If your child turns six before the end of August, you have school enrolment ahead of you this winter. This year it is worth reading the rules again: a new version of the Education Act has applied since 1 September 2026, and two of the changes affect parents directly.
Enrolment is earlier than it used to be
A parent is required to register a child for compulsory school attendance between 15 January and 15 February of the calendar year in which the child is to start school. This is set out in Section 36(4) of the Education Act.
Older articles and parenting forums still talk about April. That no longer applies, and the difference matters: there are two months less to prepare.
Compulsory school attendance begins at the start of the school year following the day the child turns six, unless a deferral has been granted (Section 36(3)).
Deferral is now granted on health grounds only
This is the change that surprises most parents. Under Section 37(1), the head teacher defers the start of compulsory school attendance by one school year if the child’s state of health does not allow them to take part in teaching over a long period, and this is supported by two recommending assessments:
- an assessment by a doctor (excluding a general practitioner for children and adolescents and a doctor specialising in paediatrics) or by a clinical psychologist
- an assessment by a school counselling facility, which takes the first assessment into account.
Both assessments are attached to a written request, which the parent submits during the enrolment period.
The start of compulsory school attendance can be deferred only once (Section 37(2)).
What happens after a deferral
Together with its assessment, the school counselling facility must also issue a recommendation for a support measure: education in a preschool or in a preparatory class of a primary school, following an individual education plan (Section 37(3)).
The head teacher who grants the deferral informs the parent about the duty of preschool education and how it is to be met (Section 37(5)). A child with a deferral does not stay at home: they continue in preschool and complete the compulsory preschool year there.
If the deferral is granted by a head teacher of a school that is not the child’s catchment school, they notify the head of the catchment school without undue delay (Section 37(6)).
What this means for you now, in October
The dates have moved, but waiting times at school counselling facilities have not. Appointments at Prague educational and psychological counselling centres are commonly measured in weeks or months, and you need the assessments before enrolment, so by mid-January.
In practice that means three steps:
- Now, in October or November, book an appointment with a doctor or a clinical psychologist, and with a school counselling facility at the same time. The order is set by law: the counselling facility takes the doctor’s assessment into account.
- In December, check the exact date and place of enrolment on the website of your catchment primary school. The law sets the window; the specific day is set by the head teacher.
- Between 15 January and 15 February, submit the application for admission and, if you are seeking a deferral, the written request together with both assessments.
If a deferral is not granted, or you are not seeking one
A child who turns six during the school year may be admitted earlier, but only under the conditions in Section 36(3): the child must be adequately mature physically and mentally, the parent must apply, and a recommendation from a school counselling facility is required, plus one from a specialist doctor for children born between January and the end of June.
The compulsory preschool year itself follows different rules from deferral; we wrote about them in our article on compulsory preschool education in a private preschool.
What to rely on
All the dates and conditions in this article come from the Education Act No. 561/2004 Coll. in the version effective from 1 September 2026. Schools publish their own enrolment dates and may use their own forms, so check the conditions directly with the school you are applying to before submitting anything.
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