Schooling and childcare in Copenhagen

Compulsory school, and the November window

Schooling is compulsory from six to sixteen and begins on 1 August of the calendar year in which the child turns six. The public folkeskole is free. Enrolment for the 2027/28 year opens on Monday 2 November 2026 and runs for three weeks that month, with placement confirmed at the end of January through Digital Post. If you miss it you contact the district school directly instead, and the school district follows your child's registered address.

• The 2026/27 school year began on 11 August 2026.
• The city's guiding holiday plan: autumn 12–16 October 2026, Christmas 21 December 2026 to 1 January 2027, winter 15–19 February 2027, Easter 22–29 March 2027, and summer from 28 June 2027. It is advisory, so confirm with the school before booking anything.

If your child does not speak Danish

Families of children who do not speak Danish do not use the November online enrolment at all. You contact your local area office, which assesses the child's language, literacy and numeracy and then recommends either a mainstream class with language support or a reception class. Enrolment needs a registered Copenhagen address and a planned stay of more than six months. Reception classes, modtagelsesklasser, are grouped 6–9, 9–13 and 13–16 years with separate provision for 15 to 17 year olds, and a child spends at most two years in one before moving to a mainstream class.

The international options

European School Copenhagen is the only public international school in the city and it is free, but places are limited, so ask the school itself about eligibility and when applications close. Copenhagen International School takes applications through the year as space allows rather than to a single deadline. Its 2026/27 tuition is DKK 155,000 from Kindergarten to Grade 5, DKK 178,000 for Grades 6 to 10 and DKK 215,000 for Grades 11 and 12, with Pre-Kindergarten at DKK 194,000. Tuition covers instruction, books and curriculum materials, while lunch, after-school activities, sport and trips are billed separately.

• A non-refundable application fee of DKK 3,000 per application, and a non-refundable registration fee of DKK 40,000 due within five business days of accepting a place. Miss those five days and the contract is cancelled.
• Paying tuition in instalments adds a DKK 3,000 administration fee, and each late-payment reminder costs DKK 125.

Childcare before school

Copenhagen guarantees a place in a nursery or with a public childminder within two months of the registration date, no more than four kilometres from your home. The guarantee is a floor, not a strategy: the city's own advice is to register as early as you can, because the popular institutions carry waiting lists, and for kindergarten the seniority date is best secured by the child's second birthday. A child already in public childcare cannot rejoin the guarantee list unless you move more than four kilometres within Copenhagen, and one month's notice to Pladsanvisningen — not to the institution — gives a place up. Nursery, vuggestue, runs from six months to two years and ten months, and kindergarten, børnehave, from there until school start.

• Fees from 1 May 2026: DKK 4,289 a month with lunch or DKK 3,555 without up to the age of three years and one month, then DKK 2,816 with lunch or DKK 1,988 without.
• A childminder, dagpleje, is DKK 3,489 with lunch up to three and DKK 2,816 from three. After-school fritidsinstitution or KKFO is DKK 2,042 a month (2026), with July free.
• To apply you need MitID, the child's CPR number and a registered Copenhagen address, and you apply through Digital Pladsanvisning.