, we have witnessed the cancellation of classes in schools in the Far East due to floods. Situations are not uncommon when the educational process is disrupted due to the cancellation of classes at school due to quarantine measures. Moreover, classes can be canceled, both in individual classes and in the entire school.
In such circumstances, the school administration is doing everything to keep the pace of development of the school curriculum. If there are several such extreme days in the school year, then there is a chance to catch up with the school course. However, if the force majeure drags on and lasts a week or more, then the school authorities are forced to take unpopular measures and reduce or shift school holidays.
It is no secret that the formation of a child should take place gradually, with a minimum amount of negative stress. In order to reduce the pressure of responsibility on schoolchildren and help them recover for further study, norms have been established that determine how much time a child should study and how much to rest. On the eve of the new school year, our article will tell you about when they begin and end holidays at school in 2017–2018 academic year in Russia.
Who sets school holidays?
On the basis of studies conducted by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, recommendations were formed that allow the average Russian student to fully learn and develop in the educational process. Based on these recommendations, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation annually forms the recommended terms of study holidays for the entire academic year. The vacation schedule proposed by officials is recommended, but not final, because the educational institution itself becomes the last authority that determines the actual timing of school classes. This is done in order to exclude all kinds of force majeure situations.
The academic year throughout Russia is approximately the same. It starts on September 1 and lasts until the last Friday of May. However, our country is huge and it is simply unrealistic to draw up a curriculum that would be universal for all regions. Based on this logic, it was decided to leave the right to set vacation periods for the management of each educational institution separately. However, parents should be aware that when developing the curriculum for 2017-2018, their opinions may also be taken into account. The Parents' Committee may propose its own version of the terms of the school year and holidays, with which the school management is obliged to reckon with the law. But the final decision is still made by the leadership of the educational institution.
Schedule and dates of school holidays 2017–2018
Finally, all vacation dates in each educational institution in Russia will be known only by the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year, but preliminary information already now allows us to assume which days the school holidays of the next academic year will most likely take place. In addition, when forming school holidays, one should take into account the form of education in each educational institution separately. There are two such forms: quarters and trimesters.
Important! All the terms and vacation schedules indicated below are approximate, which means that specifically at your school, gymnasium or lyceum, the vacation periods may differ from those given below.
Autumn holidays: training in quarters: from October 30 to November 6; training in trimesters: from October 2 to 8 and from November 13 to 19.
Winter holidays (New Year's): in this case, the form of education practically does not play a role, because children's winter holidays are formed so that they coincide with the rest period for adults in honor of New Year's (tentatively from December 28 to January 10).
Spring break: quarterly training: from March 22–24 to April 1; training by trimesters: most likely from April 9 to April 16.
Summer holidays: both forms of study imply the same terms for the end of the academic year: from May 25-28 to August 31.
Holidays for first graders
Children who come to school in the first grade are most vulnerable to stressful situations that may appear in an unfamiliar school environment. For this reason, additional holidays are held for first-graders, which most often fall at the end of February (in 2018 from February 19 to February 26). 
It is during this period that children often feel more tired, more often get sick. To avoid such phenomena, school management has the right to organize additional rest for first graders, which, however, can also be canceled or have different start and end dates - it all depends on the decision of the school management.
See also: for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The period of school holidays for the 2017-2018 academic year is established by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia based on the type of schoolchildren's education. The traditional type of training is 4 quarters with rest breaks. Modular type - training for 5 weeks with a rest of 1 week. Winter holidays are the same for all students.
Autumn vacation
The last week of October and the first week of November are the most long-awaited days for schoolchildren. It is difficult for children who have managed to wean themselves from the school regime to return to school and they dream of rest.
When they pass
The period of autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year:
- traditional type training - 10/29/2017-11/06/2017;
- modular type training - 01.10.2017-08.10.2017 and 05.11.2017-12.11.2017.
Things to do
Autumn is the time of leaf fall and the last warm days. Make the most of this time:
- walk through the autumn forest;
- arrange a children's party in the fresh air;
- watch interesting films;
- learn something new, like scrapbooking;
- repeat what you have learned.
The winter vacation
Half of the school year is over and it's time for winter holidays. The expectation of a New Year's miracle and a break in studies delight schoolchildren.
When they pass
Winter holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year will last from 12/31/2017 to 01/10/2018.
First-graders will have one more week of rest from 02/18/2018 to 02/25/2018.
Things to do
If it's not very cold, find something to do outside, or have fun at home:
- make a snowman;
- go snowboarding, skating or skiing;
- visit the tourist base;
- walk through the winter grove;
- go to the New Year's party;
- visit the theater, museum, exhibitions;
- sum up the year and make plans for the next year;
- get ready to study.
Spring break
Under the sound of drops and the bright sun, schoolchildren find it increasingly difficult to study, they want to go outside, enjoy the warmth and the approaching summer.
When they pass
Spring Break 2018:
- traditional type training - 04/01/2018-04/08/2018;
- modular type training - 08.04.2018-15.04.2018.
Things to do
Spring break is a respite before the upcoming tests and exams for schoolchildren. It is important to gain strength and prepare.
Trimester at school 2017-2018 is a relatively new form of organization of study time, rather unaccustomed to our children.
The word "trimester" comes from the Latin "trimestris", or "three months". It is almost universally used in schools in England and, partially, in the USA and the Russian Federation.
Unlike the usual one, with such a system, all the time of study is distributed evenly, that is, it is divided into equal parts, and the intervals between study and rest are almost the same. The key argument "for" the use of trimesters, according to experts, is that such an organization of the educational process helps to properly distribute the load on schoolchildren, without causing overwork even among elementary school students.
In the trimester system of education, there are only six training periods - each of the trimesters is divided into two parts, and six periods of rest - holidays. The duration of each trimester is five or six weeks, the duration of the holidays is a week, with the exception of the two-week New Year and three-month summer holidays.
Unlike the usual one, with such a system, all the time of study is distributed evenly, that is, it is divided into equal parts, and the intervals between study and rest are almost the same. According to experts, such an organization of the educational process helps to properly distribute the load on schoolchildren, without causing overwork even among elementary school students.
In the trimester system of education, there are only six training periods - trimesters, and six periods of rest - holidays. The duration of each trimester is five or six weeks, the duration of the holidays is a week, with the exception of the two-week New Year and three-month summer holidays.
Perhaps there is no such student who does not look forward to the holidays. Both excellent students and losers with the same enthusiasm count the days until the start of the long-awaited vacation. And, for sure, most students start counting literally from the very first days of school, even though it has become fashionable to study well now. After all, it is to improve academic performance that the transition from quarters to trimesters is intended. To date, the preliminary schedule of school holidays for trimesters for the 2017-2018 academic year is as follows: five (sometimes six) weeks of classes alternate with a week of rest.
- 1st trimester / autumn holidays - from October 7 to October 15, 2017 inclusive;
- 2nd trimester / autumn holidays Stage 2 - from November 18 to November 26, 2017 inclusive;
- 3rd trimester / winter holidays - from December 30, 2017 to January 9, 2018 inclusive;
- 4th trimester / winter holidays Stage 2 - from February 17 to February 25, 2018 (sometimes these holidays are called spring holidays);
- 5th trimester / spring break - from April 7 to April 15, 2018 inclusive;
- 6th trimester / summer vacation - from June 1 to August 31 inclusive.
Calendar for convenience:
As you can see, in the modern system of education, each trimester ends with a short rest. However, when planning vacations for 2017-2018, it is worth remembering that rest time in schools with a trimester system of education practically does not coincide with vacations in a regular, quarterly system. The only exception was the traditional New Year holidays - the Ministry of Education recommends taking a day off the last week before and the first week after the New Year.
The situation is similar with long summer holidays - by order of the relevant department, absolutely all schoolchildren have a rest during this period, regardless of the education system.
Perhaps, by the 2018-2019 academic year, norms will already be introduced that control the organization of students' rest at uniform time intervals, which is already being actively discussed in the Government.
Possible changes
Those who plan holidays in advance should remember that the dates of the trimester holidays given in the article for the 2017-2018 academic year are approximate. The fact is that the Ministry of Education determines only the total duration of study time and rest time, plus gives recommendations on the start and end dates of vacations. For example, school holidays for students must necessarily begin at the beginning of the working week, that is, on Monday.
The school, however, retains the right to independently set vacation time - of course, within the framework of the recommendations of the ministry. So children of different schools and different regions have a rest at different times - somewhere the beginning of the holidays had to be “moved” due to severe frosts or spring floods, somewhere, on the contrary, everything goes according to plan. So the exact, final dates for the start and end of the school holidays for the trimesters for the 2017-2018 academic year are determined by the school leadership. 
The Ministry of Education reserves the right for the educational institution to determine the form of organization of study time on its own, and the system of education - quarterly or trimester - is prescribed in the Charter of each school. Thus, the government department gives the opportunity to the students themselves and their parents to choose how they prefer to study - with the distribution of the load by quarters or trimesters. The school administration and the parent committee can make changes to the educational process.
The vacation schedule varies slightly from year to year, “sliding” along the calendar. And this causes inconvenience for parents who prefer to plan their lives ahead of time - after all, in order to think over a travel route or other options for a family vacation, you need to know in advance the schedule of school holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year. When will the children be free from school?
According to a long tradition, the autumn holidays in schools are held in the first week of November. In Soviet times, they were "combined" with the celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution, but now they fall on National Unity Day, celebrated on November 4th. In 2017, the holiday will be a Saturday, and due to the postponement of the holiday to Monday, November 6, adults will have a three-day mini-vacation. For schoolchildren, these days, of course, will also be "time off" - an additional day of rest will be "added" to the usual weekly duration of the November holidays.
Autumn holidays at school in November 2017: from what date
In most Russian schools, the autumn holidays - 2017 will be held according to the following schedule:
the duration of the autumn school holidays in 2017 is 8-9 days;
the official start of the autumn school holidays in 2017 is October 30 (Monday) or the previous Sunday;
the last day of rest of the autumn school holidays in 2017 is October 6 (Monday) or October 7 (Tuesday).
School holidays schedule for 2017-2018 academic year. Holidays at school 2017-2018 academic year: autumn, winter, spring
Autumn holidays 2017- from October 29 to November 6, 2017. For those who study in trimesters, autumn will give a short rest twice: from October 2 to October 8 and from November 13 to November 19, 2017.
New Year holidays we have in common: all schoolchildren have a rest for two weeks, regardless of whether they study in quarters or trimesters. from December 31, 2017 to January 10, 2018, students will be completely free.
Additional vacations - February 18 - February 25 - are provided for students in grade 1, and in some cases for grades 2-4, in agreement with the local governing bodies. With a modular training mode, the school vacation schedule for 2017-2018 is somewhat different from the traditional one.
Vacation periods: October 1 - October 8, 2017, November 5 - November 12, 2017, December 31 - January 10, 2018, February 18 - February 25, 2018, April 8 - April 15, 2018
The end of the school year in the "traditional" school is scheduled for May 23 (or May 26, if there were additional holidays during the year). With a modular education system, children will go on summer vacation a little later, on May 31.
Autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year when studying in quarters (Moscow and regions of the Russian Federation)
For students in quarters in Moscow and other regions of Russia, the autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year will be held from Monday October 30 to Monday November 6, 2017 inclusive. In fact, the rest will begin on Saturday, October 28 (with a five-day training system). Students will return to class on Tuesday, November 7th.
November 6 will be an additional day off for the week of holidays. This is due to the fact that on Saturday, November 4, National Unity Day is celebrated. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, weekends in honor of public holidays that fall on Saturday or Sunday are transferred to the next business day. In 2017, this is Monday November 6th.
Autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year when studying in trimesters (Moscow)
For students in trimesters in Moscow, the autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year will last 2 periods:
- from Monday October 2 to Sunday October 8, 2017 (in fact, the rest will begin from Saturday September 30 - with a five-day training system);
- from Monday 6 November to Sunday 12 November 2017 (actually vacation will start from Saturday 4 November).
Autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year when studying in trimesters (regions of the Russian Federation)
For students in trimesters in the regions of Russia (all except Moscow), the autumn holidays in the 2017-2018 academic year will last 2 periods:
- from Monday, October 9 to Sunday, October 15, 2017 (in fact, the rest will begin from Saturday, October 7 - with a five-day training system);
- from Monday November 20 to Sunday November 26, 2017 (in fact, the rest will begin from Saturday November 18 - with a five-day training system).
