I will be moving to Warsaw in September, and I would like some information about the preschools/elementary schools from people who are familiar with the city. My daughter will be 6 on November 19, and I would like to put her into a Polish school. (Not some expensive international or private school, if possible. She can speak Polish.) It is my understanding the legal age for school is 7, but that there has been much debate recently about admitting 6 year olds as well. Obviously, my daughter is borderline even for this. I have heard of zerówka being offered by public schools as well, but no little information beyond that.
What I would like to know is this:
-Would my daughter be eligible for regular public school? I can have psychological evaluations and paperwork done for her, I just need to know if this is necessary.
-Is zerówka free? Is it difficult to get into? By law, 7 year olds must go to school, but it sounds as though it is very difficult to get younger children into childcare in Poland. Also, quite expensive.
-If not free, how much would zerówka cost? How does this compare to general preschool programs? I have some information kindly given to me from warszawski a long time ago, but this information is always helpful. I will be making over 7,000 PLN a month (likely more, but I don't know how taxes will affect this).
-What kinds of steps can I take to ensure that my daughter will be in school in October? (I haven't selected an apartment yet. So if region will make a difference- and I imagine it will- I'd like to know in advance where I should move to guarantee my daughter's education.)
Thank you for all of your help!
Sorry- please ignore the regrettable typos in my post above. I accidentally hit post instead of preview...
I dont't know how it is with foriners childs, but I can tell something about howi it is with polish children:
Polish childrens are obligate to go to scholl when are 6. Either to zerówka or to scholl. Zerówka is either by scholl ( I mean in the scholl bilding) or by przedszkole( by kindergarten building, mostly it is the last age group in kindergarten).
Kindergarten where you live, to be precesise in region where you are booked in, is obligated to take your child when he or she is 5 years old. Becouse there is a big campanion in Poland right now to force the parents to sent 6 years old children to school, i would rather expect they would make you to put your doughter in the zerówka in school, rather to let her go to the zerówka in kindergarten.It means the region is important for which school/kindergarten you want to sent your doughter.
About the costs: If you decide to put your child in the public kindergarten, also zerówka which is in you must pay for it. Its not more than 300 zl including meals.
If you decide to put your child in zerówka which is in public school, it is pay free eccept you must pay for meels. It is about 5-8 zł a day if the scholl has own canteen. If ther is catering, it is more expensive.
My douther is attending public kindergarten and now she is in zerówka. The program is basicly the same as in zeróbka by the schools, She knows alphabet and starts to read, and writhe with capital letters.
I would be suprissed if she would know more if she would have attend zerówka by public school. 7000 zł???I suppose it could costs international school, but for sure not public school.
You must choose a region and be ligally booked in it, to haver full right to get free education. ( hope that with forigner children it is the same). Enrolment for KIndergartens Zerowka and By school zerówka has been just finished in march. You must go directly to kindergarten to sign your child in. Be stuborn and don't let them brass you off. As I know your child has all right to atten zerówka in the region you are booked in. I think you should look for the school already. After summer vacations it will be more difficult, and during vacations schools are mostly closed.
This all is based on Kraków's expirences, I suppose in Warszawa is more or less the same.
I live in Warsaw- I could probably give you better advice but you need to figure out where you will be living first and then decide what school. Zerowka is offered in regular public schools however it is my understanding that they are trying to change the system so that 6 year olds enter class 1. They tried to do this last year but were not organized enough to pull it off. But what this boils down to is that your daughter will be able to go to a Polish public school- it just depends on which district to intend to live in.
Thank you so much for your input! I was truly worried that there was no way I was going to get my daughter into school (or at least not affordably). I have heard horror stories of trying to get children into preschool/daycare, but this has really taken some of the edge off of my concerns. Still, I have a great deal of planning to do.
Right now, I am looking into where I might be living and what apartments are available. Something close to the metro, while more expensive, would probably be a good idea as I will be working at the University of Warsaw... and living that close to the center may not be realistic. (Again, my income is somewhere around 7000PLN a month.) From an old forum thread, it looks like Mokotów and Wilanów are nice areas with lots of expats (and it would be easy to get to the university from there). But they are expensive. Besides, I'm trying to force myself to use Polish more, so it might be nice to get away from expats anyways. Some suggestions made were: Bielany, Ochota, Wola. Of course, these suggestions were made for people who have different job locations and no kids, so I don't know how relevant they will be for me. Apparently, everyone on the forum said "no" to Praga.
I just learned about my job less than two weeks ago, and it is rather tricky trying to arrange this outside of the country. So I am just figuring everything out now... Even if I get an apartment within the month, registering my daughter for classes in person will not be possible until September. Looks like I still have a lot to think about!
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