PWCS starts Monday, Aug 24 and ends Thursday, Jun 17. Teachers are off Mar 29, so students are back on Tuesday, Mar 30 after spring break. Students are also off for Labor Day weekend (Fri Sept 4 and Mon Sept 7), Yom Kippur (Sept 21), Eid al-Fitr (Mar 10) and Eid al-Adha (May 17). Several teacher workdays and parent conference days break up the year: Oct 12, Nov 2-3, Jan 28-29 and Apr 16. Grading quarters end Oct 30, Jan 27, Apr 15 and Jun 17.

Thanksgiving break is Wednesday, November 25 through Friday, November 27, 2026, and students return Monday, November 30. That’s only three weekdays off, so if you’re traveling, you’ll probably be taking the Wednesday as part of a short trip. The weeks before are patchy too: students are off Monday and Tuesday, November 2-3, for parent conferences and a teacher workday, and again on Wednesday, November 11 for Veterans Day. For a free day out close to home, Manassas National Battlefield Park has walking trails that are nice in cool weather.

Winter break runs from Monday, December 21 through Friday, January 1, and students return Monday, January 4, 2027. That’s a full two weeks, which is good for a longer trip. The district says schools and offices are fully closed on December 24-25 and January 1. If you’re staying put, the monuments and Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC are about an hour away and free, and the Old Town Manassas shops and Occoquan’s riverfront streets are easy and festive days out.

Spring break is Monday, March 22 through Friday, March 26, 2027. Here’s the catch: Monday, March 29 is a teacher workday, so students don’t go back until Tuesday, March 30. That’s 10 days off with the weekends, plus the Monday. Good Friday (March 26) is inside the break, and Easter is Sunday, March 28. The Washington, DC cherry blossoms usually bloom around late March or early April, which can line up with the break, but peak bloom shifts every year, so check before you plan around it.

PWCS doesn’t have a fall break. The closest things are Monday, October 12, a professional development day, and November 2-3, when students are off for conferences and a teacher workday (November 3 is also Election Day). Yom Kippur on Monday, September 21 is another day off. For a fall getaway, Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive is about 90 minutes away and the leaves are usually best in mid to late October. Closer to home, Prince William Forest Park has good trails.

The last day of school is Thursday, June 17, 2027, and Juneteenth is the next day, Friday, June 18. Monday, June 21 is a teacher workday (optional for teachers), so summer is fully underway by then. Memorial Day is May 31. Leesylvania State Park on the Potomac River is a good day trip for swimming and picnics, and Virginia Beach is about three hours south for a longer weekend.