Children from 5 to 16 years old are obliged to attend school. You are not allowed to take your child on holiday outside the school holidays.
In the middle of the holiday period, it may also be time to browse through the holiday calendar for next school year. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) provides advice dates for the spring and autumn holidays. The school may deviate from this and in almost all cases you can read in the school guide when the holidays of a school are.
holidays outside school holidays
Children from 5 to 16 years old are obliged to attend school. They have to go to school to prepare for society and the labor market. You are not allowed to take your child on holiday outside the school holidays. You can be fined if you do this. If you cannot leave during the school holidays because of your work, you can request permission to go on holiday outside the school holidays.
Sometimes you cannot go on holiday with your family during any school holidays during the school year because of your work. This must be due to the specific nature of your profession. For example because you have seasonal work, for example in fruit growing or catering. Or have to deal with peak traffic during school holidays or as a self-employed person miss a large part of your income if you are away during the school holidays.
special events
A child can also be released during special events. For example at a funeral or wedding. You must request permission for this. You can do this with the director of the school. For special events you can ask for more than 10 days off. You must ask permission from the compulsory education officer of the municipality. He checks whether children go to school.
classification and regions
The Netherlands has 3 regions to spread out the school holidays. These are the regions of North, Central and South. The holiday spread reduces the holiday crowds during the school holidays.
Region Noord includes Drenthe, Flevoland (except Zeewolde), Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, North Holland, Overijssel and Utrecht (Eemnes and what used to be the municipality of Abcoude).
The region Middle includes Zeewolde, Aalten, Apeldoorn, Barneveld, Berkelland, Bronckhorst, Brummen, Buren, Culemborg, Doetinchem, Ede, Elburg, Epe, Ermelo, Harderwijk, Heerde, Lochem, Montferland (except what used to be the municipality of Didam), Neder-Betuwe (except which used to be the municipality of Dodewaard), Nijkerk, Nunspeet, Oldebroek, East Gelre, Oude IJsselstreek, Putten, Scherpenzeel, Tiel, Voorst, Wageningen, West Betuwe, Winterswijk, Zutphen, North Brabant, Altena (except the centers of Hank and Dussen) , Utrecht (except Eemnes and what used to be the municipality of Abcoude) and South Holland.
The region South includes Gelderland (Arnhem, Berg en Dal, Beuningen, Doesburg, Druten, Duiven, Heumen, Neder-Betuwe (only what used to be the municipality of Dodewaard), Lingewaard, Maasdriel, Montferland (only what used to be the municipality of Didam), Nijmegen, Overbetuwe, Renkum , Rheden, Rozendaal, Rijnwaarden, Westervoort, West Maas and Waal, Wijchen, Zaltbommel and Zevenaar), Limburg, North Brabant (except Woudrichem and the cores of Sleeuwijk, Nieuwendijk and Werkendam in the municipality of Altena) and Zeeland.
