How schooling works in Poland
If you are arriving from another country, the Polish school system takes a while to read, partly because the structure differs from most and partly because the vocabulary does not translate cleanly. None of what follows is specific to one school.
None of this is specific to one school. It is the background a parent needs before comparing anything.
Who oversees schools in Poland
The Ministry of National Education sets the national curriculum and the rules that schools operate under. Regional education authorities, the kuratorium oświaty, supervise schools within each voivodeship. Independent and international schools are entered in a register held by the local authority, and a school in that register is operating legally within the Polish system.
This matters when comparing schools, because “international school” is a description, not a legal status. Some follow a foreign curriculum only. Some are registered Polish schools that also teach an international programme. The difference affects which qualifications your child can leave with.
The stages
Przedszkole, nursery and preschool, roughly ages three to six. Optional in the early years, and widely used.
The zerówka year, age six. One year of preschool preparation is compulsory in the year a child turns six. It bridges into formal schooling. It is not a first school year.
Szkoła podstawowa, primary school, eight years. Children begin Grade 1 in the calendar year they turn seven. The eight years run as one school, with the earlier grades taught largely by one class teacher and the later grades by subject specialists.
At the end of Grade 8 students sit the egzamin ósmoklasisty, a national examination in Polish, mathematics and a modern foreign language. The results carry weight in admission to the next stage.
Secondary, four or five years. Three routes. Liceum ogólnokształcące is the four year academic route. Technikum is five years and combines general education with a vocational qualification. Szkoła branżowa is the vocational route.
The Matura. The national school leaving examination, taken at the end of liceum or technikum. It is the standard route into Polish and other European universities, and it is the qualification a Polish family will usually be thinking of when they ask what your child will graduate with.
The school year
The year begins on 1 September, or the first working day after it, and ends in the last days of June. It is divided into two semesters.
The winter break, ferie zimowe, is two weeks in January or February. It is staggered across the country in four groups so that not every region is on holiday at once, which is worth knowing if you are booking travel and your family is spread across voivodeships. Summer holidays run from late June to the end of August.
This calendar is very close to the one most international schools in Warsaw use, so a family moving between the two systems is not usually dealing with a mismatch of terms.
Where international schools fit
Most international schools in Warsaw teach one or more of a small set of recognised programmes.
The International Baccalaureate is a curriculum framework authorised by the IB Organization, with separate programmes for primary, middle and diploma years. The IB Diploma, taken in the final two years, is recognised for university entry in more than 150 countries.
An American high school diploma is awarded on accumulated course credits rather than a single terminal examination, and is accredited by a body such as Cognia. Schools offering it commonly host external tests such as the SAT.
A British route runs through IGCSE and A Levels.
The Polish Matura is available where a school is registered within the Polish system and teaches the national curriculum alongside its international programme.
The practical question for a relocating family is not which of these is best in the abstract. It is which one your child can finish, and which one is recognised where they are likely to apply to university. A family that expects to leave Poland in three years and a family that expects to stay should reasonably choose differently.
Children arriving from abroad
Children who are not Polish citizens have the right to education in Poland on the same terms as Polish children, and public schools provide additional Polish language lessons to pupils who need them.
Where a child has been educated abroad, the receiving school assesses the documentation from the previous school and places the child in the appropriate year. Schools can require assessment in subjects that the previous curriculum did not cover, most often Polish language and Polish history, and this comes up regularly for families returning to Poland after several years away.
Requirements vary by school and by situation, so confirm the specifics with the school you are applying to. That includes checking them against this page.
A short glossary
Przedszkole, preschool. Zerówka, the compulsory preparation year at six. Szkoła podstawowa, primary, eight years. Egzamin ósmoklasisty, the Grade 8 examination. Liceum, academic secondary school. Technikum, technical secondary school. Matura, the school leaving examination. Świadectwo, a school report or certificate. Kuratorium oświaty, the regional education authority. Dziennik elektroniczny, the online register where marks and attendance are recorded.
Where IAS sits in this
International American School of Warsaw is accredited by three bodies at once: the IB Organization, Cognia, and the Polish Ministry of National Education. That is what allows the school to offer the IB Diploma, an American high school diploma and the Polish Matura, so that a family does not have to decide in Grade 6 which country their child will apply to university in.
More on how those routes work: three diploma pathways.
Back to moving to Warsaw with children.
Next step
Where IAS sits in all of this.
IAS teaches inside the Polish system and alongside it, which is why a student here can leave with the Matura as well as an international diploma.
