Admission requirements and choice of ECEC setting

Basic conditions for the admission to pre-primary education are regulated by the Education Act. Nursery schools (mateřské školy) are open to children from 2 years of age to the start of compulsory school attendance (generally 6/7 years).

The enrolment procedure to nursery schools (mateřské školy) takes place between 15 March and 15 April, however a nursery school can also choose to admit children during the school year.

The decision whether to admit a child to nursery school (mateřská škola) is made by the school head. Children are admitted on the basis of written application by the child's parent (legal guardian), which is submitted to the school head together with reference to the health state of a child and confirmation of proper vaccination by a general practitioner for children and the youth (for children being registered to compulsory education the confirmation is not required). 

A child attends a catchment nursery school or the parent (legal guardian) chooses another school for the child. In the second case, the school head of the chosen school informs the school head of the catchment school about it immediately or as soon as possible. If a parent (legal guardian) chooses individual education (home schooling) for their child, they announce this fact to the school head after admission to the nursery school.

The school head of a nursery school (mateřská škola) established by a municipality or a union of municipalities preferentially admits children who reach at least 3 years before the beginning of the school year (by 31 August) if the child's permanent residence (in the case of a foreigner their place of residence) is in their catchment area, up to the school capacity stated in the School Register. The municipal authority provides the school head with a list of children in the catchment area in advance of the start of the enrolment period. If the capacity of the nusery school does not permit all of the children from the catchment area to be admitted, the highest priority is always given to children fulfilling their compulsory year of pre-school education and then to other children, generally in order from oldest to youngest. If a child with a legal entitlement to a place in a nursery school hasn’t been admitted to a catchment school, their parents can appeal this decision, first in the school itself and if this appeal is unsuccessful then with the region's education authority.

If the catchment school still has free capacity after it has enrolled all preferentially admitted children, it may admit children younger  than 3 or children from other catchment areas. For these children, the school may specify certain admission criteria which must not be in contradiction to generally binding regulations, must not be discriminatory and must not violate children's rights. For example, a criterion disadvantaging children whose parents are on maternity (parenity) leave with a younger sibling is regarded discriminatory. Blanket refusal to accept disabled children to a nursery school (mateřská škola) is also regarded as direct discrimination. The decision not to accept the child must be properly and thoroughly justified.

Nursery schools (mateřské školy) established by non-state subjects (private, denominational) cannot be catchment schools and thus do not have to observe the above described rules. The admittion criteria are determined by each of these schools individually. In nursery schools established by the employers for children of employees the admission can be limited only to the children of the organising body’s employees.

Group size and child/staff ratios

The maximum number of children per class as well as the maximum number of children per teacher is 24. The organising body may allow an exception of up to 4 children above the permitted limit (up to 28 children in a mainstream class). Generally, two teachers work in one classroom and overlapping of direct educational activity of teachers must be ensured for two and a half hours minimum every day. At this time, the maximum number of children per staff member (teacher) is 12 (14 in exceptional cases). The minimum number of children enrolled to establish a nursery school class is 13. A techer's assistant may also be present in class in a nursery school, however their presence does not influence the maximum or minimum number of children in said class. 

Children can be divided into classes according to their age in a nursery school (mateřská škola) or it is possible to have a class composed of children of different age and thus to have mixed classes with children of various age groups. The age of the children in class has a bearing on class size only in cases where children under the age of 3 are present (see below). 

The school head is obliged to ensure that the number of children who are educated at the same time does not exceed the highest permitted limit (e.g. in the case of admission of children from other nursery schools in July and August). 

The minimum level of qualification of pre-primary teachers is ISCED 354. The minimum qualification for a techer's assistant is ISCED 353 or ISCED 2 and completing a course for teacher's assistants. A detailed description of qualification requirements for nursery school staff and how to obtain them can be found in chapter Teachers and education staff.

The maximum number of children per teacher is lower in some cases:

• The maximum number of children in a class decreases by 2 children for every child younger than 3 years of age placed in such class. The overall decrease can be of up to 6 children. (Maximum number of children in a class with 3 or more children under the age of 3 is 18)
• If children with special education needs with granted support measures of the 3rd to the 5th level are included in the class, the maximum number of children in a class decreases by one or two children per child with SEN (depending on the severity), up to 5 children. (Maximum number of children in a class with 3 or more children with granted 4th or 5th level support measures or 5 or more children with granted 3rd level support measures is 19)
• A class established specifically for children with special educational needs (according to §16 of the Education Act) has a minimum of 6 and maximum of 14 children, or 4-6 children in cases where this is recommended by a school guidance and counselling facility. A special pedagogue is generally working in such a class (for more information see chapter Educational support and guidance).
• Non-education workers with prescribed professional qualification should be present in addition to the pre-primary teacher in case that there are more than 8 children present in a class of forest nursery school.
• During stays outside the area of a nursery school, there must be no more than 20 children per pre-primary teacher. In case of a class where children with granted support measures of 2nd to 5th level or children under 3 years of age are included, the maximum is 12 children.

In the school year 2024/25, the average number of registered children was 20.7 per class and 10.1 per teacher. The average school had 52 children, nearly 34 % of schools had only 1 class. (Source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.)

Annual, weekly and daily organisation

Organisation of a year

Enrolment to nursery schools takes place between 15 March and 15 April of each year.

The school year in nursery schools (mateřské školy), starts on the 1st of September of the current year and finishes on the 31st of August of the following year, same as in basic schools (základní škola). Nursery schools (mateřské školy) provide education during the whole school year, the decree on the school year does not apply to them. It means the school holidays do not apply to them. However, children are not obligated to attend the compulsory years of pre-primary education during the holidays set for the basic and upper secondary schools.

Nursery schools (mateřské školy) may close or operate on limited hours in July or August in response to local conditions, or in both months if necessary. When it is justified by serious organizational or technical issues a nursery school can also pause its operations during the school year. The school head, after consultation with the organising body, decides for how long the school operation will be reduced or halted and announces this to children's parents no less than two months in advance. During July and August, it is possible to accept children from a different nursery school, but only for a maximum of up to the period for which the other nursery school has its operation interrupted. However, the number of children educated at the same time must not exceed the permitted limit.

Weekly and daily timetable

Hours of operation and a daily schedule are the responsibility of the management of each nursery school. Some conditions are regulated by Education Act, Decree on Pre-primary Education and the Framework Education Programme for Pre-primary Education. 

A school week in a standard nursery school lasts five days. A nursery school:

• operating on a half-day basis provides education for children for no more than 6.5 hours a day;
• operating on a whole-day basis provides education more than 6.5 but less than 12 (in case of the forest nursery school less than 9) hours a day (the most frequent form);
• operating on a residential basis provides whole day education and night care (in case of the forest nursery schools the residential operation is not possible).

When a child is admitted to a nursery school, the school head and the legal guardian of the child reate a written agreement stating on which days the child shall attend the nursery school and the duration of time they should spend there on those days.

The compulsory last year of pre-primary education takes place every working day in the extent of 4 hours without interruption; the beginning is set by the school head in the school code, ranging between 7 and 9 am. Children can stay in a nursery school during the whole time of operation. The daily regime, including meals, rest and outdoor stay must be in accordance with the Framework Education Plan. The Amendment to the Education Act of 2020 legislatively enshrines distance education as an equivalent way of education in case of crisis situations. Children in the compulsory lats year are obligated to learn in the distance way to the extent appropriate to the circumstances.

The regime of the day in a nursery school includes meals (provided by school canteens, which are usually integrated into nursery schools), rest (sleep) and outdoor activities. The Framework Education Programme for Pre-primary Education states that:

• A regular rhythm of daily activities should be observed; however, it should also be flexible enough to adjust the organisation of activities to individual needs of the children and any needs that arise throughout the day; the daily programme takes the children's individual need for activity, sleep, and rest into consideration.
• Children must spend sufficient time outdoors every day and the daily programme includes directed health preventive movement activities (according to a decree the daily stay outdoors is generally 2 hours in the morning (with some exceptions), in the afternoon it depends on the duration of stay in the facility). Children have enough time to move freely not only in the garden but also in the school interior.
• The proportion of spontaneous and directed activities in the daily programme is balanced in such a way that children have enough time and space for spontaneous play and can either finish it or continue with it later.

Of the 40 weekly work hours, a nursery school teacher spends 31 hours on direct educational activities.

A nursery school (mateřská škola) can also organise recovery stays, school trips and other activities connected to the educational activities of the school. Such activities must be in accordance with the school educational programme and organised safely and in accordance with hygiene, personnel and legislative requirements. Some further requirements for activities organised by nursery schools are set out in the Decree on Pre-school Education. 

Schools often offer after-school activities such as music or visual art studios, pre-swimming education or foreign language education. These can be organised purely as extracurricular, voluntary activities outside the school educational plan and can be offered to the broader community.