Change of school

You shall enrol your child in the nearest primary school, but you can enrol them in another school with a permission granted by that school principal

You shall enrol your child in the nearest primary school according to the child’s residence address. You can enrol the child in another school with a permission granted by the principal of that school, but only if that does not entail a larger number of class departments. After the enrolment, you must notify the school to which your child belongs according to the enrolment area that you have chosen another school.
 
You can enrol your child in a school that the child does not belong to according to their enrolment area if:

• your child needs a special education programme for children with disabilities;
• you are enrolling your child in a school established by a religious community;
• you are enrolling your child in a school established by another legal or natural person (“private school”).

Transfer to another school

A full-time pupil can, during the course of education, change the programme in the same or another school, i.e. transfer from one school to the other that is carrying out the same educational programme, by the start of the second term at the latest.
 
Exceptionally, if you have relocated from one place to another, the school carrying out the same education programme must enrol your child even after the first term ends.
 
At the parent’s request, the decision on the change of programme in another school, i.e. on the transfer from one school to another carrying out the same education programme, is made by the teachers’ council while making sure that the decision does not affect the quality of the educational process and that is respects the prescribed pedagogical standards.
 
A pupil shall be transferred from one school to another school that carries out the same education programme based on their transcript of records. The school that the pupil is leaving will issue a transcript of records and delete the pupil from its records within seven days from the receipt of the notification of enrolment in another school.
 
When the pupil receives a pedagogical measure of relocation to another school, the primary school notifies the county administration department in charge of education, i.e., the office of the City of Zagreb in charge of education, and it shall, within seven days, determine the primary school in which the pupil will continue his or her education. Generally speaking, this pupil shall be relocated to a school whose enrolment area is adjacent to the enrolment area of the first school.

Recognition of education qualifications from other countries

If your child completed primary school, school grade, school term or some other primary school period in another country, they can continue their education in the Republic of Croatia after the recognition of education qualifications from the other country.
 
The procedure for the recognition of education qualifications from other countries, for the purpose of the continuation of primary education, is conducted by the school to which you, as a parent/guardian, submit the request for the continuation of education.
 
The school's expert team shall determine if the child needs additional assistance for inclusion in the primary education system.
 
If your child does not speak Croatian at all or does not know it well enough, they can be included in the preparatory or supplementary classes of Croatian language on the basis of a suggestion by the school's expert team and the exam for determining their level of knowledge.