DepEd Policy Pillar Guide
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 Explained: The Complete Three-Term School Calendar Guide
The Three-Term School Calendar is not simply a new way to count class days. It is DepEd’s attempt to stop the cycle of interrupted instruction, rushed grading, overloaded teachers, scattered school activities, and weak recovery time for learners.
Quick Summary
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 implements the Three-Term School Calendar in Basic Education beginning School Year 2026–2027. It reorganizes the school year into three terms and three key blocks: Opening Block, Instructional Block, and End-of-Term Block. The reform aims to protect instructional time, reduce disruptions, embed ARAL and remediation, organize assessment and reporting, schedule school activities more strategically, and provide wellness breaks for learners and teachers.
Key Takeaways
- SY 2026–2027 opens on June 8, 2026 and ends on April 8, 2027, with a total of 201 class days.
- The school year is divided into three terms, replacing the old four-quarter rhythm.
- The Instructional Block is protected for teaching, assessment, remediation, and ARAL.
- The End-of-Term Block is the proper window for ARAL, grade computation, school forms, co-/extra-curricular activities, PTC, report distribution, INSET, and wellness breaks.
- Teachers receive a two-day wellness break after end-of-term duties, and learners receive a four-day wellness break within the End-of-Term Block.
- The order is a school management reform, not just a calendar announcement.
What is DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026?
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026, titled Guidelines on the Implementation of the Three-Term School Calendar in Basic Education, is one of the most operationally important school policies for SY 2026–2027. It does not merely announce opening and closing dates. It restructures the rhythm of the school year.
The order introduces a school calendar built around three terms and three organizing blocks: the Opening Block, Instructional Block, and End-of-Term Block. Each block has a specific purpose. This matters because many school problems are not caused by lack of effort, but by poor scheduling: activities overlap, instruction gets interrupted, assessments pile up, and teachers lose recovery time.
The policy applies to all public elementary and secondary schools and community learning centers. Private schools, Philippine Schools Overseas, and state or local universities and colleges offering basic education may adopt the guidelines, provided they comply with the required number of class days and applicable laws and regulations.
What Problem Is This Order Trying to Solve?
The old four-quarter rhythm often made the school year feel like a race. Teachers had to teach, assess, remediate, compute grades, complete forms, attend trainings, prepare learners for activities, and communicate with parents in short cycles. For many schools, the problem was not only the number of activities but the fact that they were scattered across teaching days.
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 addresses this by giving schools a more disciplined scheduling structure. The calendar now asks school leaders to separate activities by function: readiness activities at the beginning, protected teaching during the Instructional Block, and reporting, professional development, activities, and recovery during the End-of-Term Block.
| School Problem | Why It Matters | Three-Term Calendar Response |
|---|---|---|
| Interrupted class days | Learners lose continuity and teachers lose pacing | Protect the Instructional Block and move many activities to proper windows |
| Frequent grading transitions | Teachers rush assessment, computation, and feedback | Use longer terms with clearer assessment and reporting rhythm |
| Remediation treated as an add-on | Learners receive help too late | Embed ARAL and remediation inside the calendar |
| Overloaded end-of-quarter periods | Teachers handle grading, forms, PTC, activities, and training at the same time | Use the End-of-Term Block as an organized operational window |
| Weak recovery time | Learners and teachers return tired, not ready | Provide explicit wellness breaks within the school calendar |
Official DepEd School Calendar 2026–2027
The official school calendar for SY 2026–2027 is structured around three terms. Term 1 includes the Opening Block, while all three terms include an Instructional Block and an End-of-Term Block.
| Term | Term Coverage | Opening Block | Instructional Block | End-of-Term Block | Class Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | June 8 – September 15, 2026 | June 8–11, 2026 | June 15 – September 1, 2026 | September 2–15, 2026 | 69 |
| Term 2 | September 16 – December 18, 2026 | Not applicable | September 16 – December 4, 2026 | December 7–18, 2026 | 65 |
| Term 3 | January 4 – April 8, 2027 | Not applicable | January 4 – March 23, 2027 | March 24 – April 8, 2027 | 67 |
| Total | 201 | ||||
This table should be the starting reference for every school calendar audit. Before scheduling a program, competition, meeting, training, assessment, or reporting activity, school heads should first ask: Which block does this activity belong to?
Opening Block, Instructional Block, and End-of-Term Block Explained
Opening Block: Readiness Before Regular Instruction
The Opening Block occurs at the beginning of Term 1. It is meant for beginning-of-school-year activities such as learner orientation, parent orientation, administration of baseline assessments, health assessment and screening, classroom routines, school rules, and activities that help learners transition into school life.
The leadership value of the Opening Block is that it prevents readiness work from eating into regular teaching time. A school that uses this block well can begin formal instruction with clearer learner data, stronger routines, and better parent communication.
Instructional Block: The Protected Core of the Term
The Instructional Block is the protected teaching-learning period. Regular classes, formative assessment, summative assessment, term examinations, remediation, and ARAL should be planned within this block. This is where curriculum delivery must be protected most strongly.
End-of-Term Block: The Operational and Recovery Window
The End-of-Term Block is not a vacation period and not an empty buffer. It is a structured window for activities that support the completed term: ARAL, grade computation, school forms, co-curricular and extracurricular activities, Progress/Performance Report distribution, parent-teacher conferences, INSET, and wellness breaks.
How Annex A Helps Schools Schedule the Three Blocks
One of the most useful parts of DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 is Annex A. It translates the policy into scheduling logic. For school heads, Annex A should be treated as an implementation guide, not just an attachment.
Sample Opening Block Implementation Plan
Schools can use the Opening Block to organize the first days of the year around learner readiness and school routines. A practical sequence may look like this:
| Opening Block Focus | Possible School Activities | Leadership Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation and transition | Class orientation, school rules, learner routines, adviser sessions | Help learners settle before formal instruction intensifies |
| Baseline and readiness | Reading, numeracy, language mapping, diagnostic checks, learner profiling | Give teachers early data for planning and support |
| Health and safety | Health screening, emergency reminders, child protection orientation | Build a safer and more responsive school environment |
| Parent and stakeholder communication | Parent orientation, class communication channels, calendar briefing | Reduce confusion about the new term system |
| Teacher planning alignment | Grade-level planning, learning area coordination, ARAL preparation | Ensure instruction begins with shared expectations |
How to Use Annex E Budget of Work Links
Annex E provides Three-Term Budget of Work links for learning competencies. School heads and teachers should use these references to align pacing with the three-term structure. This is important because the reform will not work if teachers continue pacing lessons as if the old quarter system still controls the school year.
A practical school-level approach is to assign learning area teams to review the Budget of Work, align lessons by term, identify assessment windows, and mark competencies that may need reinforcement through ARAL.
How the Instructional Block Protects Teaching Time
The Instructional Block is where the Three-Term Calendar either succeeds or fails. If schools continue to use regular class days for avoidable programs, rehearsals, competitions, meetings, and repeated interruptions, the reform becomes a calendar change without instructional impact.
School heads should audit every activity against one test: Does this activity protect or interrupt instructional time? If it interrupts instruction and can reasonably be placed elsewhere, it should be moved, shortened, integrated into lessons, or scheduled after class.
End-of-Term Block Workflow: What Should Happen and When
The End-of-Term Block is one of the strongest features of the policy because it gives schools an official window to do necessary work without weakening teaching days. This block should be planned carefully at the start of the year, not improvised at the end of each term.
| End-of-Term Period | Recommended Focus | What School Heads Should Check |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–5 | ARAL, grade computation, school forms, co-curricular and extracurricular activities | Are learner support, records, and approved activities properly sequenced? |
| Day 6 | Distribution of Progress/Performance Reports and parent-teacher conferences | Are reports ready, and are parents guided on next steps? |
| Days 7–8 | INSET and professional development | Are sessions connected to real school needs, not generic compliance? |
| Days 7–10 | Learner wellness break | Are learners given time to recover, with only appropriate guided asynchronous activities if needed? |
| Days 9–10 | Teacher wellness break | Are teachers protected from instructional, administrative, and extracurricular assignments except in emergencies? |
The leadership challenge is sequencing. If grade computation, report distribution, INSET, activities, and wellness breaks are all mixed without planning, the End-of-Term Block becomes stressful. If they are sequenced well, the block becomes a recovery and transition system.
Assessment, Term Examinations, and Report Cards
The Three-Term School Calendar gives assessment a clearer rhythm. Teachers should not wait until the end of the term to discover which learners are struggling. Formative assessment should be used throughout the Instructional Block to guide instruction and identify learners needing immediate support.
Teacher-made summative assessments should be scheduled before the Term Examination. This matters because summative results should still inform remediation and ARAL before the term fully closes. If summative assessments are clustered too late, they become mere grade generators instead of learning evidence.
| Assessment Element | Placement in the Three-Term Calendar | Implementation Reminder |
|---|---|---|
| Formative assessment | Throughout the Instructional Block | Use daily evidence to adjust teaching and identify support needs |
| Teacher-made summative assessments | Before the Term Examination | Avoid clustering too many major assessments near the end |
| Term Examination | Last week of the Instructional Block | Use as a culminating measure, not a surprise assessment |
| Grade computation and school forms | End-of-Term Block | Give teachers a proper window to complete records accurately |
| Progress/Performance Reports and PTC | End-of-Term Block | Use report distribution to guide parent-supported intervention |
ARAL and Learning Recovery Under the New Calendar
The Three-Term School Calendar supports the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program by giving schools scheduled opportunities for learner support. During the Instructional Block, ARAL can be implemented after class or during designated support windows. During the End-of-Term Block, ARAL receives dedicated time.
ARAL should be driven by evidence. Schools should not assign learners randomly. Teachers should use formative assessments, summative results, attendance patterns, reading and numeracy data, classroom performance, and adviser observations to determine who needs support and what kind of support is needed.
Co-Curricular Activities, Competitions, and Legislated Celebrations
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 does not remove school activities. It changes the scheduling discipline around them. Activities should no longer automatically mean suspended classes, whole-day programs, or frequent interruptions of regular teaching.
Annex D is especially useful because it lists legislated activities and celebrations with suggested activities. The key implementation principle is integration. Many observances can be handled through lesson integration, flag ceremony messages, short advocacy materials, classroom outputs, or brief school-based activities rather than full-day interruptions.
How to Integrate Legislated Activities Without Losing Class Time
| Type of Observance | Old Practice to Avoid | Instruction-Friendly Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Health or safety campaign | Whole-day program during core teaching hours | Short flag ceremony message, classroom discussion, advisory material, or MAPEH/Science integration |
| Environmental celebration | Suspending multiple classes for a program | Science, AP, English, Filipino, or MAPEH performance task linked to competencies |
| Values or civic observance | Long ceremony with repeated rehearsals | Homeroom guidance activity, reflection output, poster, essay, or class-based discussion |
| Competition preparation | Pulling learners out of classes repeatedly | After-class practice, targeted coaching schedule, or End-of-Term Block placement |
Wellness Breaks for Learners and Teachers
The wellness break provision is one of the most humane parts of the order. It recognizes that learning continuity depends on recovery, not just attendance. Learners need time to rest and consolidate learning. Teachers need time to recover after grading, reporting, PTC, school forms, and INSET.
School heads should issue clear internal reminders that teacher wellness breaks are not hidden workdays. If teachers are still assigned routine administrative, instructional, or extracurricular duties during this period, the school has missed the purpose of the reform.
Late Enrollment and Transfer Rules
The order also clarifies rules for late enrollment and transfer learners. This is important for parents because the new term structure makes attendance and assessment timing more consequential. Late enrollment is not simply a matter of showing up anytime during the year. Schools must ensure that the learner can still meet attendance requirements and participate meaningfully in the term’s learning cycle.
For transfer learners, schools should check records carefully, including beginning-of-school-year assessment results where applicable. This supports proper placement, learner profiling, and intervention planning.
What School Heads Must Do First
The Three-Term School Calendar will succeed or fail at school level. The national calendar gives the structure, but school heads decide whether that structure becomes real practice.
A school head’s first move should be a calendar audit. Every activity should be classified as instructional, support, reporting, professional development, co-curricular, extracurricular, wellness, or administrative. Then each activity should be placed in the correct block.
Schools should also check regional and division memoranda for localized implementation instructions, especially for calendar adjustments, activity schedules, reporting deadlines, and other operational details that may be issued after the national order.
| Leadership Task | Concrete Action | Evidence to Check |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar audit | List all planned activities and assign each to the proper block | Approved school activity calendar |
| Instructional protection | Move avoidable programs, rehearsals, and competitions outside core teaching time | Reduced class interruptions |
| Assessment alignment | Prepare a term-based assessment schedule | Assessment calendar per learning area |
| ARAL implementation | Use learner data to identify remediation groups and schedules | ARAL list, schedule, and progress monitoring |
| End-of-Term sequencing | Plan ARAL, forms, PTC, INSET, and wellness in the correct order | End-of-Term Block workflow |
| Stakeholder orientation | Brief teachers, parents, learners, SGC, SPTA, and partners | Orientation materials and attendance |
What Teachers Should Prepare
Teachers should shift from quarter-based habits to term-based planning. This means reviewing learning competencies by term, pacing lessons according to the Budget of Work, preparing formative checkpoints, and coordinating summative assessment schedules with the grade level or department.
The most important teacher adjustment is earlier intervention. If a learner is already struggling by the first assessment points, the response should not wait until the end of the term. Formative assessment, adviser monitoring, and ARAL referrals should work together.
What Parents and Learners Should Know
For parents, the Three-Term School Calendar may feel unfamiliar at first. The main change is that the school year is no longer organized around four quarters. Instead, learners move through three terms, each with teaching, assessment, reporting, and recovery periods.
| Parent Question | Practical Answer |
|---|---|
| Are exams removed? | No. Term Examinations are scheduled during the last week of the Instructional Block. |
| Will learners still receive report cards? | Yes. Progress/Performance Reports are distributed during the End-of-Term Block with PTC. |
| Are school programs and celebrations removed? | No. They should be integrated, shortened, scheduled after class, or placed in proper activity windows. |
| What is ARAL for? | ARAL supports learners who need remediation or academic recovery based on learning evidence. |
| What is the wellness break? | It is a recovery period after term activities, intended to protect learner and teacher well-being. |
Stop Doing / Start Doing Table
| Stop Doing | Start Doing |
|---|---|
| Treating the Three-Term Calendar as only a new date schedule | Use it as a school operations system for protecting learning time |
| Holding avoidable programs during core teaching hours | Integrate activities into lessons or move them after class or to the End-of-Term Block |
| Saving remediation until learners have already failed | Use formative evidence and ARAL schedules for early support |
| Clustering assessments at the end of the term | Plan assessment windows across the Instructional Block |
| Treating report card day as only grade release | Use PTC to guide parent-supported intervention and learner improvement |
| Assigning routine work during teacher wellness breaks | Protect teacher recovery time except in emergencies or exigency of service |
| Ignoring Annex D celebrations or letting them disrupt classes | Use lesson integration, short advisories, and competency-based outputs |
School Readiness Checklist
Printable Checklist Version
| Readiness Item | Status | Person/Team Responsible |
|---|---|---|
| Three-term calendar plotted | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| Opening Block activities finalized | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| Instructional Block protection rules issued | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| Assessment calendar aligned by term | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| ARAL schedule and learner identification prepared | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| End-of-Term Block workflow prepared | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| PTC and report distribution schedule finalized | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| INSET plan aligned with teacher needs | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| Wellness break protection communicated | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet | |
| Parent and learner orientation completed | ☐ Done ☐ Ongoing ☐ Not yet |
90-Day Implementation Roadmap
| Timeline | Priority Actions | Expected Output |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Study the order, plot official dates, audit school activities, classify activities by block | Draft three-term school calendar and activity map |
| Days 31–60 | Align assessment calendar, ARAL schedule, Budget of Work pacing, and End-of-Term workflows | Term-based instructional and learner support plan |
| Days 61–90 | Orient stakeholders, finalize INSET/LAC priorities, prepare monitoring tools, review risk areas | Implementation-ready school calendar and monitoring system |
Frequently Asked Questions
When will the Three-Term School Calendar start?
The Three-Term School Calendar starts in School Year 2026–2027.
When does School Year 2026–2027 begin and end?
SY 2026–2027 begins on June 8, 2026 and ends on April 8, 2027, with 201 class days.
What are the three main blocks in the new calendar?
The three main blocks are the Opening Block, Instructional Block, and End-of-Term Block.
Is the Three-Term Calendar the same as simply removing one quarter?
No. It is not just the removal of one grading period. It is a restructuring of the school year to protect teaching time, organize assessment, embed remediation, and schedule reporting, activities, professional development, and wellness more strategically.
Are school programs and celebrations still allowed?
Yes. School programs and celebrations are still allowed, but they should be scheduled or integrated in ways that protect instructional time.
When are report cards distributed?
Progress or Performance Reports are distributed during the End-of-Term Block, together with parent-teacher conferences.
When are Term Examinations scheduled?
Term Examinations are scheduled during the last week of the Instructional Block.
Does the policy include wellness breaks?
Yes. Learners have a four-day wellness break within the End-of-Term Block, while teachers have a two-day wellness break after end-of-term activities. Teachers should not be assigned regular duties during their wellness break except in emergencies or exigency of service.
What is ARAL’s role in the Three-Term Calendar?
ARAL is embedded in both the Instructional Block and the End-of-Term Block so that learner remediation and academic recovery become part of the regular calendar, not just an end-of-year response.
What should school heads do first?
School heads should conduct a calendar audit, map every activity to the correct block, protect instructional time, align assessment and ARAL schedules, organize the End-of-Term Block, and orient all stakeholders.
Source Reviewed
Human Verdict: This Is a School Leadership Test
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026 is more than a calendar policy. It is a test of school leadership discipline. The order gives schools a structure, but it cannot protect instructional time by itself. School heads, teachers, coordinators, and stakeholders must make daily scheduling decisions that respect the purpose of each block.
The most important shift is not from four quarters to three terms. The deeper shift is from scattered school operations to coherent school practice. Teaching belongs in protected instructional time. Activities must be placed where they do not weaken learning. Assessment must generate evidence early enough for support. ARAL must respond to real learning gaps. Wellness breaks must not become hidden workdays.
If schools simply rename old habits, the Three-Term Calendar will become another compliance document. But if schools use the order as intended, it can create a more organized, humane, and instruction-focused school year.
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