EXPLAINED: How to visit school open-door days in Czechia

For parents, open days (Den otevřených dveří) can be an important first step in educating a child in the Czech Republic. Open doors take place at private and state schools as well as universities and higher education institutions throughout Prague and the country.

Open days invite potential students to take tours of a school, sometimes given by students themselves, or the opportunity to sit in on a lesson. All of them give parents the chance to meet and talk to teaching staff as they explore options for educating their child.

Open days for Czech state schools are typically listed on individual schools' websites, or you can search via a particular district's site. Prague 6, for instance, already has an overview of open days listed for the year.

Open door days "are a great opportunity not only for you but also for your children, so that together you can get an insight into the school environment, meet the teachers and get to know the atmosphere of each of the schools," Mariana Čapková, deputy mayor of Prague 6, writes on the district's website.

Visiting multiple schools is encouraged, but if you're enrolling your child in a school for the first time (kindergarten enrollment typically begins in April) it's important to note that priority is always given to children from a given catchment area (spádová oblast), then to other students from within the district, and finally to children from the wider Central Bohemian Region.

Before enrollment, schools may require proof that one of the parents and the child had been permanently residing in the given municipality for at least three months before enrollment. As Czech media report, this is due to the "sale" of permanent residence which is becoming an increasingly common practice.

Many private and international schools are switching to a more flexible year-round schedule for open-door days.

Among them, is the Meridian School in Prague, which launched an "every day is open day" policy in 2024 and welcomes visits from families anytime. Here is a selection of open days and dates for the international schools featured in our international schools guide: