How to enrol your child in a school in Portugal
This guide is for parents who live in Portugal or have just moved here and want to get their child into a state school. Below: what to do and in what order, what is usually asked for, where to go, where people most often get stuck, and what has actually happened to families in practice.
First work out which route you are on: a regular matrícula, a transfer or enrolment in the middle of the year
If your child is starting school at the beginning of the school year, the application is usually made through the Portal das Matrículas (the school enrolment portal). This is the main route for enrolling in state schools and pré-escolar (pre-school, the stage before primary).
If you moved after the school year had already started, or your child needs a place urgently, in practice families often go not only to the portal but also in person to the Agrupamento de Escolas (school cluster) for the area where they actually live. There they may take your documents, give you a list of the papers needed and then look for a place.
If this is not a first enrolment but a change of school, you can request a transfer through the Portal das Matrículas or through the secretaria (school office) of your current school or the one you want. In recent years the process has been moving more and more onto the portal, but going in person still often helps you get the status and documents sorted out faster.
“Requesting a school transfer During the school year, you can request a school transfer for pupils in pre-school, basic and secondary education at state schools of the Ministry of Education, private schools and IPSS or equivalent institutions. The request can be made on the Portal das Matrículas or at the pupil's school office. To change school outside the school year, you will need to complete school enrolment.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal16.06.2026
Find your Agrupamento de Escolas and check exactly where to submit the documents
For a state school, what matters most is your address. If you are not sure which school or which Agrupamento de Escolas you come under, look on the map, ask at the nearest school or visit the website of the local agrupamento. It usually has the admission dates, forms, the list of documents and contact details.
Even if you plan to apply entirely online, it is worth contacting the secretaria of the chosen agrupamento first: sometimes they will tell you straight away which documents are needed in your particular case, whether you need to book a slot to hand them in, and whether you can bring any missing papers later.
This is especially important if you arrived recently, the address on your documents has not been updated yet, you have no NIF, or your child is starting at a time other than September.
“I got my daughters (year 2 and year 6) into school in October this year, in Lisbon. Judging by the messages in the chat, we were incredibly lucky. We filled in the application at the agrupamento on a Tuesday, they called on the Friday and said there were places. The following Tuesday the girls started school. I agree with the previous message that you should go to the agrupamento now for the list of documents you need and possibly book an appointment to hand them in, as we had to at our agrupamento. Both girls were given vouchers for new textbooks, which we collected at the bookshop.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal21.11.2025
“In Leiria, schools and nurseries (state and semi-state) belong to an Agrupamento. You can check on the map which one is closest to your home. Go to the website of that Agrupamento and find the dates for submitting documents (the forms and the list are there too). In Google, type Agrupamento Leiria. Here, for example, is the one we applied to last year. We came on the dates given and both children got places, at the nursery and in year 1 at school, from 15 September last year.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatleiria27.02.2024
Get the child's and the parent's documents ready
The exact list may vary slightly depending on the school and the child's age, but you are usually asked for documents proving the identity of the child and the parent, your home address and the child's previous schooling.
If your child has already been to school in another country, the school will often ask for a certificate or document from the previous school stating the current year or confirming that the previous one was completed. For older year groups, translations may be needed, and sometimes recognition or validation of school documents through the school or agrupamento.
If you do not have some of the local numbers or documents yet, do not put off contacting the school anyway. In practice, in recent cases families go to the secretaria and explain their situation; recent experience suggests this works better than simply waiting until all the paperwork is perfect.
“I submitted the documents to the agrupamento for our home address: Agrupamento de Escolas Nuno Gonçalves. The documents were passports, the rental contract, a certificate from the Junta, and a certificate from the Russian school saying our child was moving up to year 7, with a translation into Portuguese. In the application we listed 3 schools we wanted to get into. They had no places, and we were given a place at this school: Agrupamento de Escolas das Olaias. The wait from submitting the application was just over 1.5 months.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal08.03.2023
“We had our son's school certificate validated. We handed the certificate in at the agrupamento in our area. And about a month later we got the validation. It already had our 10-point grading system converted into the Portuguese 20-point one. We got the apostille on our Moldovan certificate back home and had it translated at our consulate here.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkRussosEmPortugal22.02.2023
Apply through the Portal das Matrículas or in person at the secretaria
For regular enrolment for the new school year, the main channel is the Portal das Matrículas. There you choose schools in order of preference and submit the matrícula. If the portal is playing up, do not leave it until the last day: sometimes it helps to try again later, and sometimes to go straight to the school or agrupamento in person.
If you are enrolling in the middle of the year or the portal does not fit your situation, submit the documents to the Agrupamento de Escolas where you live. In practice, parents list several schools in order of preference, and in the end the place is given wherever there actually is one.
Recent experience from 2026 shows that if something like a NIF is missing, families still go to the secretaria and apply as things actually stand. This is especially important not to put off if the application period is already under way.
List several schools and be prepared not to get your first choice
In the application you usually list several schools in order of preference. But even if you have chosen specific schools, you may be given a place at another school in the same agrupamento, or not get a place at any of your chosen schools straight away if there are none.
This is normal, especially in popular areas. So it is better to look in advance not at one ‘ideal’ school but at several acceptable options that work for getting there and back. For pré-escolar and younger children, competition for places can also be fierce.
If the school near your home is full, that does not mean your child will be left without schooling, but it may take extra correspondence, visits in person and waiting for a place to be allocated.
“We applied for pré-escolar as soon as enrolment opened. They put us down for a school in the middle of nowhere, justifying it by saying that children born in December (earlier) have priority.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatsetubal04.07.2025
After applying, keep an eye on the status and emails, and if you hear nothing, chase them up
After submitting the application, check the Portal das Matrículas and your email regularly. The status may not change straight away. If you see Sem colocação (no place assigned), that is not the end of the process, but it is a sign that you need to act: write, call, go to the secretaria or the agrupamento.
If your child was enrolled not by you through the portal but by the school itself, you sometimes have to check the school name and the lists in person. In practice, families look at the pupil lists in the school windows and then go to the secretaria if they cannot find their surname.
If there is no reply for a long time, politely chase them up in writing. Experience shows this really helps, especially after the holiday period.
“It says here that the status has changed from awaiting placement to ‘placed’. On the portal das matriculas website, the name of the school should also be shown next to this status. (If you can see this status on the portal). If you saw the status in an email, it then says that for more information you need to go to the portal das matriculas If you don't have access to the portal, and the school enrolled you itself, without you filling in an application, then go to that school and first try to find the pupil lists in the windows and look for your surname under your school year.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal03.08.2026
If there are no places or the status is Sem colocação, go to the Agrupamento and push for a place
One of the most common problems is that the application has been submitted but no school has been assigned. In this situation, do not just wait. Go to the Agrupamento de Escolas, ask where there are places, ask them to check the list of schools, and ask whether you need to choose again or wait for a further round of allocation.
According to older but still useful experience, you may be given a place not at the schools you listed but at another school where there actually is a vacancy. Sometimes the wait takes more than a month, sometimes it is resolved faster. It all depends on the area, the time of year and how full the schools are.
If you are enrolling your child in October or November, or after moving within the country, your chances depend on how full the local schools are. In large cities the difference between areas is very noticeable.
After enrolment, ask about language support: PLNM
If your child does not speak Portuguese, at a state school it is usually worth asking straight away about PLNM (Português Língua Não Materna — Portuguese as a non-native language). This does not automatically mean the same format at every school: in some places the lessons are good and regular, in others weak; some schools timetable them separately, while elsewhere they clash with other lessons.
Recent experience shows that PLNM varies a lot. At some schools children settle in well within a year to eighteen months and then move on to regular Português (Portuguese for native speakers). At others, parents feel their child struggles without a tutor. So straight after enrolment, find out: is there PLNM, how many hours, when the lessons take place, whether they clash with other subjects, and how your child will be assessed.
If the school ‘missed’ the need for PLNM or did not put your child in a group, it is best to raise this straight away with the form tutor and the secretaria.
“Escola Camões. There's apoio in every subject, but the sessions can overlap. PLNM went wrong for us: for some reason they didn't see the note in the matrícula saying we need it, so in the end it's not on our class timetable, and my son goes with some year 12 students, because most of the PLNM lessons clash with the main timetable. But on the whole we're happy with the school.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal09.02.2025
“We've also had a good experience with a state school. We arrived last September, and at the end of October my daughters started at a state school knowing no Portuguese at all, years 2 and 6. Now they both chat away in Portuguese. Both have PLNM at their schools, plus two hours a week with a tutor.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal14.08.2026
Collect textbooks and vouchers, if your child is entitled to them
In state schools, textbooks are often provided through vouchers, but in practice this does not always go smoothly. Vouchers may arrive in batches, get blocked or even require a separate request to the school or the member of staff in charge.
If your child is already enrolled, ask the secretaria straight away how to get the textbooks: where they are handed out, whether you need a code, and whether there is a separate voucher for PLNM. Sometimes vouchers arrive by email or through the school after lessons have started.
If the textbooks are delayed, do not wait in silence. Recent experience shows that families write to the agrupamento and get vouchers or an explanation once they have done so.
“last year we bought the PLNM textbook. because the school took ages ‘messing about’ with these vouchers, the teacher asked us to buy these textbooks if we could afford it. this year my eldest got her textbooks ‘in instalments’. in mid-August 5 vouchers came for ‘collect at school’. then about 5 more – some at school and some new ones from the publisher. and 4 vouchers were blocked – I had to go to the man in charge of vouchers when he got back from holiday – and there was a queue for him too. he pressed a button – and the next day vouchers for new textbooks arrived.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal11.09.2024
“I emailed the agrupamento and they sent me vouchers for the main books in reply (I didn't have a Finanças password back then either).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal17.08.2026
If your child is older and joining secondary school, discuss the year group, marks and recognition of documents in advance
For teenagers, and especially for years 10–12, everything is more complicated than at primary school. The school may ask for documents on previous schooling, translations, and sometimes validation of the school-leaving certificate or a certificate confirming the year completed. It is also important to discuss in advance whether your child will be on PLNM and how this will affect exams.
Families' experience shows that in the upper years a lot is decided case by case: some are kept on PLNM longer after a letter from the parents, others are moved to regular Português based on a test. Here it is especially important not to let things drift and to put your questions to the school in writing.
If your child is joining the final years, discuss it before lessons start: what the curriculum is, which exams, what will happen with the language and whether previous marks and documents will be accepted without extra procedures.
“They wanted to move my son onto regular Portuguese for year 12, after two years in Portugal. But I wrote a tearful letter to the school saying he wouldn't be able to get through the syllabus for years 10, 11 and 12 in year 12 alone to sit the exam. I wrote about the difficulties specifically with analysing literature and the cultural background. In the end they all understood and kept him on PLNM for a third year. That's the exam he'll sit too. This year my daughter was given a form she can sign if she wants, and she'll move to regular. But she doesn't want to yet, year 7.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal05.12.2025
What it costs, according to community conversations
| PLA/PLNM course for adults at a school in Odivelas (not school enrolment, but a guide to paid materials) | €20 for printed materials | source |
| enrolling a child in school | €1,200 | source |
| school, monthly payment | €866 a month | source |
What to bring
- Passaporte ou cartão de cidadão (the child's passport or ID, if they have one)
- A document for the parent or legal guardian
- Comprovativo de morada (proof of address: a rental contract, an atestado da Junta de Freguesia or another local document, as the school requests)
- NIF (tax number), if you already have one
- Documents from the previous school: a certificate of the year or schooling, a school report or school-leaving certificate, depending on the child's age
- Tradução para português (translation into Portuguese) of school documents, if the school asks for it
- A completed matrícula on the Portal das Matrículas or a paper application at the secretaria
- Parent's contact details: phone and email
Where people most often trip up
- Waiting only for the portal and not going in person to the Agrupamento de Escolas, even though in tricky cases a visit in person often speeds things up.
- Listing too few schools and then being surprised that the nearest one has no places.
- Applying with an old address, or one that does not match where you actually live, which holds up enrolment.
- Seeing the Sem colocação status and simply waiting, instead of writing and going to the secretaria straight away.
- Not asking about PLNM straight away, and then finding out that the child was not put in a group or that the lessons clash with the main timetable.
- For the upper years, bringing documents from the previous school late or without a translation, which delays placement in a year group.
- Not checking textbook vouchers and their activation deadlines, and then having to hunt for books at the last minute.
How it went for people
A place at the second of five schools
The family first found all the school clusters in their town, then went through the schools in each one by hand and picked the 5 closest to home. As they had only just arrived, they got help filling in the application correctly at the cluster that their priority nursery belonged to, although normally everything is submitted online. The child did not get into the first school they chose, but was accepted at the second one on the list. Their son is now in his second year there, and the family is completely happy.
Three children got places after the third letter
When a friend's three children were being placed at a school in Oeiras, places were only granted after the third letter. The first requests did not settle the matter, so they had to keep politely chasing it up. In the end all three were given places.
A letter to the Ministry of Education — a school place the same evening
There was no place for the child at any of the chosen schools, and the parents wrote to the Ministry of Education at four addresses at once. That same evening they got a call offering a place: not at the school they wanted, but twenty-five to thirty minutes' walk from home. A couple more letters with a list of preferred schools changed nothing — the reply was that there were no places there. The family accepted the offer, and half an hour later the agrupamento (school cluster) called and told them to start lessons the next day.
Five schools said no, a place was found through a paper application
There was no place for the child at any of the five schools listed in the application, and the portal showed the status ‘awaiting placement’. The agrupamento (school cluster) said they would pass the case to the education authority themselves, but the parents went there in person: they were given a paper application asking for a place to be found and were allowed to list the same schools. The application was put on a pile of similar ones, and they were told that a member of staff would now ring round the schools. Two weeks later a letter arrived: a place had been found — at a school not on their list, but not too far away; however, the class turned out to have no teacher, and lessons did not start for a long time.
Went to the agrupamento in March — places within a few days
The children, aged fourteen and four, arrived in January, and in March the parents went to the agrupamento — the cluster that covers both schools and nurseries. For their son they brought a certificate that he was in year 8, translated and certified in Portugal, his passport and his birth certificate with an apostille and translation; for their daughter, her passport and birth certificate with a translation. They were also asked for a NIF (tax number) for both — getting one was no problem. At the agrupamento they filled in applications where you choose the nearest schools and nurseries from a list, and a few days later they got a call: there were places both at the school and at the nursery. Nobody asked for a vaccination certificate, but at the school they were asked for confirmation that he had moved up to year 8 — it was sent by email, printed out, translated and shown.
Schools sent a long list of documents, but a translated school record was enough
Before moving, the person wrote to eight schools and got roughly the same answer from each: the pupil's documents, social security, utente and tax numbers, an up-to-date vaccination record, proof of address and two photos were needed, and for equivalência — certificates of completing the year, certified at the embassy. In reality, for him and others who moved, the school record with an ordinary translation was enough: nobody was interested in an apostille or the marks. At the school they asked him to point out the phrase ‘completed year 2’ in the Russian text, found the same phrase in the translation and checked it against a table of equivalent years by country — this is the document they call equivalência. To get into school, at the first stage the child's NIF and passport were enough.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.