Input wanted on Draft School Year Calendars

SD83 is collecting feedback from families and community on the proposed 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school year calendars. Your input will be shared with the Board of Education to help trustees determine if any changes to the calendars are needed before they are approved at the March Board meeting.

The draft calendars, co-created by the District Calendar Committee consisting of senior leadership, principals, vice-principals, and North Okanagan Shuswap Teachers’ Association (NOSTA) representatives, meets all Ministry of Education requirements (e.g., hours of instruction) and contractual obligations. An approved calendar must be submitted to the Ministry by March 31, 2025. 

Please note the following:

• The number of professional development days (marked in red) is determined through provincial negotiations and is not part of the local calendar process. The proposed placement of these days, established collaboratively with NOSTA as per the language in our Collective Agreement, is part of the local calendar process.
• As of November 2015, the updated BC School Calendar Regulation has been in effect. Unlike the previous regulation, it sets the required hours of instruction rather than the number of instructional days. You may have noticed the addition of non-instructional days and a subsequent reduction in instructional hours in recent years; these changes were negotiated provincially to support the implementation of the Ministry’s New/Renewed Curriculum. 
• The Conference Day applies to elementary and middle schools only; secondary schools are in session that day.
• The Semester Transition Day, applicable only to secondary schools, is still to be determined. Elementary and middle schools will remain in session on this day.   
• Once a District calendar is approved by the Board of Education, each school will work with local stakeholders to establish their bell schedules within the framework of the BC School Calendar Regulation and the SD83 Teachers’ Collective Agreement.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN SURVEY
The survey will remain open until March 4, 2025

Once again, the school years begin with a full non-instructional in-service day on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, and Tuesday, September 8, 2026, for all employees. This will be followed on both days by a return to a gradual start half-day for students on September 3, 2025, and September 9, 2026, respectively.  The in-service day will allow District staff to complete important work related to the Strategic Plan. In feedback from District staff last year, it was clear once again that not having the traditional half-day gradual start on the first day of school was necessary to organize classes in the afternoon on the first day after meeting with students in the morning.

Winter Break will begin on Monday, December 22, 2025, and on Monday, December 21, 2026.  The Winter Breaks will align whenever possible with neighbouring districts’ plans.