Your son starts the reception year while you are choosing a flat from a developer. Which school will he go to? The catchment school (szkoła obwodowa) is decided by where the family lives on the day of registration for year 1, not by the address of the flat you bought and not by your registered address (meldunek). The Education Law (Prawo oświatowe) requires every address in Warsaw to belong to the catchment area of exactly one public primary school (art. 39 ust. 5aa pkt 2), and the catchment areas are set by the Warsaw City Council in a resolution that lists streets. Before you pay a reservation fee, check two things: which school the development’s address belongs to, and whether you can move in before recruitment. All provisions are given as of October 2026 (Education Law, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 820).
What to check before you pay a reservation fee
- In which year your child starts year 1 (table below).
- The exact address of the building: the street and, if it already exists, the number.
- Which catchment area the address belongs to: ask the district office or the school.
- The completion and transfer-of-ownership dates from the information prospectus (prospekt informacyjny) and the draft agreement, set against the recruitment dates.
- The distance to the catchment school and a plan B if the move falls after recruitment.
In which year will your child start the reception year and year 1?
As of October 2026:
- Reception year. The one-year pre-school preparation starts at the beginning of the school year in the calendar year in which the child turns 6 (art. 31 ust. 4–5).
- Year 1. Compulsory schooling starts at the beginning of the school year in the calendar year in which the child turns 7 (art. 35 ust. 2).
- Earlier. A six-year-old can start school at the parents’ request if they attended pre-school education in the previous school year (in a nursery or in a reception year) or have an opinion from a psychological and pedagogical counselling centre (art. 36 ust. 1–2).
- Later. The head teacher of the catchment school decides on deferring compulsory schooling. The application is submitted by 31 August at the latest, with the centre’s opinion (art. 36 ust. 4–6).
This gives a simple calendar:
Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
| Child’s year of birth | Reception year | Year 1 (from September) | Recruitment dates for year 1 are set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2026/2027 | 2027 | the end of January 2027 |
| 2021 | 2027/2028 | 2028 | the end of January 2028 |
| 2022 | 2028/2029 | 2029 | the end of January 2029 |
Note the last point of the list above the table: even deferral is decided by the catchment school. So the address matters even if your child starts school a year later.
What does the catchment school guarantee, and what not?
A school that has a defined catchment area admits to year 1 automatically the children who live in that area, on the basis of a registration (art. 130 ust. 5 and art. 133 ust. 1, as of October 2026). Points do not apply to a child from the catchment area. Children from outside the area are admitted through recruitment, if the school has free places (art. 133 ust. 2). The authority running the school sets recruitment dates for year 1 by the end of January (art. 154 ust. 1 pkt 1) and publishes the criteria and the points awarded for them by the same date (art. 154 ust. 3).
Two rules from the information for parents about recruitment to year 1 in Warsaw for the 2026/2027 school year:
- a place in the catchment school is a right, not an obligation. You may list other schools;
- if you put the catchment school on your list of chosen schools, in any position, you keep priority there if the child does not get into a school higher on the list.
What does the catchment school not guarantee? That it is the nearest school. Catchment boundaries follow streets, not the distance from the building. The nearest school, even across the road, may not be your catchment school.
Registered address or place of residence: what do you state in the registration?
You attach a declaration of the place of residence of the parents and the child. You sign it under penalty of criminal liability for false declarations (art. 151, as of October 2026). The provision speaks of the place of residence, not of registration (zameldowanie). Registering at the new address is therefore not a condition, but it settles nothing either.
For a developer’s buyer the practical point is this: what counts is the address where the family actually lives on the day of registration. A flat under construction that you have not moved into is hard to treat as your place of residence. In that case you register the child from your current address, with your current catchment school.
How to check the catchment for a development’s address?
1. Establish the building’s address. In a city, a catchment area is described by street names or parts of streets (art. 39 ust. 5aa). Ask the developer’s sales office (biuro sprzedaży) on which street the building’s entrance will be and whether a house number has been assigned. In a large estate, buildings from different phases may stand on different streets.
2. Ask the district office or the school. Give the street and number. If the street is new and not yet in the resolution, ask the district office which school the address will be assigned to. Get the answer in writing or by e-mail.
3. Read the resolution. Catchment areas are set by the municipal council in a resolution published in the voivodeship official gazette (art. 39 ust. 5 and 5aa). For Warsaw, this is a resolution of the Warsaw City Council in the Dziennik Urzędowy Województwa Mazowieckiego. For each school it contains a list of streets.
4. Remember that catchment areas change. The municipal council can change them by a further resolution, after a positive opinion from the education superintendent (art. 39 ust. 5 and 5c, as of October 2026). The answer you get today applies to today’s resolution. For new estates, ask the district office whether a change of catchment areas is planned.
5. See the surroundings on the map. On the map of developments in Warsaw you can see where developments are located and filter them by district and completion date. A development’s page has a map with a “Schools” layer based on OpenStreetMap data. It shows where schools are, but not the catchment boundaries. For most developments the point on the map shows an approximate location (a street or an area), so always determine the catchment from the address, not from the point on the map.
If there is an empty plot next to the development that could be used for a school, check its designation in the local zoning plan. We describe how in the guide on what will be built next to a development.
If you are a foreigner and do not read Polish
All the decisive documents (the catchment resolution, the declaration of residence, the recruitment information) are in Polish. Keep a few rules from the Polish article in mind:
- the declaration of residence is signed under penalty of criminal liability (art. 151), so state only the address where the family actually lives on the day of registration. If you have not yet moved into the new flat, register from your current address;
- do not rely on an oral answer: ask the district office to confirm the catchment for the address in writing or by e-mail;
- the authority running the school sets the recruitment dates anew every year, by the end of January. Compare them with the handover date from the prospectus and the draft agreement, not with a conversation in the sales office;
- note and quote provisions in Polish, as in this text (for example art. 39 ust. 5aa), so that the district office or the school understands what you are asking about.
We work in seven languages and can go through these steps with you, including in English.
Handover date and recruitment: can you move in on time?
The authority running the school will set recruitment dates for the 2027/2028 school year by the end of January 2027 (art. 154 ust. 1 pkt 1). The recruitment calendar for year 1 in Warsaw for 2026/2027 can serve as a reference point:
Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
| Stage of recruitment to year 1 in Warsaw, school year 2026/2027 | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration of applications and requests | from 10.02.2026, 13:00, to 24.02.2026, 20:00 |
| Signed application or request at the first-choice school | by 25.02.2026, 16:00 |
| Lists of qualified candidates | 30.03.2026, 13:00 |
| Confirmation of intention to enrol | by 9.04.2026, 10:00 |
| Lists of admitted children | 10.04.2026, 13:00 |
| Information on free places | 4.05.2026, 13:00 |
How to set this against the flat:
- Flat ready, or handover before registration. If you move in before registration opens (in 2026 it opened on 10 February; the dates for 2027 will be set by the end of January 2027), you register the child with the catchment school for the new address.
- Handover after recruitment. You register the child from your current address. You can also apply to the school near the new flat as a candidate from outside the catchment area, if it has free places. After the move, the new catchment school admits a child living in its area automatically, also during the school year (art. 130 ust. 2, as of October 2026).
- Dates from documents, not from conversation. The planned completion date of works and the transfer-of-ownership date are in the prospectus and in the draft agreement. How to judge whether construction is on schedule is described in the guide on the handover date.
If the school is a condition of the purchase, count the months back from the opening of registration in the year the child turns 7 (in 2026 it opened in February). Then you can see whether a flat under construction fits at all, or whether it is better to look for a finished one.
Catchment school far from the new flat: what does the law say?
A child’s way from home to school may not exceed 3 km in years 1–4 and 4 km in years 5–8. If the way to the catchment school is longer, the municipality must provide free transport and supervision during the journey, or reimburse the child’s public transport costs if the parents take the child (art. 39 ust. 2–3, as of October 2026).
In practice, the daily route matters more than the kilometres: whether the child can walk without crossing a busy road, and whether the school run fits on your way to work. If you are looking for more space for a family, see also how much a large developer flat costs and in which districts they are found.
See also: new flats in Ursus and Włochy: commuting by rail without a car.
FAQ
Does registered address (meldunek) decide the catchment school?
No. As of October 2026, when you register a child with the catchment school (szkoła obwodowa), you sign a declaration of where the parents and the child live, under penalty of criminal liability for false declarations (art. 151 of the Education Law). What counts is where the family actually lives. The law does not require registration of residence.
Can an address fall into two catchment areas, or none?
No. The Education Law requires that every pupil’s place of residence belongs to the catchment area of exactly one public primary school (art. 39 ust. 5aa pkt 2, as of October 2026). If the street of a new development is new, ask the district office which catchment area it belongs to.
Must the catchment school accept the child?
Yes. Children who live in the catchment area are admitted to year 1 automatically, on the basis of a registration (art. 130 ust. 5 and art. 133 ust. 1, as of October 2026). It is a right, not an obligation: you can also apply to a school outside the catchment area that admits children through recruitment, if it has free places (art. 133 ust. 2).
When must a child start the reception year and year 1?
As of October 2026, the one-year pre-school preparation starts at the beginning of the school year in the calendar year in which the child turns 6 (art. 31 ust. 4–5), and compulsory schooling in the year the child turns 7 (art. 35 ust. 2). A child born in 2020 starts year 1 in September 2027.
What if the catchment school is far from the new flat?
A child’s way from home to school may not exceed 3 km in years 1–4 and 4 km in years 5–8. If the way to the catchment school is longer, the municipality provides free transport with supervision, or reimburses public transport costs if the parents take the child (art. 39 ust. 2–3 of the Education Law, as of October 2026).
Have you chosen a development and are arranging a visit to the sales office? Write to us before the first visit. We will go there together, ask about the building’s address and go with you through the information prospectus (prospekt informacyjny) and the draft agreement, including the handover date, so you can set it against recruitment to year 1. We will also point out what to ask the developer or a lawyer. A buyer on the primary market does not pay us a fee. Our remuneration on the primary market comes from agreements with developers.
Jawno · +48 692 649 839 · infojawno@gmail.com
This text is for information only and is not legal advice. Legal position as of October 2026.