Why Kiwi students had the day off on Tuesday

It was back to work for most people on Tuesday after the long Easter weekend but students got a day off that day as well, even though Tuesday was not a statutory holiday.

The Ministry of Education has explained that the reason we don't usually notice the Easter Tuesday holiday is because the Easter break usually falls within the end of first-term break.

In years such as this one, when Easter falls earlier than the first-term break, it is not possible to schedule it so the two happen at the same time - otherwise, students would end up with a school term of around 8 or 9 weeks rather than the usual 12 weeks.

To keep the four school terms roughly the same length, some years the Easter break has to happen before the end of term break.

A reminder for parents, Easter is outside of the school holidays this year. All schools are closed on Tuesday 3 April as well as Good Friday (30 March) and Easter Monday (2 April).

Posted by Ministry of Education NZ on Sunday, 25 March 2018

"To have the first two-week break at Easter in those years would shorten the first term to only 8-9 weeks, instead of around 12 weeks, and mean that at least one of the other three terms would have to be correspondingly longer. As the Minister aims to set four terms of reasonably uniform length, in years when Easter falls particularly early, all or some of the Easter break will be during the first term," the Ministry of Education explains on its site.

You will not notice the Easter Tuesday school holiday over the next two years as Easter holidays will coincide with first-term break for New Zealand schools.

The Easter date varies every year. For the Western world following a Gregorian calendar, as New Zealand does, Easter always falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25, within seven days after the atronomical full moon.

Easter Sunday in 2019 will fall on April 21.

Are you a parent in New Zealand? We want to hear from you. Join our parenting group on Facebook.