School

Steps

1. Crèche and nursery school (vrtec): enrolment is optional, possible all year round as soon as the child is 11 months old and the parent is no longer on full-time parental leave. There are 416 vrtci, public and private; the list by municipality is published by the ministry. Each vrtec publishes its vacancies and its expected waiting time; the ministry gathers them by municipality, with the prices of the programmes.
2. Basic school: enrol your child in the calendar year they turn 6 (they generally start between 5 years and 8 months and 6 years and 8 months). A deferred start of one year at most is possible.
3. Choose the school in your catchment area (šolski okoliš): it is the public school of the area where the child lives, in temporary or permanent residence. Another school can only take them with its agreement.
4. Child who arrives during their schooling: enrolment in the catchment-area school follows the same equal-treatment rule. The documents to provide and the placement according to previous schooling are not detailed on the official pages read: the school tells you.
5. Upper secondary school (srednja šola): EU citizens enrol on the same terms as Slovenes. The call for applications is published every year in January; information days in February.
6. Schooling completed abroad before upper secondary school: attach to the application form N (application for recognition of education for continuing studies, available on eUprava), the original reports (the last three from basic school for entry into the first year), a copy with translation by a sworn translator, proof of the length and content of the studies, and a short school history. It is the receiving school that decides.

Documents

• List of documents for enrolment in basic school: not published on the pages read, to be requested from the school. As an indication (not confirmed by the pages read), plan for an identity document for the child, your residence certificate and your address declaration (see SI-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• For upper secondary school with foreign schooling: form N, original reports, sworn translations, description of the studies followed.

Costs and timelines

• Basic school: free. Textbooks are lent free of charge to all pupils by the textbook funds (učbeniški skladi).
• Meals: snack and lunch subsidised, up to the full cost, depending on the family's average monthly income per person.
• School transport: free for 1st-year pupils, for those who live more than 4 km from the school, and when the route is judged dangerous.
• Crèche (vrtec): paid, but the State covers part of the price: your share ranges from 0 to 77% of the programme price depending on the average monthly income per family member (income bracket). Parents who are not liable to income tax in Slovenia pay the full price. The reduction is requested with the form "Vloga za uveljavljanje pravic iz javnih sredstev" (application for rights funded from public funds, which is also used for other aid). Programme prices can be consulted by municipality on the ministry's portal.
• 2026-2027 calendar: school year starts on 1 September 2026; autumn holidays from 26 to 30 October 2026; Christmas from 25 December 2026 to 2 January 2027; winter holidays from 15 to 19 February 2027 or from 22 to 26 February 2027 depending on the region; May holidays from 27 April to 2 May 2027; end of classes on 15 June 2027 (9th year) and 24 June 2027 (1st to 8th year).

Common pitfalls

• Waiting for the September start. Enrolment in 1st year is done in the year of age 6: ask the catchment-area school as soon as you arrive.
• Believing that the crèche costs little from the start. The full price applies to parents not liable to Slovenian income tax: ask for the programme price before enrolling your child.
• Choosing a school outside your catchment area. It may refuse; only the school of your catchment area is required to take your child.
• Forgetting the sworn translations. To enter upper secondary school with foreign reports, a translation certified by a sworn translator (sodni tolmač) is required.
• Language. Teaching is in Slovenian (in Italian or Hungarian in the mixed areas of those communities). Support in Slovenian for foreign pupils is not described on the pages read: ask the school what it offers.
• French and international schools. EURES mentions six recognised private primary schools (Waldorf, Montessori…), an International Baccalaureate programme in English in four upper secondary schools and the European School of Ljubljana (nursery, primary and secondary, European Baccalaureate). The existence and AEFE approval of a French school in Ljubljana are to be checked in the AEFE directory and with the French embassy.

What changes by country of origin

• EU citizens: same access as Slovenes, from basic school to upper secondary school. For upper secondary school, the official page cites citizens of EU Member States; EEA citizens outside the EU are not cited there: ask the school.
• Swiss and British citizens (Scots included): basic school is open to all children who live in Slovenia. For upper secondary school, equal treatment covers EU citizens and, on the principle of reciprocity, those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia; others access it on the same terms if the pupil or a parent is a Slovenian tax resident at the time of enrolment.
• French families: French State school grants exist for schools approved by the AEFE or the Mission laïque française, subject to conditions (French Embassy in Slovenia).