Public or private nursery school: what do we choose? 2026

One of the great positive points of public schools is undoubtedly the facilities in which your children will spend many hours. They are usually very spacious and have large outdoor patios. Currently, for example in Madrid there are many private nursery schools that also have beautiful facilities with large bright spaces, although sometimes it is difficult to compete in this aspect with public ones due to the budget involved in having a building dedicated solely to this activity.

Schedule

With respect to scheduling, private schools are ahead of public schools in terms of schedule flexibility. Public schools have a school schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., allowing you to extend in the morning and afternoon with a deadline of 5:30 p.m. and without being able to cut back on the main schedule. They also do not offer the possibility of attending only 4 hours a day or only 2 or 3 days a week. This is an aspect that makes many families choose the private sector.

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Therefore, in the case of parents who work afternoon or night shifts and want to spend the mornings with their children, in principle we would rule out the option of enrolling in a public nursery school.

School calendar

Another point to take into account is the school calendar. Private schools cover the entire year, including the month of August, closing only on national holidays or those of the community of Madrid, while public schools also close on Christmas and Easter. Currently, some public schools offer to open certain non-teaching days, of course, paying for those days as extra and therefore increasing the amount to be paid that month.

The price

The price, especially in the case of families with lower incomes, is one of the strong points of public kindergartens, since the monthly payment varies depending on the income of the family unit. Therefore, it is important that families know their income level and can calculate the exact price of the fee to pay.

In some cases in Madrid, for medium or upper-middle incomes, a public daycare can cost more than a private nursery school as there is a scholarship called Check Nursery for students enrolled in private centers. This scholarship consists of an aid of 100 euros or 160 euros per month.

On the other hand, if you want your child to attend school for less than 7 hours a day, the monthly payment for a private center will be lower than that of a public center thanks to the discount from the daycare voucher.

Application period

And finally, it is important to keep in mind that a public nursery school has a closed place application period according to dates defined each year by the Community of Madrid, while a family can enroll their child in a private school at any time of the year.

That is, if the child was not born during the registration period for a public school place, he or she cannot be enrolled, or a place reserved, for the scheduled time of the end of maternity leave. Therefore, if maternity leave ends in January or February, there will be no possibility of taking the baby to a public school at that time.

These are the main practical differences between private and public nursery schools. Now, the important thing is undoubtedly that the children are well cared for, leave happy and are treated with love and respect, developing their skills and abilities to the maximum and, in this way, promoting the foundations of long-term education, as is the case of the methodology known as “Positive Discipline”.

Written by Denise Zarruk Vargas, director of the El Mundo de Mozart nursery school.