Schooling in Portugal 2026/27: the complete guide for international families

Portuguese schooling runs in four blocks after optional pre-school: the 1st cycle (1.º ciclo, grades 1 to 4), the 2nd cycle (grades 5 and 6), the 3rd cycle (grades 7 to 9) and secondary (ensino secundário, grades 10 to 12). The first three cycles together are basic education (ensino básico). Pre-school (educação pré-escolar, in a jardim de infância) is for children from 3 until they start 1st grade.2 sources

Attendance is compulsory between 6 and 18. The duty ends when your child gets a secondary diploma or, if earlier, at the point in the school year when they turn 18. Public pre-school, basic and secondary education are free.2 sources

Public schools are grouped into an agrupamento de escolas (a school cluster, often a pre-school, several primaries and a secondary under one director). The escola sede is the cluster's head school, where the office that handles enrolments usually sits. Your encarregado de educação (the parent or guardian legally responsible for school matters) is the person who enrols the child and signs everything.2 sources

At secondary level your child picks a track: a scientific-humanistic course (the academic route to university, such as Ciências e Tecnologias or Línguas e Humanidades), a professional (vocational) course, or a specialised artistic course. All of them can lead to university if the right entrance exams are taken.2 sources

The rule is simple: a child who turns 6 on or before 15 September must start 1.º ano (1st grade) that September. A child who turns 6 between 16 September and 31 December may start that year if you ask for it when you enrol; the place is confirmed only if there is room after higher-priority children are placed, and once your child is in, the enrolment cannot be cancelled.2 sources

Each later grade follows on a year at a time, so in 2026/27 a child born between 16 September 2019 and 15 September 2020 is normally in 1st grade, and one born between 16 September 2008 and 15 September 2009 is normally in 12th grade. Early or late entry outside these rules needs ministerial authorisation in exceptional cases, requested the year before.1 source

Compared with England and Wales, Portuguese children are one year group behind by name: Portuguese 1st grade matches Year 2, because English children start Reception at 4. Compared with US states that use a 1 September cut-off, the grade numbers line up. Use the tool below to enter your child's date of birth and the school year, and it shows the Portuguese grade and cycle plus the UK year group and US grade, applying the 15 September and 31 December rules.4 sources

Creche (nursery for under-3s) is free under the Creche Feliz programme for every child born on or after 1 September 2021, with no means test, in social-sector creches, Social Security childminders and participating private creches. Since January 2024 it also covers creches run by municipalities, public universities and public institutes where the social sector has no place. Children born before that date qualify only in the two lowest income brackets.1 source

Public pre-school (jardim de infância) is free and runs from age 3. A child who turns 3 by 15 September can enrol for that September; one who turns 3 between 16 September and 31 December is accepted conditionally if a place is free; and one who turns 3 later in the school year can join during the year if there is room. Provision is universal for 4- and 5-year-olds and still expanding for 3-year-olds, so places for the youngest are the hardest to get.2 sources

When pre-school places are short, children who turn 5 and then 4 by 31 December come first, followed by 3-year-olds. Within each age group, ties are broken by special educational needs, children of teenage student parents, siblings in the cluster, Ação Social Escolar status, then home or work address in the school's area.2 sources

First enrolments (pre-school, 1st grade and arrivals from abroad) and any change of school go through the Portal das Matrículas, which you log into with a Portuguese Citizen Card, the Chave Móvel Digital (digital mobile key) or Portal das Finanças (tax portal) credentials. If you have none of these, you can apply in person at the school office in your area of residence, which keys the request in for you.3 sources

You must list five schools in order of preference (or every school, in municipalities with fewer). Places are not assigned by address alone: if a school is oversubscribed, it ranks applicants by legal priorities. In basic education these are, in order, special educational needs; pupils already in the same cluster; siblings in the cluster; ASE beneficiaries living, then working, in the school's area; other families living in the area; children from local social-sector pre-schools; parents working in the area; and finally age.1 source

Pupils already in a school do not re-apply each year: renewal is automatic unless they change school, change cycle, change guardian or must choose subjects. Admission lists appear by the first working day of July for pre-school and 1st grade and by the last working day of July for everyone else; classes are then formed within 15 working days.2 sources

If none of your five schools has room, the request waits at your last choice and AGSE makes an administrative placement, in liaison with the municipality. Transfers during the year are possible until the fifth day of classes of the second term, or later if you prove a change of address.1 source

You do not have to wait for next September. Pupils with qualifications from a foreign school can be enrolled at any point in the year; the only condition is a free place in a class that already exists. In practice, start at the escola sede of your local cluster and ask which schools have room in your child's grade.2 sources

For grades 1 to 9, there is no formal equivalence any more. Under Decreto-Lei n.º 7/2025 the director of the school you apply to positions your child, looking at the school years completed abroad, the usual age for each grade, school reports and, if documents are missing, a short assessment of Portuguese, a foreign language and maths. The school can waive legalisation and translation of documents if it has what it needs, and undocumented children can be positioned too.1 source

With your written agreement, the school can place your child one year below their foreign level, which it often suggests for mid-year arrivals. Note that positioning does not certify completion of 9th grade: a teenager who finished the equivalent of 9th grade abroad needs a formal equivalence to move into secondary.1 source

For secondary, equivalence is granted under Decreto-Lei n.º 227/2005. It is free, can be requested at any time (ideally when you enrol), and the reference processing time is 30 days from a complete file. You need the official form, certificates showing each year passed with grades and the grading scale, legalised by apostille or a Portuguese consulate, and an official Portuguese translation. Your child is enrolled conditionally and attends classes while it is processed.2 sources

Schools decide equivalences covered by the official comparison tables. Qualifications from foreign or international schools based in Portugal, IB and Cambridge programmes, and refugee cases go to the national body (formerly DGE, now EduQA) through the school. At secondary level the equivalence carries a grade converted to the Portuguese 0 to 20 scale.3 sources

Every public school must assess newly arrived pupils whose home language is not Portuguese and place them on the European scale. Pupils at level zero, A1, A2 or B1 study PLNM (Português Língua Não Materna, Portuguese as a non-native language) with its own curriculum instead of the normal Portuguese subject. Level zero was created for children with no Portuguese or no knowledge of the Latin alphabet.1 source

Where a school can group at least 10 such pupils, they have separate PLNM lessons; otherwise they follow PLNM inside the normal Portuguese class, often with extra language support. Pupils at level zero, A1 and A2 can also start with a reduced set of subjects and join the rest progressively.1 source

Pupils at B2 and C1 follow the normal Portuguese curriculum with support lessons, and may use dictionaries in tests in other subjects. PLNM pupils sit PLNM versions of national tests: codes 43/46 and 63/64 in the 4th and 6th-grade ModA tests, 93 and 94 in the 9th-grade final tests, and exam 839 at secondary.2 sources

Phones: since 4 September 2026 the restrictions on smartphones and other internet-connected devices apply to all of basic education, 1st to 9th grade. They already covered the 1st and 2nd cycles under Decreto-Lei n.º 95/2025. Schools have until 1 January 2027 to update their internal rules, so expect full enforcement in 7th to 9th grade from January. Secondary pupils are not covered by the decree.1 source

Later start for academic secondary courses: after the 2026 exam-marking problems, scientific-humanistic secondary courses started on 21 September 2026 instead of between 11 and 15 September. Other levels and all term dates were unchanged.2 sources

Teacher shortages remain the biggest risk to your child's timetable. In a survey presented on 14 September 2026, the Fenprof teachers' union said 63.7% of responding schools were affected last year, with the worst gaps in the Lisbon district, Setúbal and Faro, and in Portuguese, maths and special education. These are union figures; the Ministry had not published its own count at the time of review.1 source

Budget: the 2027 State Budget proposal (OE2027) had not been presented at the time of review. It is due in Parliament by 12 October 2026, with the general vote on 28 October and the final vote on 24 November; any changes to textbooks, school meals or teacher pay would appear there.1 source

Public schools work to a national calendar of three terms. In 2026/27 classes started between 11 and 15 September 2026 (21 September for academic secondary courses) and finish on 4 June 2027 for 9th, 11th and 12th grades, 11 June for 5th to 8th and 10th grades, and 30 June for pre-school and the 1st cycle.2 sources

Each school may swap one or two class days for other educational activities and move up to two days of the Easter break, after agreeing with the municipality. Some schools use a two-semester organisation, which keeps the same total days. International schools set their own calendars.1 source

Tuition is free, and so are textbooks: the MEGA programme gives every pupil from 1st to 12th grade in a public school (or a private school with a state association contract) vouchers for new or reused textbooks. For 2026/27 vouchers opened on 3 August for the 1st cycle, 10 August for grades 5 to 9 and 13 August for secondary. Books must be returned in good condition at the end of the year for reuse.2 sources

Ação Social Escolar (ASE, school social support) depends on your abono de família (child benefit) bracket from Segurança Social. Escalão A, the lowest-income bracket, gets free school meals and small grants for materials and trips; escalão B pays half the meal price. Meals cost at most €1.46, so €0.73 for escalão B. Apply through the school with your Segurança Social declaration.2 sources

Budget for what is not free: stationery and school supplies, after-school care, extracurricular activities and trips. Private schools are a separate world: in 2025, three top-ranked Porto private schools charged between €378 and €654 a month, plus enrolment fees, meals and extras.2 sources

Portuguese pupils sit national tests at three points. In 4th and 6th grade, the ModA tests (provas de Monitorização da Aprendizagem) are compulsory and digital; they are used to monitor and diagnose learning rather than to decide progression. In 9th grade, final tests in Portuguese and maths are compulsory to complete basic education and count for 30% of the final grade in those subjects.3 sources

In secondary, pupils on academic courses take three national exams: Portuguese plus two subjects from their specialist component, usually at the end of 11th and 12th grade. Each exam counts for 25% of that subject's final grade, and the same exams serve as university entrance exams (provas de ingresso). The exams are on paper but answer sheets are scanned and marked digitally.2 sources

That digital marking went wrong in 2026, the first year it was used for secondary exams. Results of the first phase slipped from 14 to 17 July, the second phase moved to 20 to 24 July, and the government added an extraordinary exam period from 3 to 8 September for every pupil eligible for the second phase, keeping the better grade. Requests for re-marking more than tripled, to over 21,000.3 sources

Places at public universities and polytechnics are allocated through the national access contest (concurso nacional de acesso), run online by the Instituto para o Ensino Superior, which took over from DGES in March 2026 but still uses dges.gov.pt. Applicants rank up to six course and institution pairs and compete on a score combining their secondary grade and the entrance exams each course requires.3 sources

In 2026, 49,991 students were placed in the first phase, 13.9% more than in 2025, and 9,116 more in the second phase, whose results came out on 30 September. Universities that open a third phase publish vacancies on 9 October, applications run from 10 to 12 October, and results come out on 18 October 2026, with enrolment from 18 to 20 October.3 sources

Teenagers with a foreign diploma have two routes. EU nationals, and non-EU residents who have held a residence permit for two years or more by 1 January, apply in the national contest: an IB, A level or other foreign exam can replace a Portuguese entrance exam if it is deemed equivalent, and any missing exam can be sat in Portugal as an external candidate. Other non-EU students apply under the international-student regime, directly to each institution, which sets its own requirements and deadlines.4 sources

International schools make most sense for short postings, for teenagers mid-way through IB or A levels, or when English-language teaching matters more than integration. They are not cheap: published 2026/27 tuition in Greater Lisbon runs from about €12,000 for the youngest children to about €24,000 to €30,000 in the final years, before entry fees, buses and lunches.3 sources

Entry fees are where budgets go wrong. CAISL charges a €600 registration fee and a €1,953 building fee every year for a child's first five years from Grade 1. TASIS charges a one-off €5,000 campus enhancement fee and €750 a year to re-enrol. St Julian's, according to a third-party listing, charges a €5,000 capital levy plus €1,000 in application and registration fees. Ask for the full schedule before you apply.4 sources

Porto is noticeably cheaper: Oporto British School charges €9,530 to €17,570 for 2026/27, with a €160 registration fee, a €475 acceptance fee and a refundable deposit of one term's fees. Both Oporto British School and TASIS discount fees from the third child.2 sources

Greater Lisbon has the widest choice. On the Sintra and Cascais side are CAISL (American curriculum), TASIS Portugal (American with IB Diploma), St Julian's in Carcavelos (British and IB) and IPS Cascais (English National Curriculum, which opened a secondary school at Bicesse with IGCSE). Oeiras International School offers the IB. In the city, PaRK International School, United Lisbon International School (IB), the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre and the Deutsche Schule Lissabon complete the main options.9 sources

Greater Porto has Oporto British School, CLIP Oporto International School (Cambridge and IB), the Lycée Français International de Porto and the Deutsche Schule zu Porto (Abitur). The American School of Porto, in Matosinhos, plans to open in September 2027 with Grades 7 to 10.5 sources

Elsewhere the choice thins out. In Braga, CLIB describes itself as the city's only international school and follows Cambridge programmes from age 3 to A levels. In the Algarve, Nobel has campuses in Lagoa (A levels and a Portuguese-curriculum option) and Almancil (IB Diploma). In Coimbra, Aveiro and the interior, most international families use Portuguese schools with PLNM support.3 sources

Portugal's inclusive-education law, Decreto-Lei n.º 54/2018, gives every school a ladder of measures: universal measures for all pupils (such as differentiated teaching), selective measures for pupils who need more, and additional measures for significant, persistent difficulties, which require evidence that the lower levels are not enough. A multidisciplinary team in each school (the EMAEI) decides which measures apply, with parents involved.2 sources

Pupils with special educational needs have first priority for school places. Bring any existing reports translated, and if your child already had a support plan abroad, ask the school early for a technical-pedagogical report (relatório técnico-pedagógico), the document that sets out measures under the Portuguese system.3 sources

Address matters because, after siblings and pupils already in the cluster, oversubscribed schools favour families who live (or, lower down, work) in their area. Use the school network search to see which schools serve an address, and ask the escola sede how full each grade is before you sign a lease.2 sources

If you must commit to housing first, pick an area with several schools at each level so all five of your preferences are realistic, and remember that choosing a school outside your area can leave you paying for transport.2 sources