How to roster staff during school holidays

Written by Roster Flow. Published 13 October 2026.

A cafe beside a primary school goes quiet in the holidays, while a kiosk at the beach or a shop in a shopping centre may have its busiest weeks of the year. Either way, the roster that worked in term time stops fitting. Customers arrive at different times, and so do the requests: the student casual who could only work Saturdays can now work every day, and the parent who works 9:00 to 15:00 around school drop off and pick up needs something else for two weeks.

None of this is a surprise. School holiday dates are published well in advance, which makes them one of the easiest roster problems to plan for, and one of the most common to leave until the week before.

Put the holiday dates in the calendar

Each state and territory sets its own school terms, so the holidays fall on different dates in different parts of the country. Government school dates are published by each education department. If you are near a border, or staff have children at a non-government school, check the dates that apply to them rather than assuming.

• New South Wales
• Victoria
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Tasmania
• Australian Capital Territory

The Northern Territory Department of Education publishes the Territory’s dates. Mark any public holidays that fall inside a break at the same time, from the public holiday calendar. The summer break always takes in Christmas and New Year, which bring their own roster questions.

Work out what the holidays do to your trade

Do not assume the holidays are busier. Compare last year’s holiday weeks with the term weeks either side, hour by hour, using the method in forecasting staffing from weekly sales. Match the weeks by holiday rather than by date, because the breaks move from year to year.

Write down which hours change and by how much, then roster those hours. The rest of the day may not need touching.

Collect requests and availability early

1. Set a deadlineAsk for leave requests and holiday availability by a fixed date, such as four weeks before the break, and tell everyone the date at the same time.
2. Ask students separatelyA student’s holiday availability is different from their term availability. Record it as a change for those weeks only, so their term availability comes back on its own afterwards.
3. Ask parents what they needSome want leave, some want a later start and some want fewer days. Knowing which is which gives you more ways to say yes.
4. Decide the popular weeksIf more people want the same week off than you can release, use the rule you announced beforehand. The availability and leave guide covers setting one up.
5. Publish earlyPublish holiday rosters as far ahead as you can, so casuals can plan around their shifts. When to publish the roster covers how far ahead works.

Annual leave requests need a proper answer. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on taking annual leave says an employer can only refuse an employee’s request for annual leave if the refusal is reasonable. Casual employees do not get paid annual leave, but ask them to tell you when they will be away, by the same deadline.

Rostering students in the holidays

Students are often the people who make a holiday roster work, because their availability grows just as the trade changes. A few rules and habits keep it fair and correct. The award rules below are from three common awards, so confirm yours with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool.

• Check the minimum engagement. Under the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020, a casual must be engaged and paid for at least 2 consecutive hours each time (clause 11.3). Under the General Retail Industry Award 2020 the minimum daily engagement is 3 hours (clause 11.2). The Retail award allows 1.5 hours for a full-time secondary school student only when, among other conditions, they work between 3:00 pm and 6:30 pm on a day they are required to attend school, with a parent’s or guardian’s approval (clause 11.3). There is no school day in the holidays, so the 3 hour minimum applies.
• Watch long days for under 18s. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, an employee under 18 must not be required to work more than 10 hours in a shift (clause 13.3).
• Check junior rates. Junior pay rates are paid to employees under 21 in some awards, and the Fair Work Ombudsman’s junior pay rates page notes announced changes to junior wages in the Retail, Fast Food and Pharmacy awards. Take current rates from the pay rates pages, such as the General Retail Industry Award pay rates.
• Check the minimum working age. It depends on the state or territory, and the Fair Work Ombudsman’s minimum working age page lists who to contact in each one.
• Train holiday starters properly. A casual who only works the holidays still needs a first shift with time to learn. Training new starters without blowing the wage budget shows how to plan it.
• Spread the extra hours. Do not give every holiday shift to the student who asks first. Building a fair roster for casuals covers sharing hours around.

Rostering parents and carers

Parents are often your most reliable term time staff, and the holidays are when their availability shrinks. Treat their requests as part of the plan, not as a problem to push back on.

Some employees have a right to ask for a change. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on flexible working arrangements explains that full-time and part-time employees with at least 12 months with the same employer can make a request if, among other reasons, they are the parent of, or care for, a child who is school aged or younger. Casuals can too if they have worked regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and expect that to continue. The employer must respond in writing within 21 days, and can refuse only on reasonable business grounds, after discussing the request, genuinely trying to reach an agreement and considering the consequences of refusing.

• Offer options, not a yes or no. A later start, fewer days or a swap with a colleague may work where two weeks off does not.
• Keep their hours if they want them. Moving a part-timer’s hours later in the day can keep their pay steady while fitting the care they have arranged.
• Follow the change rules. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, a full-time or part-time employee’s roster can change by agreement or with 7 days’ notice (clause 15.3(d) and clause 15.5(d)). Before changing an employee’s regular roster, the Restaurant, Hospitality and Retail awards also require you to consult them, including about the effect on their family or caring responsibilities (clauses 33, 39 and 35).

Share the popular weeks fairly

Some weeks are wanted by more people than you can release, and they tend to be the same weeks every year. A rule everyone knows about in advance is easier to live with than a decision made request by request.

• Announce the rule before requests open, such as first in first served, or a rotation that gives each person first pick in turn.
• Keep a record of who had which weeks, so the rotation is visible and nobody relies on memory.
• Do not assume parents come first. Staff without children have holidays to plan too, and one rule for everyone is easier to explain.
• Look at the summer break separately. It overlaps Christmas and New Year, which the Christmas trading roster checklist covers.

The same thinking applies to weekends and closing shifts through the break. Fair weekend and closing rotations and managing annual leave on the roster cover both in more detail.

A worked example: a beachside kiosk in the summer holidays

A cafe kiosk on a beach foreshore is covered by the Restaurant Industry Award and trades from 7:00 to 15:00. The owner’s sales from last summer show that holiday weekdays were busiest from 10:00 to 14:00, with a steady early crowd of walkers. This is its weekday roster in term time and in the holidays.

In term time the kiosk rosters 15.5 paid hours each weekday: 8 for Jo, 4.5 for Sam and 3 for Mei. In the holidays it rosters 22.5: 8 + 4.5 + 2 + 4 + 4. That is 7 extra hours a day, or 35 across a five day week, placed where last summer’s sales say they are needed. The owner costs those hours with the roster cost calculator before publishing.

Sam has worked at the kiosk for four years and asked in writing to start later during the holidays, because the holiday care her children go to opens at 8:30. The owner replied in writing within a week, keeping Sam’s 4.5 hours and moving them to 9:00 to 13:30, and Ava covers the early start instead. Ava’s 2 hour shift meets the minimum engagement in clause 11.3. Leo is 16, and his 4 hours are well inside the 10 hour limit for under 18s in clause 13.3. Every shift except Jo’s is under 5 hours, the point at which the Restaurant award requires an unpaid meal break (clause 16.2), and Jo’s break falls after the first hour and within the first 6.

On the first Monday of term the roster goes back. Sam returns to 7:00, and Ava’s and Leo’s holiday availability ends, so they are not offered weekday shifts they cannot work.

Roster Flow makes the holiday changes easier to run: availability and leave from staff phones, the roster published to everybody at once, clock ins that become timesheets, and approved hours sent to Xero, MYOB or a CSV file.

A school holiday roster checklist

• Holiday dates for your state are in the calendar, with any public holidays inside them
• Last year’s holiday trade is compared with term weeks, hour by hour
• Leave requests and holiday availability have a deadline before the break
• The rule for popular weeks was announced before requests opened
• Casual shifts meet the minimum engagement in your award
• Under 18s are not rostered for longer shifts than the award allows
• Flexible working requests are answered in writing within 21 days
• Changes to regular rosters are consulted on and given the notice the award requires
• Term time rosters and availability come back on the first day of term

Sources

• Fair Work Commission: Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119]
• Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
• Fair Work Commission: General Retail Industry Award 2020 [MA000004]
• Fair Work Ombudsman: taking annual leave
• Fair Work Ombudsman: flexible working arrangements
• Fair Work Ombudsman: minimum working age
• Fair Work Ombudsman: junior pay rates
• Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award

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