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Hong Kong School Calendar

There are actually several different Hong Kong School Calendars depending on what type of school we are talking about.  Generally speaking though they can be divided into two main categories; the "local" Chinese speaking schools, which includes government run schools, and the "international" English speaking schools.

Local School calendar

Each school actually makes their own decisions about the exact calendar they are to use, when they will have holidays and breaks etc.  However they do have to follow a strict set of guidelines from the Education Bureau of Hong Kong and this does limit flexibility.  The exact rules are complex but boil down to there must be 190 days of teaching, 3 days of teacher training, and all public holidays must be observed.  Add to this the convention that school starts on the 1st of September and ultimately all schools end up with extremely similar timetables.

Here is an example for the 2011/2022 academic year:

International School calendar

There is much more flexibility for the international schools in Hong Kong and they tend to each have their own idea, blending their "home country" style together with the demands of HK public holidays and the unique requirements of expatriate parents.

Some move their summer holidays earlier in the year by a week or two as many parents will be going "home" to another country and wishing to get cheaper airtickets are likely to take their kids out of school early anyway.

A good example is the English Schools Foundation (ESF) which publish their calendar here:

http://www.esf.edu.hk/calendar-date

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