The skolval (the school choice process) in Stockholm takes place in January and February of the year your child turns six, in the city's online service. You rank the schools you want, municipal and independent. Municipal schools allocate places by the proximity rule, independent schools by their own queues. The decision arrives in spring, and your child starts förskoleklass (the preschool year at school, at age six) in August.
It is an evening in January, the child who turns six in May is asleep, and you are sitting with the city's letter about the skolval and a map of the neighbourhood. Five schools within two kilometres, three of them municipal, two independent with queues going back to 2021 that you forgot to join. That is what the skolval looks like for most people in Stockholm: more information than you have time to read, and a feeling that this decides more than it does. Here is how it works, in the order it happens.
How the skolval works, step by step
- The letter arrives at the start of the year for all guardians of children turning six. It gives the application period and how to log in.
- You visit schools. Most hold open days in December or January. Go to two or three, not eight.
- You rank them in the online service. Put the one you want most first, and include at least one municipal school near home as your last option.
- Both guardians need to approve the application if you have joint custody. This is often missed and the application becomes invalid.
- The decision arrives in spring. You accept or decline, and apply for a fritids (after-school care) place at the same time.
- August: school starts in förskoleklass.
Independent schools with their own queue also require you to have registered your child directly with the school, often much earlier. Being in the queue is not a place. If you get an offer from an independent school, it comes from the school, and you still need to have made your choice in the city's online service.
The proximity rule: what it means in practice
Municipal schools must give priority to children who live nearby. Stockholm uses relative proximity. It works like this: when two children apply for the same place, the city compares how much further each child would have to travel to their second-nearest school if they did not get it. The child who loses most by being turned down gets the place. It sounds complicated, but in practice it means a child is rarely placed far from home, and that the nearest school is still not guaranteed in densely populated neighbourhoods.
Sibling priority exists at many municipal schools in the lower years, but not everywhere and not always as the first criterion. Check what applies to your school in the city's information, and ask at the open day.
Municipal or independent?
| Municipal school | Independent school | |
|---|---|---|
| Place decided by | The proximity rule, sometimes sibling priority | Queue time, sometimes sibling priority |
| Cost | No fee | No fee, the school voucher follows the child |
| Application | The city's online service | The school's own queue plus the city's online service |
| Fritids | At the school, the city's rules | At the school, its own rules but the same maxtaxa (the national fee cap) |
| Changing later | Applied for through the city, depends on free places | Depends on the queue |
Our experience from the families: the difference between two schools in the same neighbourhood is almost always smaller than the difference between two classes at the same school, and you cannot choose the class. Put your energy into finding a school your child can walk to on their own in a few years, and where fritids seems to work. That shapes daily life for seven years.
What should you look at when you visit a school?
- Fritids. How many children per adult in the afternoon, what are the rooms like, how late is it open? Your child spends as many hours there as in the classroom.
- The playground. Is there anything to do, and is it divided so that six-year-olds are not running among twelve-year-olds?
- The route there. Walk it on a weekday morning in February. Main roads, crossings, how dark it is.
- Staff turnover. Ask straight out how long the teachers in förskoleklass and the early years have worked there.
- How they talk about the children. Listen to the head teacher for ten minutes and you will hear whether it is about results or about children.
- Practical things. Food cooked on site or delivered, PE, whether there is a dining hall or the children eat in the classroom.
The surveys from Skolinspektionen (the Swedish Schools Inspectorate) and the city's own parent surveys are there to read, and they say something. But they say less than a visit at half past two when fritids is in full swing.
Fritids is part of the choice
Apply for a fritids place at the same time as you accept the school. Fritids is at the school and follows the school's rules, but it is a separate application with its own fee. How it works, what it costs and how the holidays work are all in Fritids.
If you do not get your first-choice school
It happens, especially in the inner city and in neighbourhoods with lots of six-year-olds. There are three things you can do. Accept the place you were given, because without a place there is nothing to change from. Stay in the queue for the independent schools if you have any there. And apply for a school change through the city once term has started: places free up when families move, and many who did not get their choice in February have changed before Christmas. The decision can be appealed, the decision letter says how, but it is unusual for that to change anything if the proximity rule was applied correctly.
What is rarely said: children are happy at most schools if they have a friend and an adult who sees them. That can be arranged at almost any school, and it is worth more than commuting to a school with a better reputation.
What happens if you do nothing?
Your child gets a place at a municipal school near home, because school is compulsory from förskoleklass. It is not a disaster, but you have given away the chance to express a preference. Make the choice, even if you only want the school round the corner, and make it in time. Applications that arrive after the period are handled after everyone else's.
How we do it with our families
Several of our families have children at a school other than the nearest one, because they changed or got their second choice. It shows at pick-up: Denise collects a seven-year-old on Södermalm at three every Monday and Wednesday and takes the tunnelbana (the metro) two stops home, because the parents work until half past five and fritids got too long. On the way they go through the weekly homework, and at home she writes on the note what happened at school. She went in with the parents the first time so the staff know who she is, and she is the same person every week. That is what makes the school a little further away work day to day.
Our nannies are out and about with children in Stockholm every week: parks, libraries, swimming pools and playgrounds. Would you like someone to take the afternoons? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your own home.
Read more: Förskoleklass · Starting school in Stockholm · Preschool in Stockholm · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
When is the skolval in Stockholm?
In January and February of the year your child turns six. The city sends information to all guardians of children of the right age, and the application is made in the online service. The placement decision arrives in spring, and your child starts förskoleklass in August the same year.
What does the proximity rule mean?
That municipal schools give priority to children who live near the school. Stockholm uses relative proximity: if two children want the same place, the one who has furthest to their alternative gets it. That means the nearest school is not guaranteed, but you rarely end up far away.
Do we have to queue for independent schools?
Yes, almost all independent schools in Stockholm have their own queues where queue time decides, sometimes together with sibling priority. You register your child directly with the school, often several years in advance. A queue is not a place, and you still make the skolval in the city's online service.
Can we change school later?
Yes. A school change can be applied for at any time during the school years, but places free up when someone moves, so it can take time. Many families who did not get their first choice in February get a place during the autumn or the following year, so accept the place you have been given in the meantime.
What happens if we make no choice at all?
Your child is placed at a municipal school near home under the proximity rule. It is usually a reasonable school, but you have lost the chance to express a preference. Make the choice even if you only want the nearest school, it takes a quarter of an hour, and both guardians need to approve it.