We don’t have an infinite amount of time off. Each year, you have to think carefully about the days on which you want to put them down to enjoy a well-deserved vacation, which can be quite a headache. Fortunately, we can also usually count on public holidays to have a little respite and be able to rest. They allow us to plan long weekends with loved ones or to benefit from a little saving break during the week. However, it often happens that these public holidays fall during the weekend, which means that you cannot always take advantage of them.
However, National Education recently published its calendar a few weeks ago for the 2024-2025 school year (from September 2, 2024 to July 5, 2025). And there is good news: this time, no public holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday. Better yet: many of these days fall on Monday or Friday. The new year ahead will be full of long weekends and by optimizing a little the days off you take, you could well gain a lot of days to breathe. Indeed, as you will see, by planning your vacation days intelligently, it will be possible to obtain a lot of days off over a school year!
First of all, here are the dates of the public holidays:
All Saints’ Day: Friday November 1, 2024
Armistice 1918: Monday November 11, 2024
Christmas: Wednesday December 25, 2024
New Year’s Day: Wednesday January 1, 2025
Easter Monday: Monday April 21, 2025
Labor Day: Thursday May 1, 2025
Victory 1945: Thursday May 8, 2025
Ascension: Thursday May 29, 2025
Pentecost Monday: Monday June 9, 2025
National holiday: Monday July 14, 2025
Assumption: Friday August 15, 2025
This already allows you to benefit from a three-day weekend in 2024 for All Saints’ Day and the Armistice 1918 to which will then be added Easter, Pentecost Monday and Assumption in 2025. However, it is possible to further optimize your leave based on these dates.
So, what leave will we need to take in 2024-2025?
Long weekends in November
In November, public holidays are ideally positioned to allow you to take advantage of extended weekends of four or five days. All Saints’ Day falls on Friday November 1 and Armistice 1918 on Monday November 11, which already gives three-day weekends. To prolong the pleasure, you can consider asking on Thursday October 31 and/or Monday November 4, then Friday 8 and/or Tuesday 12.
For the end of year celebrations
Between the weekend just before and New Year’s Day which falls on a Wednesday, you can take advantage of five days with your loved ones simply by setting Monday December 30 and Tuesday December 31. Enough to start 2025 smoothly! By asking on December 26 and 27, then December 30 and 31 as well as January 2 and 3, informed employees can even accumulate twelve consecutive days of rest. With December 25 falling on a Wednesday, you just need to add December 23 and 24 to increase to sixteen days of rest for only eight days off!
If you don’t want to take too many days off for the New Year, also prefer to celebrate Christmas quietly by taking four days (from Monday December 23 to Friday December 27) in order to have nine days off. It’s up to you to choose your strategy to end the year in style!
Easter in the spotlight
Easter Monday falls on Monday April 21. So, the simple fact of taking nine days between Tuesday April 22 and Friday May 2 will allow you to have sixteen days of rest (from Saturday April 19 to Sunday May 4 inclusive). If you have little vacation left or want to save it for the summer, you can also take four days (from April 22 to 25) to accumulate nine consecutive days of rest thanks to the weekends of 19-20 and 26 -April 27.
Lots of days to pose intelligently in May
The month of May is often conducive to well-planned holidays, but the year 2025 will be even more generous to mark the occasion. In fact, public holidays here always fall on a Thursday! By putting down just five days (more precisely May 2, May 5, May 6, May 7 and May 9), you will be able to accumulate eleven days of well-deserved rest to enjoy spring. And of course, for Ascension, you can also set aside Friday May 30 to benefit from a four-day weekend.
Other strategic holidays to take in summer
In summer 2025, public holidays may allow you to have long weekends of five days in a row. With the National Day holiday, consider requesting time off on Tuesday, July 15 as well as Wednesday, July 16 to have a long extended weekend to enjoy. Still to have a long weekend, take Wednesday August 13 and Thursday August 14 off on the occasion of the Assumption. Thanks to these public holidays, it will in any case be very opportune and interesting to take your summer vacation between July 14 and August 15 to maximize your vacation time! Indeed, by taking 23 days of leave between these two dates, you can rest for no less than 37 days ! Enough to make great plans to celebrate summer properly and travel wherever you want.
Let’s summarize: what are the days of leave to take for this year 2024-2025?
Here is a summary of the days to take this year to have around fifty days off:
-October 31
-November 4, 8 and 12
-23, 24, 26, 27 and 30 December
-January 2 and 3
-April 22 to 25 OR April 22 to May 2
-May 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 30
-July 15 and 16
-August 13 and 14
-For the summer holidays: from July 14 to August 15, 2025.
Of course this can vary depending on your days workedfor example if you work on Saturday or if you are refused certain of these days. However, this may already give you some ideas. The most important thing to remember: take care of yourself and your loved ones. Your time is infinitely precious and it is possible to use it well!
There is no doubt that the hardest part will be waiting until their arrival to take advantage of all these non-working days where the stress will quickly be forgotten… If you have just returned after your summer vacation, there is no doubt that you can dream of your next days rest will boost your morale to make this return to school less gloomy.