School holidays to be shifted for Brisbane 2032 Games

The Queensland school calendar will be amended to ensure students are on holidays during the Games to reduce demand on public transport infrastructure.

The 2032 Olympic Games will be held between July 23 and August 8 that year, about a month after the traditional timing of Queensland’s winter school holidays.

A spokeswoman for the State Development and Infrastructure Department, which has oversight of Games preparation, confirmed a change to the school calendar was on the cards.

Queensland schools are expected to close during the Olympic Games in 2032.Credit: Jono Searle/Getty Images

But she said details were yet to be determined.

“The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games dates were selected following a consideration of global sports calendars, weather conditions and scheduled Australian school holiday periods,” the spokeswoman said.

“The Queensland school calendar will require some adjustment to accommodate the dates for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and will be subject to consultation with stakeholders.”

This year’s winter school holidays were held between June 22 and July 7 and future gazetted holidays, going forward to 2029, are similarly timed.

Future Queensland winter school holidays

2025

• Saturday, June 28 to Sunday, July 13.

2026

• Saturday, June 27 to Sunday, July 12.

2027

• Saturday, June 26 to Sunday, July 11.

2028

• Saturday, June 24 to Sunday, July 9.

2029

• Saturday, June 23 to Sunday, July 8.

(Source: Department of Education)

Professor Matthew Burke, the deputy director of Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute, said universities would likely follow suit.

Tertiary students alone accounted for one in six public transport trips, Burke said, so taking that out of the Games equation would free up capacity for Games-related commuting.

“Those [travel demand management] measures are to decrease the base layer, the existing underlying travel behaviour, of the city,” he said.

“It’s just making sure we remove sufficient trips from the network to allow Games travel to perform like it needs to, because if we get it wrong...”

P&Cs Queensland chief executive Scott Wiseman said the most important thing would be to give parents and the wider school communities information well in advance so they can plan accordingly.

“I’d imagine that would happen – well I’d hope that would happen,” he said.

“The more information, the better so that parents know what’s what’s happening and how they can prepare.”

The start and finish of the school year would be hard to change, Wiseman said, which would mean some lopsided terms to avoid any year-round disruption.

“You might end up with term three being six or seven weeks, and term two being 12 or 13 weeks, or something like that,” he said.

“...Whatever they do, it’s going to be a temporary adjustment and I think people have got to take it at that approach as well.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for people, and particularly from our perspective, for school kids.”

Comment was sought from the state opposition.

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