🏫 School, after-school programmes, and holidays: how to synchronise parents' schedules

Holiday dates and extension rules are updated annually and by region. Check skolerute on your municipality/school website and the AKS/SFO terms and conditions with your specific operator.

📆 Structure of the school year (overview)

📆 Holiday calendar

In the capital region and the ‘city of seven hills,’ there are official skolerute: they publish the dates of autumn/winter/Easter holidays, public holidays and summer breaks. Specific days vary by municipality and school year — check with your local council/school.

📌 Important habit

Add the skolerute to your family calendar (Google/Apple) as a single file and mark important weeks in advance (autumn, February/March, Easter, long summer). For Bergen, a ‘veiledende’ skolerute and separate calendars for each school are published.

👧 After-school care (AKS/SFO)

ℹ️ What is it and who is it for

• AKS (Oslo) — a before/after school programme: supervision, games, clubs, sports. It is partially free (part-time) for 1st grade starting 1 August, but you still need to apply. Typical hours are from 7:30 a.m. before school and after school until ~4:30–4:45 p.m. (exact hours vary by school).
• SFO (other municipalities) — similar to AKS. According to national regulations, the municipality is required to offer SFO for grades 1–4 and for children with special needs up to grade 7; the schedule and availability during school holidays are not guaranteed and depend on local decisions.

💵 Payment and formats

Formats — full/partial package, sometimes hourly options. Rates/discounts and hours are published in your municipality (example: Trondheim separately regulates hours, payment, and free activities within SFO).

👨‍👩‍👦 How to fit AKS/SFO into your working day

🧘‍♀️ The ‘quiet windows’ model

• Share the responsibility: parent A picks up on “short” days, parent B on ‘long’ days.
• Set 2–3 fixed evenings without phone calls (in your calendar and your colleagues' calendars).
• If the school offers an ‘early morning’ option in AKS/SFO, use it for morning focus.

💻 Digital discipline

• Mark recurring blocks for ‘pick-up/drop-off’ in your work calendar so your manager can see the boundaries.
• On ‘short days,’ plan asynchronously: tasks without meetings, reviews, documentation.

🏖 Work and holidays

🎟 Holidays and ‘expensive weeks’

• Popular holidays (autumn, February/March, Easter) and summer are quickly booked up — either book in advance or go during the ‘shoulder season’ to reduce prices and crowds.
• If you don't have enough vacation days, look into day camps and city programmes in your area (sports, libraries, school/club camps).

⚡ How not to lose momentum

• Agree on a summer pace for your team during the holiday period: less synchronisation, more backlog tasks, and deadlines set in advance.

🤝 Communication with your employer

🔍 Transparent expectations

• Write down family time slots in your calendar for the entire school year.
• Agree on a hybrid/remote policy for days with a short schedule; note when you are available in the task description.

📩 Templates and status

• Prepare a short response template: ‘I'm picking up my child, I'll be back online at ...’.
• In your messenger app, set statuses for when you are on the road/AKS windows, and in your email, set up a neat auto-reply for busy weeks.

✅ Synchronisation checklist

• Add skolerute for the year to your shared Family Calendar + mark ‘busy weeks’.
• Check the AKS/SFO conditions at your school/municipality: hours, packages, benefits.
• Book camps/day programmes for the upcoming holidays.
• Divide duty by week and add it to the shared calendar.
• Set up auto-replies/statuses for the days when you pick up your children (templates available in advance).

📍 Quick examples by city

🏙 Capital region

• Check the official section ‘Ferie og fridager i skolen’ and the Starting school page with AKS rules (including free part-time for 1st grade).

🌄 ‘City of Seven Hills’

Refer to the material skolerut and individual school calendars; the final calendar for the next school year is usually published by 1 February.

💡 ‘The technological capital’

• For SFO, see the municipality's English-language page (hours, fees, discounts; rule on free activities within SFO).