School holidays in the calendar

School holidays are their own layer in the family calendar – accurate by federal state, shown as a subtle shaded area with a name (“Autumn holidays”). You don't need the School module for this: the holidays layer works on its own, just like public holidays.

Turning it on and off

In the calendar, under layers, you'll find a “School holidays” toggle (on mobile, “Holidays”, or “Holidays & days off” once you've entered a day off). It's independent of the public holidays toggle – they're separate layers, and hiding public holidays doesn't necessarily mean you want the school holidays gone too. Linked to the toggle is the countdown at the top (“12 days to go until the autumn holidays”), which keeps the next holiday in view.

Your own moveable days off and school-internal days (see below) run through the same toggle – switch “School holidays” off, and their shading disappears too. Switching the “School” module off in the household, on the other hand, only removes their shading; the regional holidays stay, because they don't need the School module (see above).

Which federal state applies

If you've set up school profiles, patchio uses the regions of your children's schools – each as it is (a German federal state, an Austrian federal state or a Swiss canton). A child who goes to school in a neighbouring region gets that school's holidays, not the ones where you live. If two children go to school in different regions, both sets of holidays appear in the calendar, told apart by name. Without a school profile, the holiday region from the household's calendar settings applies.

Holiday data reaches different distances depending on the region (Germany up to 2029/30, Austria to early 2029, Switzerland depending on canton). It comes from an official source (see below) and is updated regularly.

What patchio doesn't automatically know

Two things aren't in any official dataset, because every school sets them itself:

• Moveable days off and school-internal days – a single day off around a public holiday, or a training day for teachers. patchio can't know about it, but you enter it yourself: in the timetable, under “Settings” → “Days off”. The day then counts as a day off – the school bag reminder stays quiet the evening before, “Today” shows that tomorrow is free, and the day also shows up in the family calendar on the holidays layer, shaded like the regular holidays and labelled with your own text as a chip. Several children at the same school? Then enter the day once: under “Applies to”, the siblings are listed with avatar and first name – tick the ones it applies to, and the day is created for everyone you've selected at once. If something's already entered for one of the children on that day, that entry stays untouched, and patchio tells you which child and what it says.

  After that, they're separate entries, one per child – exactly as it has to be if a class doesn't get the day off after all. In the list, it then says “Also set for …”, and when you delete it, patchio asks once: just this child, or all of them. You only see that choice with the “Manage school” permission – without it, you only maintain your own child's school profile.

• Vocational schools in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – there, vocational school holidays differ from those of general schools. patchio shows the dates for general schools. If your child goes to a vocational school in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, keep track of the different days in the calendar yourself.

Austria and Switzerland

Austria is recorded by federal state, like Germany. Holidays genuinely differ there by state (even the summer holidays start a week apart in the east and west), so you choose the school's federal state in the school profile.

Switzerland is recorded by canton. Because school holidays in Switzerland are a cantonal matter, there are no nationwide Swiss holidays – choose the school's canton (choosing “Switzerland (federal)” only brings the public holidays, not the school holidays). For some cantons, holiday data isn't available yet; in that case, the holidays layer stays empty, and patchio says so honestly. The Swiss dates apply to Volksschule (compulsory school); at Gymnasium and Mittelschule level, individual days can differ – enter those yourself, the same way as moveable days off.

Where the data comes from

The school holiday and public holiday data comes from the OpenHolidays API (openholidaysapi.org), licensed under ODbL-1.0. patchio bundles it once with the app – showing the holidays doesn't call any external server, and the calendar also works offline.