For a family moving to Slovenia, school is a pleasant surprise: the basic school is free and open to every child who lives in the country on the same terms. The challenge is language. This guide covers schools in Slovenia for expat children, from kindergarten to the gymnasium, with the rules that matter for registration.
How are schools in Slovenia organised?
- Vrtec (nursery and kindergarten): for children from 11 months. Optional and paid. EURES counts 416 vrtci, public and private.
- Osnovna šola (basic school): a single school covering nine years, from age 6 to 15. Compulsory and free.
- Srednja šola (secondary school): gymnasium or vocational programmes after basic school. Citizens of the EU enter on the same terms as Slovenes.
Teaching is in Slovenian. In the areas where the Italian and Hungarian communities live, children can be taught in those languages.
How do you enrol a child in an osnovna šola?
- Enrol in the year the child turns six. They normally start between five years and eight months and six years and eight months old. A deferral of one year at most is possible.
- Go to the school of your catchment area (šolski okoliš): the public school for the zone where the child lives, in permanent or temporary residence. Another school can take your child only with its agreement.
- For a child arriving mid-schooling, the same equality rule applies. The official pages we read do not detail the documents or how previous schooling is placed, so ask the school. Plan on an identity document for the child, your residence certificate and your address registration.
Everything starts with your address: see the residence certificate article and renting in Slovenia. The family's flat also needs at least 8 m² per person to register.
If your child arrives in the middle of a school year, or is entering a new cycle with foreign certificates, Moovy can set out the questions for the school and the documents that may need sworn translations. It will not enrol your child or deal with the school for you.
What does school cost?
The basic school is free. In more detail:
- Textbooks: lent free to all pupils by the school textbook funds (učbeniški skladi).
- Meals: the snack and the lunch are subsidised, up to the full cost, depending on the average monthly income per person in the family.
- Transport: free for first-year pupils, for those living more than 4 km from the school and when the route is judged dangerous.
- Vrtec: paid. A reduced contribution based on income is requested with the form for rights financed from public funds, and the scale is set by your municipality.
For the bigger picture, see cost of living in Slovenia.
What is the school calendar for 2026/27?
- Start: 1 September 2026.
- Autumn holidays: 26 to 30 October 2026.
- Christmas break: 25 December 2026 to 2 January 2027.
- Winter holidays: 15 to 19 February 2027 or 22 to 26 February 2027, depending on the region.
- May holidays: 27 April to 2 May 2027.
- End of lessons: 15 June 2027 for the 9th grade and 24 June 2027 for grades 1 to 8.
What about secondary school and foreign certificates?
Secondary school applications are announced in January each year, with information days in February. EU citizens apply on the same terms as Slovenes.
If your child studied abroad before, attach the form "N" (application for recognition of education for further study, available on eUprava), the original school reports (the last three years of basic school for entry in the first year), a copy with a translation by a sworn court translator, proof of the duration and content of studies, and a short school record. The receiving school decides. A translation that is merely certified by you, or not sworn, will not do, so budget time for it.
What international schools in Slovenia exist?
EURES lists six private primary schools with publicly recognised programmes, including Waldorf and Montessori schools. The International Baccalaureate in English is offered at Gimnazija Bežigrad, Gimnazija Kranj, II Gimnazija Maribor and Gimnazija Novo Mesto. The European School Ljubljana follows the European Schools programme and awards the European Baccalaureate.
For French families: whether a school in Ljubljana is approved by the AEFE should be checked in the AEFE directory and with the embassy, because we could not confirm it from an official source. Scholarships from the French state exist for approved schools, under conditions.
How does the vrtec work for the youngest?
The vrtec takes children from 11 months old, once the parent is no longer on full-time parental leave, and enrolment is possible throughout the year. It is optional. Parental leave sets the timeline: Slovenia offers 105 days of maternity leave, 15 days of paternity leave (to be taken within three months of the birth) and 160 days of parental leave per parent, of which 60 are non-transferable.
The ministry publishes the list of vrtci by municipality. Because the contribution scale is set locally, ask your municipality what you would pay.
What should you do before you arrive?
- Settle your own residence first. The address registration is what makes you a resident of a catchment area.
- Gather the child's papers: passport or ID, birth certificate if you have it, and school reports from the last years.
- Get sworn translations of reports if your child may enter secondary school here.
- Contact the catchment school as soon as you have an address and ask what it needs, what language support it offers and when the child can start.
- Check health insurance for the family. Children are covered as family members of an insured person and are exempt from the health contribution. See health insurance in Slovenia.
For the whole move, the order of steps is in our moving to Slovenia guide.
Will language be a problem?
The official pages we read do not describe support in Slovenian for foreign pupils, so ask the school what it offers before you register. Teaching and administration run in Slovenian, so a language course for you as well as your child will make the school years easier.
What about Slovenian grades, years and school records?
Basic school runs for nine years in one school, so there is no change of school at age 11 or 12 as in some countries. The official pages we read do not explain how earlier schooling abroad is placed, so ask the school how it will be taken into account. Keep every report and certificate, original and copy, and ask the school early if a translation is required. For entry into secondary school, remember the specific list in the section above, with the form "N" and sworn translations.
What do parents get wrong?
- Waiting until September. Enrolment is for the year the child turns six: contact the catchment school as soon as you arrive.
- Picking a school outside the area. Only the catchment school must take your child.
- Forgetting sworn translations for secondary school.
- Assuming English teaching in the state system.
If you are choosing where to live with children in mind, read the best places to live in Slovenia.