School zones help protect children on their way to and from schools at the times and places where they are often in high numbers. The 40km/h school zones are in force on all days which are not a weekend, a public holiday or a publicly notified school holiday for government schools. The lower speed limit reduces the risk and potential severity of a crash.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://opendata.transport.nsw.gov.au/dataset/school-zone-timetables