Guide · Term dates
Belgrade school term dates, 2026/27
When the school year starts and finishes at each Belgrade international school, what the Serbian state calendar says, and which schools have published nothing at all.
Updated September 2026 · schools' own pages read 7 September 2026
Belgrade's schools nearly all start in the same week and finish more than five weeks apart. Every school that publishes a first day, and both state calendars, put it on 31 August or 1 September 2026. The last day runs from 28 May 2027, for a state eighth-year whose classes stop before the final exam, through 11 June for state primary, 18 June for state secondary, 25 June at the British International School and 30 June at the École française, to 2 July at the Deutsche Schule. The autumn breaks do not line up either: the state calendar and Ruđer Bošković break in November, the Deutsche Schule and PRIMA in the third week of October, the British International School in the last week. Two children at two Belgrade schools can easily have different weeks off — worth knowing before you book anything.
The first and last day, where it is published
| First day | Last day | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Serbian state primary (osnovna škola) | Tue 1 September 2026 | Fri 11 June 2027 | Grade 8 finishes earlier, on 28 May 2027 |
| Serbian state secondary (srednja škola) | Tue 1 September 2026 | Fri 18 June 2027 | Fourth-year gimnazija finishes on 21 May 2027 |
| Ruđer Bošković, primary | 1 September 2026 | 11 June 2027 | End-of-year ceremony 12 June; Grade 9 finishes 28 May |
| Ruđer Bošković, high school | 1 September 2026 | 18 June 2027 | Year IV finishes 21 May; IB Diploma exams 26 April – 18 May |
| British International School | 31 August 2026 | 25 June 2027 | Lessons finish at 12pm on the last day. 176 school days |
| Deutsche Schule Belgrad | 31 August 2026 | 2 July 2027 | Reports handed out on the last day |
| École française de Belgrade | not published | 30 June 2027 | 31 August is the teachers' pre-term day, not the pupils' first day |
| PRIMA International School | 31 August 2026 | not readable | The day is printed as “18”; its month could not be read off the PDF |
| EDUCA International School | no dates published | no dates published | Publishes a rule instead: see below |
Read 7 September 2026 from each school's own calendar and from the Ministry of Education's rulebooks for 2026/27: primary and secondary. The British International School's calendar carries the line “DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE” and the Deutsche Schule's says “Änderungen sind vorbehalten”. Confirm with the school before booking travel.
Where the breaks fall
| Autumn / half-term | Winter | February | Spring | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serbian state calendar | 11–13 November 2026 | 31 December 2026 – 15 January 2027 (primary); 4–15 January 2027 (secondary) | 15–19 February 2027 | 30 April – 4 May 2027 |
| Ruđer Bošković | 9–13 November 2026 | 31 December – 15 January | 15–19 February 2027 | 26 April – 3 May 2027 |
| British International School | 26–30 October 2026 | 21 December 2026 – 8 January 2027 | 15–16 February 2027 (Statehood Day) | Spring term ends before Western Easter; summer term begins 12 April 2027 |
| Deutsche Schule Belgrad | 19–23 October 2026 | 20 December 2026 – 8 January 2027 | 15–16 February 2027; winter break 8–12 March 2027 | 26 April – 7 May 2027 |
| PRIMA International School | 19–23 October 2026 | 21 December 2026 – 8 January 2027 | not readable | not readable |
Only the five calendars that could be read are in this table. The Deutsche Schule publishes two documents that disagree about whether the Christmas break starts on the 20th or the 21st of December; the dates above are from the more recent and more detailed of the two, its Terminübersicht. Ruđer Bošković's own PDF prints the winter break as “31 December 2025 – 15 January 2027”; the year 2025 is a typo in the source, so the years are left off above rather than corrected silently.
The schools that have not told anyone
Four schools publish a calendar for this year that a reader cannot actually read from outside the school:
- The International School of Belgrade links a PDF headed “ISB 2026/27 Approved Calendar” from its calendar page, plus a live community calendar. Neither the PDF nor the calendar returns its dates as text to an automated reader, so this guide has no ISB dates. Open the page yourself — the calendar is there, and ISB is the one Belgrade school known to run an August-to-June year on three terms rather than following the Serbian one.
- Westbridge International School publishes a page headed “Calendar 2026/27” whose calendar is a picture. The PDF behind it contains no text at all.
- Chartwell International School — the school's whole website refuses automated requests, so we could neither confirm nor rule out a published calendar.
- Brook Hill International School has a calendar page with a separate calendar embedded for the primary and the secondary school. Both are hosted elsewhere and refuse to load outside the page. Brook Hill's FAQ says only that “the academic year runs September to June”.
Six more publish no 2026/27 calendar at all: Green School by Chartwell (no calendar page), International School Savremena (three Google Calendar widgets, no dates as text), Obrazovni sistem Crnjanski (its published calendar stops at 31 August 2026), IPS (the most recent is 2025/26), London Gates and the Prva ruska škola “Valentina Tereškova”. Deseta gimnazija “Mihajlo Pupin” publishes none because it does not need to: as a state school it runs on the Ministry's calendar above. The Russian Embassy school and Young Sparrows could not be read at all.
EDUCA is the interesting exception. It publishes no dates but does publish the rule it sets them by: the year “begins on the Monday closest to 1st September and concludes on the Friday nearest to 20th June”, in three terms, with a week's half-term in the first two and two-week winter and spring breaks. That is more useful than a calendar for a family planning two years ahead, and no other school here does it.
Why next year's dates do not exist yet
The Serbian calendar for a school year is not a forecast that firms up gradually — it does not legally exist until the Minister prescribes it. Article 28 of the Law on the Foundations of the Education System requires that to happen by 1 June for the following year. So dates for 2027/28 published anywhere before June 2027 are somebody's guess, including ours if we ever print one.
The practical consequences for a family:
- Do not assume siblings at different schools share a half-term. In 2026/27 the October and November breaks fall in three different weeks across the five published calendars.
- The end of the year is the expensive difference. A family flying out on the Serbian primary calendar leaves on 11 June; the same family at the Deutsche Schule leaves on 2 July. That is three weeks of flight prices and three weeks of summer.
- Ask for the calendar before you accept a place, not after. Four Belgrade schools publish one you cannot read from outside, and six publish none — which means the dates exist internally and are handed out on enrolment.
Questions families ask
When does the school year start in Belgrade in 2026?
Tuesday 1 September 2026 for Serbian state schools, primary and secondary alike, under the Ministry of Education's calendar. Of the international schools that publish dates, Ruđer Bošković also starts on 1 September, while the British International School, the Deutsche Schule and PRIMA all start a day earlier, on Monday 31 August 2026.
When does the school year end in Belgrade in 2027?
It depends on the school, and the spread is more than five weeks. Serbian state primary ends on 11 June 2027 and state secondary on 18 June. Among the international schools that publish dates: Ruđer Bošković's high school ends 18 June, the British International School 25 June, the École française 30 June and the Deutsche Schule 2 July 2027.
Does the International School of Belgrade follow the Serbian calendar?
No. ISB runs an August-to-June year in three terms rather than the two Serbian semesters, so it starts before 1 September. ISB does publish an approved 2026/27 calendar on its own site, but not in a form this guide can read, so we do not reproduce its dates — open the school's calendar page for them.
When are the school holidays in Serbia in 2026/27?
For state schools: an autumn break on 11–13 November 2026, a winter break from 31 December to 15 January for primary and 4 to 15 January for secondary, the Sretenje break on 15–19 February 2027, and a spring break from 30 April to 4 May 2027. International schools set their own, and the five that publish them do not agree with each other.
Why do Belgrade international schools have different holidays?
Because only the state calendar is prescribed by law. A private school registered in Serbia sets its own year, and most of them follow the calendar of the system they teach — the Deutsche Schule takes a German-style October break, the British International School an English-style half-term at the end of October, and the École française runs to the end of June like a French school.
When will the 2027/28 dates be published?
Not before June 2027. Serbian law requires the Minister to prescribe the following year's calendar by 1 June, and most schools publish theirs during the summer that precedes the year. Anything circulating earlier is an estimate.