Hi,
Education is a tricky part, almost everywhere. In Bulgaria the education system works the following way:
Starting from the age of 2 yrs, small kids can go to kindergartens for 4/5 years (groups 1 to 4). The last two group are considered pre-school, where kids learn the alphabet, numbers, and some basic calculations, etc. Kindergartens also offer sports - e.g. football. gymnastics, folk dances and foreign languages groups, primarily English, but sometimes also Japanese, Chinese, German, French etc.
After reaching the age of 6/7 kids will enroll to schools, either public or private. Primary schooling is divided into 2 parts - 1-4 grade and 5-7 grade. In the first part the kids normally have 1 primary teacher, 1 afternoons teacher and different teachers for sports, music, foreign languages etc. In these years (grades 1-4( the most important thing is to select a good primary teacher, since your kids will be spending most of their time with that teacher. On the second place is selecting a good school, since this would result in better equipment in the classrooms, different extra activities, different possibilities for foreign languages, arts, music and sports ( e.g. not every school has its own swimming pool). Neighbourhood is also important, just like everywhere in the world.
When going to 5 grade (actually at the end of 4 th grade), there's a state exam - the so called External Evaluation. The the kids would sit 4 exams in Mathematics, Bulgarian, Men and Nature, Men and Society. Based on the results, they can enroll to a different schools if they like, for the second part of their schooling, or decide to stay in the same school.
The second part of the primary schooling system encompasses grades 5, 6 and 7. The difference here is that the students will receive different teachers for different subjects and there will be more subjects included - e.g. like History, Biology, Chemistry, Literature, Arts, Music etc. Also there's a possibility for differentiation between schools with certain profiles - e.g. math schools, language schools, etc. At the end of 7 th grade there's another External Evaluation, which is a basis for applying/enrolling to s
The next to come is the Secondary schools (High schools). There students would apply on the basis of the results from their last External Evaluation, but some specialized high schools might have additional exam - e.g in mathematics, Bulgarian, Biology, etc. Secondary schools offer choices between Math schools, Language school, IT school, Construction school, Mechanical schools and different other professional focusing. Those schools start normally from 8 to 12 th grade. At the end there's once again a National External Evaluation, results of which are a basis for applying to a university/college.
e.g. one of my kids went to a good primary school in the center of Sofia, cos it was close to my work and friends recommended one of the basic teachers there. Then he applied for a math school for 5 to 7 grade at a different school. And from this year he has enrolled at 8 th grade to a German language high school.
In your case you will have no problems with the smaller kids. However the 6 yrs old will have one year to learn Bulgarian and go to Bulgarian public school which is actually enough.
Private schools work pretty much the same way.
Also there are a number of "external schools", that do not follow the Bulgarian schooling system. Some of these are the French school in Sofia, The German school at the German embassy in Sofia, the Danish high school, etc. Of course these cannot be found in every city.
Education in Bulgaria is compulsory (till 10 th grade) and free of charge for the public schools, Kindergartens have a small fee.
A bit long, but a nice clarification for a foreigner ...
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