How to enrol your child

Who must attend

• Age 6: one year of pre-school preparation (zerówka) from September of the year the child turns 6.
• Compulsory school (obowiązek szkolny): from September of the year the child turns 7 until primary school is finished, at most until their 18th birthday.
• Compulsory learning (obowiązek nauki): after primary school, education stays compulsory until the 18th birthday, for example at a secondary school.
• Children who are foreigners use public schools on the same terms as Polish citizens.

Documents

• Grade 1 needs no certificates. For grades 2 to 8 the school decides using documents: a certificate, attestation or other paper from the school abroad.
• If a document does not show the total years of schooling, a written statement from the parent is enough for that.
• The regulation on admitting foreigners does not list a PESEL number or a sworn translation as a condition of admission. Ask the school office what it needs. PESEL does matter for 800+, among other things.

When there are no documents

The head teacher holds an interview and places the pupil in a suitable class based on it. If the child does not know Polish, the interview is held in a language the child uses, with someone who speaks it if needed. The school may also consider the child's age and the parent's opinion.

If the school refuses

The catchment school admits the child automatically. Another primary school or a secondary school admits a pupil if it has free places, and a refusal can be challenged as described below and on the enrolment page.

• Within 7 days of the refusal: a written request to the head teacher for the reasons.
• Within 5 days: the school prepares its reasons.
• Within 7 days of receiving the reasons: an appeal to the school's appeals committee, which has 7 days to decide.
• After that, a complaint can go to an administrative court.

Step by step at a primary school

• Find the catchment school for the address where your child lives in Poland. The municipal office can help.
• Contact the school office and hand in the admission request (template below).
• Hand in the documents you have, or ask for an interview date.
• Ask right away about extra Polish, the teaching helper and the preparatory class.

Preschool and zerówka

A child from abroad enters a public preschool under the same admission rules as Polish citizens. During the school year, the head decides.

A school other than the catchment one

The pupil is admitted on the parent's application if the school has free places. Sports schools, bilingual schools and international classes have extra conditions, such as a language test when the documents do not show the child's readiness.

When the catchment school cannot cope

If admission would require organisational changes at the school, the municipality can name another school. If that is not possible either, the kurator names a school at the municipality's request. If a school sends you away without that, write to the municipality and the kuratorium.

Parents' duties

Parents register the child with the school and make sure they attend regularly. Unexcused absence from at least 50% of school days in a month counts as not fulfilling the duty, and that can be enforced administratively. So excuse every absence.