Parents' guide · school

The Spillschoul, explained to families who grew up with a different school.

"Play school": the name says it all. The Spillschoul is the two compulsory years of cycle 1, from age 4 to 6, before reading begins. If your child is starting without hearing Luxembourgish at home, begin with the guide on arriving calm on the first day; here, we map out how the system works.

What does it match back home?

This is THE question for families arriving from abroad. Here is the table that lines everything up:

Two things tend to surprise newcomers: school becomes compulsory at age 4 (earlier than in many countries), and reading and writing start in cycle 2 in German, not in French or English. That is exactly why the Spillschoul years matter so much: this is when the ear is built.

What children do (and don't do)

No reading, no worksheets: structured play, language, movement and group life. Luxembourgish is the language the class lives in, the language of the routines, the instructions and the nursery rhymes, with a first taste of French towards the end of the cycle. For a child who doesn't speak Luxembourgish yet, everything happens through the ear: recognising, understanding, daring to repeat.

The practical basics

• Enrolment: automatic through your commune once the child reaches compulsory school age (a letter arrives in spring). No choice of school: it is the school for your neighbourhood, barring an exemption. There is a public alternative, though, and it changes a great deal for the language: your neighbourhood school or a public international one.
• Hours: Monday to Friday with long mornings (often Monday/Wednesday/Friday running into the afternoon); the maison relais takes over outside class hours.
• The parents' language: teaching teams are used to families who don't speak Luxembourgish; important communications are usually available in French and German, and often in English or Portuguese.

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