Schooling and childcare in Seoul

The international sector

Seoul has a modest number of established international schools relative to the size of the city, offering American, British and IB curricula, concentrated in the Seongbuk, Yongsan and Gangnam areas and in the southern suburbs. Demand is high and places at popular year groups are limited, so applications go in the winter before the August or September start. Admission usually involves testing, previous school reports and an interview.

• Apply from roughly November to February for the following academic year.
• Expect entrance assessment, two years of school reports and an interview.
• Registration fees, capital levies and bus charges sit on top of tuition.
• Foreign-passport requirements apply — confirm your child's eligibility with the school directly.

Public schools

Public education is free, of a high standard by international measures, and conducted entirely in Korean. Children are allocated to schools by residential address, so the flat determines the school. Younger children generally cope; a teenager arriving without Korean faces a very steep adjustment, both academically and socially. Some districts run Korean-language support programmes for foreign pupils, but provision is uneven.

• Enrolment goes through the local district education office with your ARC and proof of address.
• Allocation is by address, so the housing decision precedes the school decision.
• The academic year starts in March, not September — a mid-year arrival is a real disruption.

Hagwon and the shadow system

The hagwon — private after-school academies covering maths, English, music, coding and everything else — are not a supplement to Korean education so much as a parallel structure running alongside it. Secondary pupils commonly attend until late in the evening, and there is a curfew on how late hagwon may operate in Seoul. Foreign families often use hagwon for Korean-language tuition; families in the public system usually find themselves drawn into the wider pattern whether they intended to or not.

• Hagwon fees are monthly and per subject, and they add up quickly.
• A Seoul ordinance limits how late hagwon may teach; enforcement is a live political issue.
• Korean-language hagwon and university language institutes are the standard route for adult learners too.

Nursery and younger children

Childcare splits between eorinijip day-care centres taking children from infancy and yuchiwon kindergartens for roughly three to five, with substantial government subsidy for both. Places at popular centres are allocated through a central waiting-list system and lists are long. English-medium preschools exist, are private, and are priced accordingly.