Working here
2025 end of year closedown dates
The University will be closed from Monday 22 December 2025 to Monday 5 January 2026 inclusive.
The University is providing a total of four (4) University holidays. In addition four (4) days will need to be taken as directed annual leave days alongside the public holidays. The calendar of dates is below.
All academic, professional, teaching and senior staff to book their directed leave in MyHR and ensure it is approved by their manager as soon as possible.
Any leave not approved will be processed by Human Resource Services on your behalf prior to the end of year closedown.
If your contract ends on 31 December 2025, the system restricts leave bookings beyond that date. There are a couple of options available for you:
- Option 1: Book leave up to your contract end date (31/12/2025), and once your contract is extended, you can book the remaining leave up to 5 January yourself in MyHR.
- Option 2: Book leave up to 31/12/2025, and HR will complete a bulk upload closer to Christmas to capture leave bookings up to 5 January.
If you have insufficient annual leave available, you may apply for an advance of your annual leave entitlement, or use long service leave if available (bookable in HRonline), or unpaid leave via ServiceNow. Please note that the use of life leave, personal/carers leave, or flexitime during the closedown period is not permitted.
If you work in a critical role that requires an exemption to work during the end of year closedown, please submit your exemption request via email to your Supervisor for College Pro Vice-Chancellor or Division Head ‘in principle’ approval by no later than 28 November 2025. Final approval will be granted by the Vice-Chancellor.
Academic staff are reminded that they are no longer required to request a credit to defer leave into the following year. You are encouraged to book your leave and discuss your leave plan for 2025/2026 with your Head of School if required.
HR Services has prepared Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to support you in making your bookings. If you have any further questions, please contact your HR Advisor via ServiceNow.
Frequently asked questions
The table above shows the breakdown. As a full time or part time employee, when submitting leave for the dates of 22 December to 5 January inclusive, the system will only deduct annual leave on the days you are usually scheduled to work, excluding the University holidays (also referred to as concession days) and public holidays.
For example, if you are a full-time employee working Monday to Friday, annual leave would be applied to Monday 22, Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 December, and Monday 5 January.
No, the University Holiday dates are already in the system and HR Services has reviewed and rebooked any existing bookings accordingly.
Please ensure new starters are aware of our closedown dates and the requirement to take directed leave during this time. Should an insufficient leave balance be available then annual leave in advance may be requested and approved or unpaid leave can be taken.
Any new staff joining in 2026 should commence no earlier than Monday 12 January 2026.
You can agree with your supervisor to do a combination of leave (to whatever balance you have) using leave types such as:
- Annual Leave
- Long Service Leave
- Unpaid leave application
- Purchased Leave
- Go into negative leave - requested via Get HR advice or help
Only time-critical research/research support and essential operational work such as facilities and IT maintenance will be approved to work during the break. You must request an exemption via email to your supervisor for their ‘in principal’ approval. Your supervisor will then need to seek College Pro Vice-Chancellor (PVC) or Divisional Head approval, before final approval will be considered by the Vice-Chancellor. Booking an exemption in HROnline or MyHR is no longer available.
Exemption requests must be submitted to your manager and approved by your PVC/Divisional Head no later than 28 November 2025.
HRS will supply College and Divisional offices with a spreadsheet template for recording the exemption requests for the PVC and Divisional Heads for their ‘in-principle’ approval. These are to be submitted to the Chief People and Culture Office by 28 November, who will coordinate the submission to the Vice-Chancellor for final approval.
Once VC approval has been obtained, managers can advise those staff to reverse annual leave for the days the exemption has been granted. Staff may need to complete a new leave booking for those days they are not required to work. Supervisors should only approve leave reversals once the exemption has been approved. Noting if the leave is booked by HR it will be booked as individual days and only the days directed to work need to be reversed.
Should staff reverse leave without an exemption approved, HRS will process a leave booking again for those directed leave dates.
Example:
I am required to work on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 December. My manager has advised me that my PVC/Divisional Head and the Vice-Chancellor have approved me to work on these dates. I need to delete my annual leave booking for the period 22 December to 5 January and my manager will approve the leave reversal. I will then rebook annual leave for Wednesday 24 December to Monday 5 January.
No, the simplest way to establish a leave plan is by making future bookings in MyHR. You do not need to create a leave plan document unless you and your supervisor agree this is the best way to forward plan your leave. Modifications can be made to the bookings if your plans change in 2026.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.