Primary education

Primary school for children and youth is free of charge. In Slovenia, primary education is compulsory and lasts 9 years. It is divided into 3 three-year cycles. In the first cycle (1^st-3^rd grade) most of the subjects are taught by a single class teacher. In the 1^st grade, in addition to a teacher, there is also an educator.

Parents have to enrol children in the 1^st grade of primary school in the calendar year in which their children reach the age of 6. Children are to be enrolled in February for the following school year in the school district of permanent or temporary residence.

The school year begins on the 1^st of September and ends on the 31^st of August of the following year. Classes are held 5 days a week and one lesson lasts 45 minutes. Apart from summer holidays, lasting about 10 weeks, pupils also have autumn holidays, Christmas and New Year holidays, winter holidays and the first of May holidays. Furthermore, no lessons are held on public holidays.

There are also two private primary schools in Slovenia with a publicly recognised education programme.  The Waldorf School in Ljubljana offers a primary school programme based on special pedagogical principles, and the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School in Ljubljana offers a Catholic primary school programme as an organisational unit of St. Stanislav's Institution in Ljubljana.

Detailed information on the primary school programme and accompanying activities is available on the website of the Ministry of Education and Sport.