Schooling and childcare in Prague

State schools

Compulsory schooling starts at six and základní škola runs for nine years. Your registered address gives you a right to a place at the catchment school; other schools may take you if they have space. Teaching is in Czech from the first day, with state-funded Czech language support for pupils who need it, and younger children generally absorb it fast. A teenager arriving mid-secondary faces a much harder year.

• Zápis (enrolment) for základní škola is held in April for the following September.
• The final pre-school year is compulsory from age five (povinný předškolní rok).
• Družina is the after-school club most state primaries run, at a nominal fee.

The international sector

Prague has British, American, French, German and IB schools, most of them outside the immediate centre, and they are small relative to demand. Places are decided the winter before the September you want, and admission normally involves school reports from the last two years plus an assessment or interview. Fees are quoted in korunas or euros depending on the school, and registration and capital charges sit on top of tuition.

• Apply between January and March for the following September.
• Ask what the fee actually includes — lunch, buses and trips are often separate.
• School location drives the housing decision for families more than anything else.

Before school age

Mateřská škola (školka) takes children from roughly three, is heavily subsidised in the state sector and heavily oversubscribed in the popular districts, with admission again decided in a spring enrolment round. For under-threes the state provision is thin; most families use a dětská skupina (registered children's group) or a private nursery, both of which charge market rates and have waiting lists.