Enrolling your child in a Warsaw school

Requirements differ between schools, so treat this as the shape of the process, not a checklist to follow blindly. Confirm the specifics with the school you are applying to.

What a school will ask for

Nearly every school will want the following, and gathering it early removes most of the friction later.

School records from the previous two years. Reports, transcripts, and any formal leaving certificate. These do more work than anything else in the file, because they determine year placement. If your child’s current school issues an end of year report in June and you are moving in July, ask for it before you leave. Chasing it by email afterwards is far harder.

A birth certificate, and passports or identity documents for the child and the parents.

Vaccination records. Bring the full history, not a summary.

Any assessment or support documentation. If your child has a learning support plan, an educational psychologist’s report, or a formal diagnosis, send it with the application, not after the place is confirmed. A school that knows in advance can tell you honestly whether it can meet the need. A school that finds out in October is being asked a harder question.

Previous school contact details, since receiving schools often prefer to request a reference directly.

Translation and legalisation

Documents issued outside Poland are commonly required in Polish, translated by a sworn translator, tłumacz przysięgły. A sworn translation is a specific legal service rather than any competent translation, and the translator’s certification is the point of it.

Depending on the issuing country, school certificates may also need an apostille under the Hague Convention, or consular legalisation where the apostille does not apply. This is obtained in the country that issued the document, which is the reason to deal with it before you move.

Not every school requires all of this, and an international school teaching in English may accept English language documents directly. Ask before paying for translations you do not need.

Timing

Most international schools in Warsaw admit on a rolling basis rather than through a single annual round, so there is usually no hard closing date. What there is instead is availability, and it varies by year group. A place may exist in Grade 3 and not in Grade 7, in the same school, in the same week.

The practical consequence is that applying early buys you choice. Families who apply six months out are usually choosing between schools. Families who apply in August are usually taking what is available.

If you are arriving mid-year, say so at first contact and ask directly what the start looks like. A school that regularly takes mid-year arrivals will have a clear answer about the first two weeks, about who is responsible for the child socially, and about how catching up is handled.

Assessment and placement

Expect some form of assessment before a place is confirmed. For younger children this is usually an informal session and a conversation with the parents. For older children it commonly involves English and mathematics, and for entry into the final years it may involve subject specific discussion, because programme choices at that stage are constrained by what a student has already covered.

Assessment is about placement. Nobody passes or fails it. A school is working out which year group and which level of language support fits. It is reasonable to ask what the assessment consists of beforehand, and a school should be willing to tell you.

Placement is not always the same year group your child is in now. Different systems have different cut off dates, and a child moving from a southern hemisphere calendar can arrive halfway through a year that has already finished elsewhere. Ask for the reasoning if the proposed placement surprises you.

After you arrive

A PESEL number, the Polish national identification number, is used across public administration and will be requested by schools, clinics and most institutions. Residence registration and health cover follow the same pattern of being simpler once you have started them than they look in advance.

Your employer’s relocation provider will usually handle these. If you are moving independently, allow more time than you expect for appointment availability. The appointments themselves are quick.

Fees and what they include

Tuition varies widely between Warsaw schools, and so does what it covers. When comparing, check whether the quoted figure is for a year or a term, since third party directories frequently confuse the two, and check separately for enrolment fees, examination fees in the final years, transport, meals and trips.

The current IAS fee schedule, stated per year, is published in full here: tuition fees.

Applying to IAS

Admissions will answer questions before you apply, including the ones about whether the school is the right fit, and will tell you when a year group is tight. Applications are accepted through the year.

[email protected] · +48 22 649 14 40 · ul. Dembego 18, Ursynów, Warsaw.

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