Enrolling a Ukrainian child in a Wrocław school: three routes, documents and where to live

Every child in Poland has the right to a school place — what that means in practice

I speak Ukrainian, so a large part of my work is with families from Ukraine, and the first question is almost never about the flat. It is: "Where will my child go to school, and will they take her?" The answer is yes. Every child living in Poland — regardless of passport or residence status — has the right to free education in the public system, and school attendance is compulsory for children of school age. A public school cannot turn a child away because the family is foreign.

In practice that means three things. First, the eight-year szkoła podstawowa (primary school, grades 1–8) and the public secondary schools that follow it cost nothing: no tuition, no enrolment fee. Second, there is a school that is obliged to take your child: the public primary school whose catchment (rejon) covers your registered address. Third, you still have choices beyond that school — other public schools with free places, two public IB schools, and private international or bilingual schools — and the right choice depends on your child's age, Polish level and how long you plan to stay.

This guide walks through the three routes, the documents, the housing decision that follows, and what changes for teenagers. School facts come from the schools' own published pages as recorded in my Wrocław international schools guide; rules for public schools change, so I will say "ask the school" where I genuinely cannot promise.

Route 1: the nearest public Polish school

For most Ukrainian families this is the default, and it is a good one. The school is free, it is in your neighbourhood, and your child's classmates will be the children they meet in the courtyard. Polish is close enough to Ukrainian that most younger children are chatting within months — reading and writing takes longer, especially switching alphabets, but it comes.

How the catchment works

Each public primary school has a catchment area. A child registered at an address inside it is guaranteed a place there. You can also apply to a public school outside your catchment, and it will take your child if it has room — but it does not have to. So the flat you rent, and the address you register, decides which school must say yes. Confirm the catchment for a specific street with the school or on wroclaw.pl before you sign a lease, not after.

Preparatory classes and extra Polish

Public schools can run oddziały przygotowawcze — preparatory classes where children who do not yet speak Polish are taught the curriculum with intensive Polish-language support before they join a regular class. Schools can also give additional Polish lessons to foreign pupils in mainstream classes. Not every school offers a preparatory class, and the number of places varies with demand, so ask the specific school what is available this year and check the city's information for foreign families on wroclaw.pl.

Honest expectations

• Grade 1 arrival: usually smooth. Everybody is learning to read.
• Grades 2–6: a tough first half-year, then a fast climb. Extra Polish lessons help a lot here.
• Grades 7–8: harder, because the egzamin ósmoklasisty (grade-8 exam) is coming and subject vocabulary is dense. See the teenager section below.

Route 2: the two free public IB schools

Wrocław has something most Polish cities do not: two public, free schools authorised by the International Baccalaureate. If your child did well in a strong Ukrainian school and you want an inquiry-based, internationally recognised programme without private fees, these are worth knowing.

• Szkoła Podstawowa nr 108, ul. Bolesława Chrobrego 3, Nadodrze — grades 1–8, IB PYP in grades 1–4 and IB MYP in grades 5–8. Taught in Polish. Admission is catchment-based, so you need to live in its rejon.
• Liceum Ogólnokształcące nr V (V LO), ul. Jacka Kuronia 14, Huby — four-year liceum, IB MYP in klasy 1–2 and IB DP in klasy 3–4, running the Diploma since 1997. There is an English competence test for the MYP class, applications go through the city portal in May 2026 for the 2026/27 year, and there is no separate external DP intake that year.

For a Ukrainian child the key point is that SP 108 is a Polish-language school with IB methodology, not an English-language escape from Polish. It suits a child who will learn Polish anyway and a family who can live in Nadodrze, Ołbin or Kleczków. V LO suits a strong 15-year-old finishing grade 8 with good English. I go through both in detail — admission, language, where to live — in my guide to the free IB schools in Wrocław.

Route 3: private international and bilingual schools

If your child's English is stronger than their Polish, if you expect to move on from Poland, or if you want the child in school within days of arrival with no catchment question, the private schools are the route. They cost money — in my data, published annual fees where schools publish them run from roughly 37,000 to 52,000 PLN, and several quote only on request — but they are built for exactly the situation a newly arrived foreign family is in. Four stand out for a child who has Polish, Ukrainian or neither:

• ATUT Bilingual Primary School, ul. Racławicka 101 — the Polish national programme taught bilingually in Polish and English from zerówka to grade 8, with IB MYP from grade 6. The child sits Polish exams, spends half the day in English, and keeps the door open to Polish secondary school. Fees on request. ATUT profile on InternationalSchools.net.
• Maple Bear Wrocław, ul. Tadeusza Kościuszki 84, Przedmieście Oławskie — Canadian English-immersion programme combined with the Polish national curriculum, preschool and primary. Published fees from 2,802 PLN (preschool) and 3,442 PLN (primary) per instalment; the site does not state the period.
• IPS International School of Wrocław, ul. Drukarska 52 — Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary for ages 2.5–14, with Polish language and history in the curriculum. Published 2026/27 fees: 39,500 PLN for grades 1–5 and 42,500 PLN for grades 6–8 (3,950 or 4,250 PLN × 10), plus a one-time admission fee of 2,990 PLN for primary.
• British International School of Wrocław (BISC), Al. Akacjowa 10-12, Borek — Cambridge curriculum from Year 1 to A Level, ages 5–18, with English as an Additional Language support. Published 2025/26 fees 47,000–50,400 PLN for Years 1–9 (4,700 PLN × 10 or 4,200 PLN × 12), enrolment fee 2,800 PLN.

Every school on the full list, with a map and the districts families live in, is in the school list. Ask each school directly what language support it offers a Ukrainian child; I only repeat what their own pages say.

Documents and PESEL: what the school will ask for

The school will give you the exact list — and I mean that literally: ask the secretariat for it before you gather anything, because each school's form is slightly different. In general, expect to be asked for:

• The child's identity document (passport or Ukrainian ID) and the parents' documents.
• Proof of address in Wrocław — a lease or registration (meldunek), which also establishes the catchment.
• The child's PESEL number if you have one. It is the Polish personal ID number and the school system runs on it; it is also how the child gets access to public healthcare. Get it early — my step-by-step PESEL guide for Wrocław covers the office, the form and what to bring.
• School records from Ukraine — the last report card or certificate — so the school can place the child in the right grade. If you do not have them, say so; a child cannot be refused a place for lacking paperwork, and the school can assess placement itself.
• Any medical or special-needs documentation, if relevant.

Grade placement is usually by age and prior schooling, with the preparatory class or extra Polish on top if needed. Polish schools start in September and the year ends in June; a child can be enrolled mid-year, and the school is still obliged to take a catchment child whenever they arrive. If you are doing the whole move in order, the relocation checklist puts PESEL, meldunek and school into the right sequence.

Choose the district first, so the child keeps their friends

This is where I see the most avoidable mistakes. Families take the first available flat for three months, enrol the child in the catchment school, make friends — then move across the city for a better flat, and the child changes school again. For a child who has already left a home and a language, that second change is a real cost.

So I ask families to do it in the opposite order: decide the school route first, then rent for at least twelve months in a district that serves it.

• Public catchment school: pick the neighbourhood you can afford to stay in, then confirm which school covers it. My Wrocław neighbourhoods guide compares Krzyki, Fabryczna and the centre by price, transport and how family-friendly they are.
• SP 108: you must live in its catchment — Nadodrze, Ołbin or Kleczków, where two-bedroom flats run roughly 2,800–4,200 PLN in my experience.
• Racławicka campus (ATUT, WIS, IHSW): Grabiszyn, Grabiszynek, Oporów or Krzyki, roughly 3,000–4,500 PLN for a two-bedroom, with the tram on Grabiszyńska.
• IPS or BISC: the Powstańców Śląskich corridor — Gaj, Huby, Borek — roughly 3,200–4,800 PLN, dense and well served by tram.
• Maple Bear: Przedmieście Oławskie or Huby, roughly 3,500–5,000 PLN, walkable to the centre.

The school-by-school housing logic, with commute times and what each street actually looks like, is in where to live near Wrocław's international schools. A longer lease also helps with registration, which helps with PESEL, which helps with the school — it all pulls in the same direction.

Teenagers: egzamin ósmoklasisty, matura or the IB Diploma

Children under about twelve adapt; teenagers have to plan. The Polish system has two gates. At the end of grade 8 (about age 15) comes the egzamin ósmoklasisty, whose results decide which liceum or technikum a student gets into through the city recruitment. At the end of a four-year liceum (about 19) comes the matura, the exam that opens Polish universities. A Ukrainian teenager arriving at 13 or 14 is being asked to sit a high-stakes Polish exam in a language they are still acquiring. Many do it, with extra Polish lessons and a preparatory class where available, and go on to Polish licea. But the family should decide early whether the goal is Polish higher education, Ukrainian higher education, or a university elsewhere — the answer changes the school.

The alternative gate is the IB Diploma, recognised by universities across Europe and beyond and taught in English. In Wrocław the IB DP options are:

• V LO — public and free: MYP klasy 1–2, DP klasy 3–4, entry at klasa 1 via the city portal in May with an English test; no separate external DP entry in 2026/27.
• International High School of Wrocław (IHSW) — private, Racławicka 101: a four-year liceum offering IB MYP, IB DP and a Polish matura track, fees on request. The natural step up from WIS or ATUT.
• Liceum EKOLA — private Polish liceum, ul. Ojca Beyzyma 17, with an IB DP track entered after klasa 2 (DP1 from about 16–17); 200 PLN qualifying exam fee, tuition on request. A good fit for a teenager who is already comfortable in a Polish liceum and wants the Diploma at the end.
• American School of Wrocław — private, Partynice, American curriculum with IB MYP and DP to age 18; 2,300–4,900 PLN per instalment by stage for 2025/26.

Outside the IB, IPS Upper Secondary and BISC run Cambridge IGCSE and A Levels, and IPS offers an optional Polish matura alongside. The question I ask parents of a 14-year-old is simple: where do you want this child to be at 19? Work backwards from there.

What I do for Ukrainian families with school-age children

I am not a school consultant. What I do is the part between the school decision and the front door, in your language.

• We talk in Ukrainian about the child's age, Polish and English level, and how long you expect to be in Wrocław. That alone usually narrows the routes to one or two.
• I check the catchment for any flat before you see it, so a public-school family never signs a lease on the wrong side of a street.
• I find flats near the chosen school — inside the SP 108 rejon, along the Racławicka or Powstańców Śląskich tram lines, wherever the school decision points — and negotiate a lease long enough that the child stays put. Current listings are on my rentals page.
• I help with the practical chain: lease wording that works for meldunek, the PESEL appointment, and what to bring to the school secretariat.
• I say when a school is not realistic — a 16-year-old cannot enter V LO's DP from outside in 2026/27, a child without Polish will find grade 5 at SP 108 hard — so you hear it from me before you hear it from a disappointed child.

If you would rather read all of this in Ukrainian, my page for Ukrainian-speaking clients is at rieltor Wrocław, and the broader move — PESEL, bank, healthcare, housing — is in the step-by-step relocation guide. Write to me with the child's age and your arrival month, and we will start from the school.

FAQ

Can a Ukrainian child attend a public school in Wrocław for free?

Yes. Every child resident in Poland has the right to free public education, and the public primary school for your registered address is obliged to take your child. There is no tuition and no enrolment fee. The school will tell you the exact documents it needs.

What if my child does not speak Polish?

Public schools can offer preparatory classes (oddziały przygotowawcze) and extra Polish lessons, but availability varies by school and year, so ask the school and check wroclaw.pl. Alternatively, ATUT teaches bilingually in Polish and English, and IPS, BISC and Maple Bear teach largely in English.

Do I need a PESEL number before enrolling my child?

Get it as early as you can, because the school system and public healthcare both use it, but ask the school directly what it requires on day one. A child cannot be refused a school place for missing paperwork. My PESEL guide explains the Wrocław office and the form.

Which school should a Ukrainian teenager choose in Wrocław?

Decide where you want the child to be at 19. For Polish universities, a Polish liceum and the matura. For an English-language route, the IB Diploma at V LO (free, entry at klasa 1 via the May portal), IHSW, EKOLA or ASW, or Cambridge A Levels at IPS or BISC.

Which district should we rent in for school?

Choose the school route first and rent for twelve months or more near it. SP 108 requires an address in its Nadodrze catchment; the Racławicka campus schools suit Grabiszyn and Oporów; IPS and BISC suit Gaj, Huby and Borek along the Powstańców Śląskich tram corridor.