Everything you need to know about Luxembourg schools

So you’ve just moved to Luxembourg, and now you’re wondering about schools for your children. Are Luxembourg schools very different from those in your home country? Can your kids enrol there? How much will it cost? What curriculum options exist? Sit back and let myLIFE give you a lesson on the Luxembourg school system.*

The law

In Luxembourg, education is compulsory for children who turn 4 before 1 September of a given year and until September 1st following their 16th birthday. Leaving the educational system is only possible after 12 consecutive years of schooling.

Good to know: starting from the 2026-2027 school year, schooling will be mandatory until the age of 18.

Public school is free, and the school year typically begins around September 15 and ends around July 15. In addition to public holidays, children benefit from 6 school holiday periods: All Saints’ Day, Christmas, Carnival, Easter, Pentecost, and summer holidays.

This means that education is a requirement – but it is also a right, as stipulated in the Law of 6 February 2009 on compulsory education. Thus, the cultural, social, or linguistic background of a child cannot be taken into account to determine their admission to school.

Stages of education in Luxembourg and how they’re organised

To make it easier for foreign readers to relate, rather than try to compare Luxembourg school levels with other countries by name, let’s simply identify the age group each level pertains to. The Luxembourg school system has 3 stages.

• • The first is 1 optional year of preschool, known as précoce, that a child may be enrolled from 3 to 4 years old.
  • The next is 8 years of primary school, called fondamental and split into 4 phases (cycles):
    • Cycle 1: age 4 to 5 (or from 3 years old if the child attends optional preschool)
    • Cycle 2: age 6 to 7
    • Cycle 3: age 8 to 9
    • Cycle 4: age 10 to 11
  • Finally there is secondary school, or secondaire, lasting 7 years, from age 12 to 19. This last level is divided into several orientation tracks: classical, general, European, international education, vocational training, etc.

Further study is of course possible beyond this (at a university, for example), but we won’t go into that here.

How to enrol

If your child is born in Luxembourg and you register them with the municipality, you will automatically receive enrolment for the primary school located in the district of your place of residence. If you wish to enrol them in another school, you will need to justify your choice by specifying, for example, that the person responsible for the child’s care resides in that municipality, or that your workplace legitimizes this change.

If you request a place at a school that isn’t in your commune, you’ll have to justify your choice.

For children who have recently arrived in Luxembourg, enrolment in fundamental education (ages 4 to 11) and secondary education (ages 12 and up) is done through the Service d’intégration et d’accueil scolaires (SIA). The SIA will then assess the child’s language skills and academic achievements to find the class and level that match their abilities. More information can be found in the brochure: Welcome to the Luxembourgish School.

For children who aren’t residents of Luxembourg, there is no law guaranteeing a place in a school there. This does not mean that this scenario is impossible. The child’s admission to fundamental education will depend on the decision of the municipality and the reasons provided by the parents. For secondary education, it is the school’s administration that will decide whether or not to accept the child.

If you want to enrol your child in a private school, you will have to begin the process early. The sooner the better – you may even want to start during pregnancy!

Types of school

Like all European countries, Luxembourg has both private schools and public (or state) schools. Private schools charge tuition fees, while public schools do not. Beyond what they cost, it’s important to know that private schools have their own ways of working and their own teaching methods. Unlike public schools, they don’t all follow the official curriculum of the Luxembourg Ministry of Education.

We won’t list all of the schools in Luxembourg here, but we will say that you can start by deciding whether you’re more interested in a private or a public school for your child. Find all the educational offerings available in Luxembourg on the website of the ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse: educational offerings of fundamental education and educational offerings of secondary education.

Luxembourg offers international schools […] intended for the children of expats or cross-border workers who want to send their children to school in the Grand Duchy.

In addition to the standard school system, Luxembourg offers international schools that provide education in French, English, or German, aimed at expatriates or cross-border commuters wishing to enrol their children in Luxembourg. These are private schools. Here you can find out about international schools and get useful information about the schooling of foreign pupils.

Good to know: to help you identify the school that best suits your children, visit the website www.orientation.lu.

Consider your options well, especially in light of the languages your child speaks and their ability to pick up a new one quickly.

Languages spoken

Language teaching holds an important place in the educational system. In schools following the official curriculum, teachers speak Luxembourgish with their students during the optional preschool year (between 3 and 4 years old) and the first cycle of primary school (between 4 and 5 years old). Children learn to understand and express themselves in Luxembourgish and also receive an introduction to French.

From the age of 6 (cycle 2), German becomes the language of instruction in which courses are taught, and oral French learning continues. In cycles 3 and 4 (between 8 and 11 years old), German remains the teaching language, and written French learning is introduced.

In secondary education, the use of languages varies according to the chosen program, but in principle, German remains the main language of instruction during the first four years (except for French and mathematics courses). French then becomes the teaching language in the following years.

Good to know: children who do not speak the language used at school can, depending on the situation, join specific programs with language support (reception classes, integration, etc.). Inquire with the Service d’intégration et d’accueil scolaires (SIA).

In some institutions, especially private ones, the oral practice of the three main languages (Luxembourgish, German, and French) is common from early education. Finally, in so-called European or international schools, English, French, or German are the languages that prevail for teaching.

And these are just the languages used in the classroom. Naturally, secondary school students also have the option of learning foreign languages like English, Spanish, Italian or even Latin – and some schools offer Chinese, too!

Find all useful information about schools in Luxembourg on the website of the ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse.

Luxembourg’s school system has options for children of all ages and nationalities, with a choice of public or private schools, Luxembourgish or European programmes, and classic or technical learning tracks. Parents and their children have to work together to make the right choices.

* Content translated from French by the BIL GPT AI tool