The TDSB calendar 2026-2027 is the official school year schedule published by the Toronto District School Board for all elementary and secondary students, covering the period from Tuesday, September 1, 2026, to Wednesday, June 30, 2027.
The first day of school for both elementary and secondary TDSB students is Tuesday, September 8, 2026. The last day of school is Monday, June 28, 2027, for secondary students and Tuesday, June 29, 2027, for elementary students. The TDSB calendar includes 7 PA Days and 187 instructional days.
The board’s own documentation confirms this window provides 196 possible school days, with a minimum requirement of 194 designated school days.
This guide breaks down every statutory holiday, Professional Activity (PA) Day, exam period, and testing window in the 2026-2027 school year, with elementary and secondary differences clearly separated.
Table of Contents
TDSB Calendar 2026-2027 at a Glance
The TDSB calendar 2026-2027 spans 43 weeks and includes four school breaks, seven statutory holidays, seven Professional Activity Days, and two secondary exam periods.
The table below summarizes the headline dates before the detailed breakdown that follows.
| Milestone | Date | Day of Week |
|---|---|---|
| First day of school (all students) | September 8, 2026 | Tuesday |
| Labour Day | September 7, 2026 | Monday |
| Thanksgiving | October 12, 2026 | Monday |
| Winter Break begins | December 21, 2026 | Monday |
| Winter Break ends / school resumes | January 4, 2027 | Monday |
| Mid-Winter Break begins | March 15, 2027 | Monday |
| Mid-Winter Break ends / school resumes | March 22, 2027 | Monday |
| Last day of school, secondary | June 28, 2027 | Monday |
| Last day of school, elementary | June 29, 2027 | Tuesday |
This structure differs from a typical calendar year page because the TDSB school year does not run January to December. It runs Tuesday, September 1, 2026, through Wednesday, June 30, 2027, with two PA Days (June 29 and June 30, 2027) extending past the last instructional day for most students.
First Day and Last Day of School in the TDSB Calendar 2026-2027
First Day of School: Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Classes begin on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, for both elementary and secondary students. This date falls one day after Labour Day, which lands on Monday, September 7, 2026.
Two Professional Activity Days — Wednesday, September 2, 2026, and Thursday, September 3, 2026 — occur before Labour Day itself, so staff reports five days before students, not one.
This is the recurring point of confusion raised in TDSB-related parent and teacher discussions: the PA Days are scheduled before Labour Day, but the actual holiday and the start of classes still follow standard Ontario convention.
Last Day of School in the TDSB Calendar: Elementary and Secondary Differ by One Day
The last day of school is not identical across school types. Secondary students finish on Monday, June 28, 2027, while elementary students finish one day later, on Tuesday, June 29, 2027. The reason is the PA Day schedule at year-end: secondary staff uses Tuesday, June 29, and Wednesday, June 30, 2027, as Professional Development days, while elementary staff uses only Wednesday, June 30, 2027, for that purpose, keeping elementary students in class one extra day.
Statutory Holidays and School Breaks in the 2026-2027 TDSB Calendar
The Ontario Ministry of Education designates eight statutory dates and breaks for the 2026-2027 school year: Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Family Day, Mid-Winter Break, Good Friday, and Easter Monday, in addition to Victoria Day.
These apply system-wide to every TDSB school, regardless of elementary or secondary status.
| Holiday / Break | Date(s) | Day(s) of Week |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Day | September 7, 2026 | Monday |
| Thanksgiving | October 12, 2026 | Monday |
| Winter Break | December 21, 2026 – January 1, 2027 | Monday – Friday |
| Family Day | February 15, 2027 | Monday |
| Mid-Winter Break (March Break) | March 15 – 19, 2027 | Monday – Friday |
| Good Friday | March 26, 2027 | Friday |
| Easter Monday | March 29, 2027 | Monday |
| Victoria Day | May 24, 2027 | Monday |
Winter Break and the Actual Last Instructional Day Before It
The official winter break window runs from Monday, December 21, 2026, to Friday, January 1, 2027, but TDSB’s own elementary calendar documentation specifies that the last day of school before the break is Friday, December 18, 2026, with classes resuming Monday, January 4, 2027.
Most public calendar summaries omit this distinction and only list the December 21 start date, which can mislead families into assuming students attend school on December 18–21 when that entire stretch, aside from December 18 itself, falls within the break or a weekend.
Mid-Winter Break (March Break) Dates and Length
Mid-Winter Break runs five school days, from Monday, March 15, 2027, through Friday, March 19, 2027. School resumes on Monday, March 22, 2027. This break is sometimes referred to informally as “March Break,” though the official TDSB designation is “Mid-Winter Break.”
TDSB PA Days 2026-2027: Elementary vs. Secondary Schedule
TDSB designates seven Professional Activity Days for the 2026-2027 school year for each school type, though the specific dates and designations differ between elementary and secondary schools.
Elementary PA Days include specific parent-facing designations such as “Parent Teacher Conferences” and “Assessment and Reporting,” while every secondary PA Day is designated “Professional Development.”
| Date | Day of Week | Elementary | Secondary | Designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2, 2026 | Wednesday | Yes | Yes | Professional Development |
| September 3, 2026 | Thursday | Yes | Yes | Professional Development |
| November 20, 2026 | Friday | Yes | Yes | Parent Teacher Conferences (Elementary) / Professional Development (Secondary) |
| January 15, 2027 | Friday | Yes | No | Assessment and Reporting |
| February 2, 2027 | Tuesday | No | Yes | Professional Development |
| February 12, 2027 | Friday | Yes | Yes | Parent Teacher Conferences (Elementary) / Professional Development (Secondary) |
| June 4, 2027 | Friday | Yes | No | Assessment and Reporting |
| June 29, 2027 | Tuesday | No | Yes | Professional Development |
| June 30, 2027 | Wednesday | Yes | Yes | Professional Development |
This produces nine unique calendar dates across the school year, even though each school type has seven PA Days individually: five dates apply to both elementary and secondary, two dates (January 15 and June 4) apply only to elementary, and two dates (February 2 and June 29) apply only to secondary.
Why TDSB Schedules PA Days Before Labour Day
TDSB places two PA Days — Wednesday, September 2, and Thursday, September 3, 2026 — before Labour Day on Monday, September 7, 2026.
This does not shorten the instructional calendar for students, since students still begin on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, regardless of when staff PA Days occur.
Boards frequently schedule early-September PA Days for staff orientation, classroom setup, and system-wide training before the term begins, rather than compressing them into the instructional calendar later in the year.
TDSB Calendar 2026-2027 PA Day Designations Explained
PA Day designations indicate the required activity for staff on that date rather than a generic day off. “Assessment and Reporting” days (January 15 and June 4, 2027, elementary only) are set aside for teachers to complete report cards and student assessments without students present.
“Parent Teacher Conferences” days (November 20, 2026, and February 12, 2027, elementary) correspond to scheduled interview periods. “Professional Development” is the designation for all remaining PA Days, including every secondary PA Day in the 2026-2027 school year.
Semester Dates and Secondary Exam Periods
Secondary schools operate on a two-semester structure with two scheduled examination windows. The board’s published key dates list a Semester 1 Secondary Exam Period from January 25 to February 1, 2027, followed by the first day of Semester 2 on February 3, 2027.
A second, later exam window runs June 21–25, 2027; while TDSB’s published key-dates sheet also labels this window “Semester 1,” it falls after the February 3 start of Semester 2 and functions as the Semester 2 final exam period.
| Semester | Start Date | Exam Period | Exam Period Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semester 1 | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 | Semester 1 Finals | Monday, January 25 – Monday, February 1, 2027 |
| Semester 2 | Wednesday, February 3, 2027 | Semester 2 Finals | Monday, June 21 – Friday, June 25, 2027 |
Between the two semesters, Tuesday, February 2, 2027, is reserved as a secondary-only PA Day, separating the end of Semester 1 exams from the start of Semester 2 classes.
Elementary Calendar vs. Secondary Calendar: What’s Different
Elementary and secondary students share the same statutory holidays and breaks but differ in PA Day designations, exam structures, and total instructional day counts remain matched at 187 for both.
| Attribute | Elementary Calendar | Secondary Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| First day of school | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 |
| Last day of school | Tuesday, June 29, 2027 | Monday, June 28, 2027 |
| Total PA Days | 7 | 7 |
| PA Day designations | Professional Development, Assessment and Reporting, Parent Teacher Conferences | Professional Development (all 7 days) |
| Exam periods | Not applicable | January 25–February 1, 2027; June 21–25, 2027 |
| Instructional days | 187 | 187 |
| Report cards | Tied to Assessment and Reporting PA Days | Tied to semester exam periods |
Elementary students are not subject to formal semester exam periods; assessment happens through ongoing classroom evaluation, with two dedicated PA Days set aside for report-card preparation. Secondary students experience two hard exam windows tied to the semester system.
EQAO and OSSLT Testing Windows for 2026-2027
TDSB’s official key-dates document lists three provincial assessment windows for 2026-2027 — Grade 9 Math EQAO, the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), and the Primary/Junior EQAO — with all three dates marked “TBD” as of the current published calendar.
These dates are set by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), a provincial agency separate from TDSB, and are typically confirmed later in the school year once the ministry finalizes its provincial testing schedule.
Families should check the TDSB calendar page or their child’s school directly for updates once EQAO releases confirmed dates.
TDSB Calendar 2026-2027 vs. 2025-2026: What Changed
Comparing consecutive years shows how fixed statutory holidays shift by a few days each year while the PA Day count remains stable at seven per school type.
| Metric | 2025-2026 | 2026-2027 |
|---|---|---|
| First day of school | Not applicable (mid-cycle) | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 |
| Labour Day | Monday, September 1, 2025 | Monday, September 7, 2026 |
| Thanksgiving | Monday, October 13, 2025 | Monday, October 12, 2026 |
| Winter Break | December 22, 2025 – January 2, 2026 | December 21, 2026 – January 1, 2027 |
| Family Day | Monday, February 16, 2026 | Monday, February 15, 2027 |
| Mid-Winter Break | March 16–20, 2026 | March 15–19, 2027 |
| Victoria Day | Monday, May 18, 2026 | Monday, May 24, 2027 |
| Elementary PA Days (count) | 7 | 7 |
| Secondary PA Days (count) | 7 | 7 |
| Last day, secondary | Wednesday, June 24, 2026 | Monday, June 28, 2027 |
| Last day, elementary | Thursday, June 25, 2026 | Tuesday, June 29, 2027 |
The 2026-2027 school year ends later than 2025-2026 by roughly three to four school days, driven by where Labour Day and the last weekday of June fall on the calendar that year, not by any change in the total instructional day requirement.
How to Download the Official TDSB Calendar 2026-2027 PDF
TDSB publishes separate calendar files by school type rather than a single universal document. Requesting the wrong file is a common cause of confusion between elementary and secondary families.
Official TDSB Calendar Files by School Type
- Key Dates summary (holidays, PA Days, exam periods in one document)
- Elementary School Year Calendar (standard 5-day format)
- Secondary School Year Calendar, semestered format
- Secondary School Year Calendar, quadmestered format
- Adult Secondary (ADS) Calendar
- EdVance School Year Calendar
- Modified calendar for RH King Academy
Each file is hosted directly on tdsb.on.ca under the School Year Calendar section and is updated in place if revisions occur mid-year, so bookmarking the TDSB calendar page rather than saving a downloaded PDF locally reduces the risk of referencing an outdated version.
Planning Around TDSB PA Days and School Breaks
Childcare, Camps, and Extended Day Programs
Nine unique PA Day dates and two multi-day breaks (Winter Break and Mid-Winter Break) create the primary childcare-planning windows for TDSB families each year.
Toronto-area extended day programs, city-run camps, and private childcare providers typically open registration for PA Days and March Break several weeks in advance, and demand rises sharply in the two weeks before Mid-Winter Break (March 15–19, 2027) and the September PA Days (September 2–3, 2026), which fall in the first week of the school year before most after-school programs have started their regular schedules.
Frequently Asked Questions About the TDSB Calendar 2026-2027
When does TDSB start school in 2026?
TDSB begins classes on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, for both elementary and secondary students, one day after the Labour Day holiday on Monday, September 7, 2026.
Is the TDSB calendar the same for elementary and secondary students?
No. Holidays and breaks are identical, but PA Day dates, designations, and the last day of school differ. Secondary students finish on Monday, June 28, 2027; elementary students finish Tuesday, June 29, 2027.
Are PA Days the same as school holidays?
No. PA Days are staff Professional Activity Days used for training, assessment, or parent-teacher conferences. Students do not attend school, but the days are administratively distinct from statutory holidays like Labour Day or Family Day.
What the TDSB Calendar 2026-2027 Does Not Cover
This calendar applies specifically to TDSB-operated elementary and secondary schools using the standard and quadmestered calendar formats.
It does not apply to the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), which publishes its own separate 2026-2027 calendar with different PA Day allocations, including designated Faith Development days.
It also does not apply to neighbouring boards such as Peel, York, or Durham, or to TDSB schools operating on a modified calendar, such as RH King Academy, which follows an adjusted schedule distinct from the standard secondary calendar.
EQAO and OSSLT dates are not yet finalized for 2026-2027 and are excluded from firm scheduling until the province confirms them. Private and independent schools in Toronto set their own calendars and are not bound by TDSB’s schedule.
