Moving the family over the school holidays works for one reason: the break has a hard end. On the first day of term the kids need uniforms, lunchboxes and a bed they can find in the dark. Everything else in the plan follows from that date.
This spring's calendar is a good example of what a break can hold. It had a long weekend and a clock change inside the same fortnight. A family that moves through a break like that smoothly has its dates, quote and contract settled before the last school bell.
What the 2026 spring break held
The last day of Term 3 for students was Friday 25 September 2026. The first day of Term 4 is Tuesday 13 October 2026.
Two other dates sat inside that gap:
- Daylight saving started at 2am on Sunday 4 October, when clocks went forward to 3am AEDT.
- The Labour Day public holiday fell on Monday 5 October, making the October long weekend.
By our count, that is 17 days from Saturday 26 September to Monday 12 October. Take out the six weekend days and Labour Day, and 10 ordinary weekdays remain. That is our estimate, and it is the real runway for a weekday move.
Why the first day of term is the date to plan from
Plan from the first day back, not from moving day.
Most moving plans count forward from moving day. A family plan should count back from the first day of term.
Work it backwards. The night before school, the kids need a bedroom that works and a kitchen that can make breakfast. The day before that, the boxes holding school gear need to be open. So the move itself wants to land early in the break, with at least a few clear days behind it to unpack.
Moving on the last weekend before term looks efficient on paper. In practice it leaves no slack for a late key handover, a delayed settlement or a child who is simply worn out. Our packing timeline sets out how far ahead each room can be boxed up, so the packing starts before the kids are home all day.
Why a long weekend makes the break harder to book
A long weekend inside the holidays pulls in two directions at once.
Many families see three days off work as the obvious time to move, so those dates are wanted first. Other families use the same weekend to go away, which can clash with a settlement, a lease end or a grandparent who was going to mind the kids.
The answer is to decide early which kind of family you are. If you want the long weekend, ask for it well before the holidays start. When the quote arrives, check whether a public holiday changes anything on it. Our guide to how the hourly rates work explains what to look for line by line.
If you can be flexible, a plain weekday in the middle of the break is often the easier day to move. Roads, lifts and loading docks are less contested then too. For apartment moves, our guide to booking a lift and loading dock covers what building managers usually ask for.
What a clock change does to a moving morning
The clock change is a small detail, but it bites on the morning it happens. In 2026 it fell overnight Saturday into Sunday 4 October.
A crew booked for an early start that Sunday arrives on the new time. If your phone updates itself but the oven clock does not, someone in the house will be an hour behind. Children who went to bed late will feel the lost hour more than the adults.
The upside comes at the other end of the day. With clocks forward, the evening light lasts later by the clock, which helps when you are unloading the last of the boxes. Before you book a move next spring, check the year's date on the RBA's daylight saving page and plan the morning around it.
The checks to finish before the holidays start
- Source: nsw.gov.au, choosing a removalist
- Source: nsw.gov.au, choosing a removalist
- Source: nsw.gov.au, choosing a removalist
Once school is out, your spare hours shrink. That is why the paperwork belongs in the weeks before the break, while there is still time to compare.
NSW Fair Trading's guidance on choosing a removalist includes three steps:
- Check whether the removalist is accredited on the AFRA website.
- Always get an itemised written quote before hiring.
- Read the contract closely before you sign it.
AFRA is the industry's peak body. It says its members are accredited, screened against set standards and regularly audited. It also says members carry public liability insurance, and that most can sell additional Goods in Transit insurance to customers through its preferred supplier.
For a family, the itemised quote does a second job. It is a list of everything the move involves: bunk beds that come apart, a trampoline, a garage full of bikes. If an item is not on the quote, raise it now rather than on the day.
Keeping kids part of the move
A holiday move means the kids are home for it. That can be a help as well as a hazard.
Give each child their own bag to pack. It holds what they need for the first night and the first morning, and it travels in the car, not the truck. A child who packed their own bag knows where their things are, which saves you a search at bedtime.
On arrival, set up their bedroom before the kitchen if you can. A made bed, a lamp and a familiar toy make a new house feel like theirs sooner. Keep the first evening's routine close to normal: the usual dinner time, the usual bath, the usual story.
Small jobs help too. Older children can label their own boxes or carry the light ones. Younger ones can be in charge of the pet's bowl or the box of bath toys. If you would rather not do the boxing at all, Burwood Removals' packing services are there for that part of the job.
The next breaks to plan around
| Break | Fixed dates confirmed so far |
|---|---|
| Spring 2026 |
|
| Summer 2026 |
|
| Spring 2027 |
|
The spring break is a dress rehearsal for the bigger windows ahead.
Term 4 runs to Thursday 17 December 2026, and the summer break that follows is the longest of the year. It is also the one most crowded with end-of-year leases, Christmas and travel. The same rule applies: confirm your dates, quote and contract before the last week of term.
For next spring, the Labour Day public holiday falls on Monday 4 October 2027. Term 3 ends on Friday 24 September 2027 and Term 4 starts on Tuesday 12 October 2027, per the NSW Department of Education's 2027 calendar. Map them out the same way as the timeline above.
Planning your family's move with Burwood Removals
If a school holiday move is on your calendar, the most useful thing you can do this week is pick the date and work back from the first day of term.
Then tell Burwood Removals what you are moving: a house or an apartment, the bulky items and the date you are working to. You can ask for a moving quote here, and you will have it in writing to compare well before the holidays begin.
Sources
- https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/school-holidays
- https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/public-holidays
- https://www.rba.gov.au/schedules-events/daylight-saving.html
- https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/consumer-rights-and-protection/be-a-smart-consumer/choosing-a-removalist
- https://afra.com.au/about/why-choose-an-afra-member/
- https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/calendars/2026
- https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/calendars/2027
Book the crew that measures first
Tell us what's moving and where. We call you back, ask the questions that matter, and give you an honest read on crew, truck and hours before anything is booked.