🇨🇿 Prague · Schools
Schooling and childcare in Prague
Free state schools taught entirely in Czech with a guaranteed catchment place, and a small, expensive international sector that fills a year ahead.
The thing people get wrongState primary places are allocated by catchment (spádová škola) from your registered address, and enrolment — zápis — runs in April for a September start. Arriving in August and expecting to pick a school is the standard mistake.
Indicative figures
- State schoolFreeMaterials, trips and družina are not.
- Primary enrolment (zápis)1 – 30 AprilFor a September start.
- Nursery school enrolment2 – 16 MayFor a September start.
- International school feesKč 300,000 – Kč 850,000/yearWide range by school and year group.
- Private nursery / dětská skupinaKč 10,000 – Kč 20,000/month
Checked . Ranges, not quotes — your Insider confirms the current numbers in Prague before you commit to anything.
State schools
Compulsory schooling starts in September for a child who has turned six by 31 August, 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 for the first year of základní škola is held between 1 and 30 April for the following September; each school sets its days inside that window.
- 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.
- A child who arrives during the year enrols directly with the catchment school's head.
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 run from roughly Kč 300,000 to Kč 850,000 a year by school and year group — the International School of Prague's final two years are about Kč 750,000 — and application fees, deposits and capital charges sit on top.
- 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: several of the largest schools are in Prague 6.
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 decided in an enrolment round held between 2 and 16 May for September. 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.