How to get your children into school and daycare in Denmark

How does childcare and school work in Denmark?

Denmark’s system splits childhood into clear stages, each with a Danish name you will see on every form. Municipal daycare runs from around 6 months to school start, and the folkeskole (municipal primary and lower secondary school) runs from age 6 to about 16. Both are subsidised, and both are allocated by your address through the kommune (municipality). The City of Copenhagen sets out the stages and age ranges on its public childcare page.

Daycare is not free. You pay a monthly fee that drops from the first day of the month in which your child turns 3 years and 1 month. That is later than the move to børnehave at 2 years and 10 months, so you pay the vuggestue rate for part of your child’s kindergarten time. There is also a sibling discount for more than one child in care. Fees differ a lot between kommuner, so check your own kommune’s price list if you do not live in Copenhagen.

What do vuggestue, børnehave, dagpleje and SFO mean?

Each stage has a name. Copenhagen’s own childcare dictionary defines them:

• Vuggestue (day nursery): from 6 months to 2 years and 10 months, usually 60 to 96 children with adults in small groups.
• Dagpleje (registered childminder): one municipal childminder looks after a few children in their own home.
• Børnehave (kindergarten): from 2 years and 10 months until school start, typically 44 to 96 children.
• SFO / KKFO (skolefritidsordning, after-school care): for school children who need care before and after the school day.
• Fritidsklub: a club for older children, cheaper again.

How do you apply for daycare in Copenhagen?

You apply through the kommune’s Digital Pladsanvisning self-service, where you sign up, accept an offer and apply for subsidies.

1. Get a CPR number for yourself and your child, and register a Copenhagen address. Both are required. If you are arriving from abroad, you cannot register for CPR until you hold a work and residence permit (non-EU/EEA) or an EU residence document (EU/EEA/Swiss), so start that immediately Life in Denmark.
2. Log in with MitID and open Digital Pladsanvisning.
3. List your preferred institutions. There is usually a waiting list, so sign up before your child is 4 months old.
4. Take the offer you are given, unless you can wait longer. If you decline a plads from the guarantee list, your child is removed from that list (you keep your place on any specific waiting list, and the new sign-up date applies if you join a new one) City of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen’s childcare guarantee means that, once you are on the guaranteed list, your child is offered a place within two months, within 4 km of your address. It guarantees a place in the city, not a place at a specific institution City of Copenhagen. Two limits sit under that: the waiting list counts from the day your child turns 4 months old, and no place starts before the child is 6 months old, which is why most children are offered a place at around a year City of Copenhagen.

The city also runs a separate route for newcomers: in your first months in Denmark, contact the local area office for your district, and a coordinator will find your child an individual place rather than putting you through the normal lists. If you are not yet living in Copenhagen, you can still contact an area office for advice before you move City of Copenhagen.

How much does daycare cost?

Prices below are the Copenhagen municipal rates that took effect on 1 May 2026, from the kommune’s price list for daycare. You are billed monthly in advance. July is payment-free for SFO/KKFO and fritidsklub, but not for vuggestue, børnehave or dagpleje. Other kommuner set their own prices, so check if you live outside Copenhagen.

A healthy lunch meal is the default in Danish institutions: the law requires every child in a daycare institution to be offered a healthy lunch every weekday, and only the institution’s forældrebestyrelse (parents’ board) can vote to opt out. Most families therefore pay the with-lunch rate, and the lower without-lunch rate applies only where the institution has opted out of the lunch scheme Dagtilbudsloven.

The English-language version of the same list is on the city’s cost of childcare page.

There is a søskenderabat (sibling discount): you pay full price for the most expensive place and half price for the others. It is automatic when more than one child is in dagpleje, vuggestue, børnehave, an SFO or a private institution, and it follows the address where the children are registered in the folkeregister. It does not apply to a klub or a private fritidsinstitution City of Copenhagen. The discount is calculated on the place and the lunch charge together, so if you pay for a lunch scheme the half price applies to the lunch as well - the ministry states that a parent entitled to søskendetilskud for the place is also entitled to it for the healthy lunch meal Ministry of Children, Senior Citizens and Housing.

Can you get help paying for daycare?

Yes, if your household income is modest. Økonomisk fripladstilskud (income-based subsidy) follows national income thresholds and you have to apply for it. In 2026 a household income of up to DKK 218,100 gives a full free place, between DKK 218,101 and DKK 677,499 a partial one, and DKK 677,500 or more means you pay the full fee; the income counted is the household’s taxable income as defined for fripladstilskud, entered before tax but after AM-bidrag. The thresholds rise by DKK 7,000 for each additional child under 18 in the home, and by DKK 76,317 for single parents Københavns Kommune. Apply through the national self-service form, which you reach through Digital Pladsanvisning and MitID - if you do not have MitID yet, contact the kommune’s pladsanvisning instead borger.dk. Apply as soon as your child has a place: the subsidy normally runs from the first day of the month after the kommune receives your application, so a late application is not backdated, although a child’s first enrolment can be covered from its start date if the application arrives within two months Københavns Kommune. The kommune recalculates the subsidy from the income register, so too much or too little is settled on a later bill and overpaid subsidy can be reclaimed at the annual efterregulering, and you still have to report your own income from self-employment or from abroad, plus changes in household or civil status borger.dk. Copenhagen’s own page is the kommune’s fripladstilskud page.

Three other payments exist and are easy to miss. Socialpædagogisk fripladstilskud covers families where daycare is needed for social or educational reasons and the fee is the obstacle, and tilskud til privat pasning supports a private childminding arrangement instead of a municipal place; both are assessed by the kommune under the national rules on that borger.dk page borger.dk. Separately, børne- og ungeydelse (child and youth benefit) is a tax-free payment per child until the child turns 18, paid by Udbetaling Danmark, with its own residence and tax conditions. Udbetaling Danmark pays it automatically to families in Denmark, but whether that applies to you depends on your connection to Denmark and on the optjeningsprincip, so ask Udbetaling Danmark (or your kommune) to check your entitlement instead of waiting for a payment that may not start on its own: if you are not an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen an earning-in rule can reduce the amount at first, and EU/EEA and Swiss citizens have their own optjening rules. Once you have CPR numbers you can see the payment on borger.dk borger.dk.

How do you get a school place, and can you choose the school?

Every child is linked to a distriktsskole (district school) based on their address, and as a rule they have an unconditional right to a place there. But Denmark also has frit skolevalg (free choice of school): you can apply for a different folkeskole, in your kommune or another one, provided there is space and the school has a suitable offer. Copenhagen runs the annual sign-up through kk.dk/skoleindskrivning in a fixed autumn window: for school start in 2027 it is open from 2 to 22 November 2026, and you can name two schools in priority order. If you move to Copenhagen mid-year, your child has a right to a place at their district school, so contact the school directly. If you think your child is not ready to start, you can ask the kommune for skoleudsættelse (one year’s deferral); the application must be based on your child’s development and the decision is normally made before the school year starts on 1 August borger.dk. Choosing a school other than your district school can affect school transport, because the municipality’s transport obligation runs between home and your district school, and only past a set distance: 2.5 km in børnehaveklasse to 3rd grade, 6 km in 4th to 6th, 7 km in 7th to 9th and 9 km in 10th grade, or where the route is judged dangerous Ministry of Children and Education. Class sizes are capped by law at 26 pupils in børnehaveklasse to 2nd grade and 28 from 3rd to 9th grade, and the kommune can allow more in special cases (folkeskoleloven § 17). You can read how that interacts with free school choice on the ministry’s frit skolevalg page.

What is the difference between folkeskole and privatskole or friskole?

The folkeskole is free and municipal. Frie grundskoler are private, self-governing alternatives that include friskoler, privatskoler and lilleskoler. They charge fees, follow their own values or pedagogy, and must teach to a standard that matches the folkeskole. Denmark has 10 years of undervisningspligt but no skolepligt, so you may choose a free school instead. The ministry explains the framework on its frie grundskoler page.

What is 10. klasse?

10. klasse is an optional extra year after 9th grade for pupils who need more academic grounding or help choosing an upper-secondary path. It includes a week of compulsory bridge-building to a youth education programme and ends with a personal education plan. It is not a “repeat year” for everyone, but it is common. The ministry describes it on its 10. klasse page.

How are children who do not speak Danish supported?

Pupils who need language support get basisundervisning i dansk som andetsprog (basic Danish as a second language). This can take the form of a modtagelsesklasse (reception class), where pupils spend all or part of their timetable, a special group, or one-to-one teaching. A reception class may have no more than 12 pupils at the start of the school year unless two teachers are present, and the kommune can approve up to 15 pupils, or 18 where the pupils have broadly the same language needs. The basic programme must end once the pupil can join ordinary lessons, and no later than after two years. The rules sit in the ministerial order on Danish as a second language.

What about international schools?

Copenhagen has one public international school, European School Copenhagen (Europaskolen), which is free but has limited places and manages its own admissions. There are also several private international schools teaching in English, French or German, and these charge monthly fees. The City of Copenhagen does not pay for private international school places, but most of these schools are frie grundskoler, which are financed by a state grant plus school fees, and many run their own fee-reduction (friplads) schemes, so ask each school about this when you apply Ministry of Children and Education. Popular schools have waiting lists, so apply early. See the city’s list of international schools.

What do you need to bring and set up?

Apply for your CPR number and address first, because everything else depends on them. Newcomers usually cannot register straight away: non-EU/EEA citizens need a work and residence permit from SIRI or the Danish Immigration Service before they can get a CPR number, and EU/EEA/Swiss citizens need an EU residence document, so start this the week you arrive Life in Denmark. Then set up MitID, which you need for Digital Pladsanvisning, the school portal and Aula, the digital platform most Copenhagen daycare centres and schools use to communicate with parents. The city explains how parents get into Aula on its Aula page. Your CPR number comes from the folkeregister through your kommune’s borgerservice; the basics are on borger.dk.

What it costs and how long it takes

Expect the biggest cost in the first three years: DKK 4,289 a month for a Copenhagen vuggestue with lunch at the 2026 rates, or DKK 3,555 where the institution has opted out of the lunch scheme. Budget a drop to DKK 2,816 with lunch (DKK 1,988 without) from the first day of the month your child turns 3 years and 1 month, plus SFO at DKK 2,042 a month at school age, with July free. A daycare place from the guaranteed list comes within two months, but a specific popular institution can take much longer.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for a CPR number to start looking. Digital Pladsanvisning needs a CPR number and a registered address for both you and your child, so book your registration as soon as you arrive. If you already live in Denmark and are moving to Copenhagen, a moving receipt (flyttekvittering) from Borgerservice can let Pladsanvisning put your child on the waiting list before the move; families moving from abroad still need CPR numbers for both of you first City of Copenhagen.
• Only listing one fashionable institution. Add several realistic choices across districts.
• Assuming the folkeskole is compulsory. It is not; the obligation is to educate, not to attend a specific school.
• Missing the school sign-up window. For children starting børnehaveklasse it is a fixed date range each autumn (2-22 November 2026 for school start 2027), not rolling. If you arrive mid-year, contact your district school instead.

If something goes wrong

If you get an offer you cannot use, reply in Digital Pladsanvisning so it passes to the next family. If your child is struggling without Danish, ask the school directly for a dansk som andetsprog assessment rather than waiting. If a decision goes against you, every kommune has a formal complaints route, set out on borger.dk.

FAQ

Can my child get a daycare place before we have a CPR number? No. Both you and your child need a CPR number and a registered address in the kommune. Register first, then apply the same week.

Is daycare free in Denmark? No. It is subsidised, not free. Copenhagen vuggestue costs DKK 4,289 a month with lunch for children under 3 years and 1 month, at the rates set on 1 May 2026. Lunch is part of the offer by law, so the lower DKK 3,555 rate applies only where the institution has opted out of the lunch scheme.

Do we have to send our child to the local folkeskole? No. Every child has a district school by address, but you may apply for another folkeskole or choose a private friskole or privatskole and pay its fees.

What happens if our child does not speak Danish? The school provides basisundervisning i dansk som andetsprog, often as a modtagelsesklasse of up to 12 pupils, and this ends within two years.

How long is the waiting list in Copenhagen? It depends on district and age. Sign up before your child is 4 months old, and the childcare guarantee gives you a place within two months once you are on the guaranteed list.