School Hours and All-Day Schools in Cyprus: After-School Care Guide

In Cyprus, the public primary school and kindergarten day runs from 07:45 to 13:05, Monday to Friday. Many public schools also run an optional all-day school (in Greek, oloimero) in the afternoon, and parents choose a pick-up time of 15:05 or 16:00.

These are the Cyprus times. Many Greek-language pages online describe the all-day school in Greece, which has different hours and rules, so check that what you read is about Cyprus. Dates in this guide are for the 2026-27 school year unless stated.

Public primary schools run from 07:45 to 13:05, Monday to Friday: seven teaching periods of 40 minutes, with three breaks that add up to 40 minutes (Regulatory Administrative Act 168/2024). Public primary school is free.

The Ministry of Education's 2026 guide for parents gives the bell times (Ministry guide for parents, 2026):

Public kindergartens keep the same hours, 07:45 to 13:05, with seven 40-minute periods and two breaks that add up to 40 minutes.

In 2026-27, primary pupils started on Monday 14 September 2026 and secondary pupils on 7 September (Minister's statement, 25 August 2026). For term dates and holidays, see our school holidays guide.

The optional all-day school (in Greek, Proairetiko Oloimero Scholeio, often shortened to POS) adds an afternoon to the normal morning. Your child stays at their own school after 13:05, has lunch, does homework and takes part in lessons and activities until 15:05 or 16:00.

In 2026-27, 383 public schools run one: 173 kindergartens, 202 primary schools and 8 special schools (all-day school circular, 7 September 2026). That is up from 220 all-day schools in 2023 (Ministry presentation, 4 September 2026). Not every school has one, so check with your own school.

The afternoon runs from 13:05 to 16:00 on all five days, from Monday 28 September 2026 to Wednesday 16 June 2027. It does not run in the first two weeks of the school year, from 14 to 25 September 2026, so plan childcare for those afternoons. Every class of the primary school, from first to sixth grade, can enrol.

Pick-up at 15:05 or 16:00

When you enrol, you choose one departure time, 15:05 or 16:00, and it must be the same on all five days (Ministry information for parents on form POS01). The rules are strict:

• Enrolment is optional, but once enrolled your child must attend every day until the chosen time
• No partial attendance and no early pick-ups for clubs or other outside activities
• You collect your child as soon as the chosen time ends

Classes have at most 20 children, or up to 25 when classes are merged in an emergency (all-day school circular, 7 September 2026). A child with an approved school assistant in the morning keeps the assistant in the afternoon (enrolment circular, 5 June 2026).

What the afternoon looks like

At an optional all-day primary school, the afternoon follows a set timetable (all-day school timetable, 2026-27):

The 14:25 period is English twice a week and, on two other days, computing where the school has a computer room, or health education (in Greek, Agogi Zois). Each school chooses three interest subjects from sport, music, art, drama, design and technology, and traditional dance, and on Wednesdays the 14:25 period is an interest subject too. The Ministry stresses that the afternoon has its own syllabuses and is not a childminding service (Minister's statement, 25 August 2026).

All-day kindergartens

The 173 all-day kindergartens follow the same rules, dates and lunch arrangements. All children in public kindergarten classes can enrol, and so can children aged 4 years 4 months to 4 years 8 months at a community kindergarten (in Greek, koinotiko nipiagogeio) housed with a public one (enrolment circular, 5 June 2026).

The Ministry's leaflet of January 2026 sets out the kindergarten afternoon: lunch, rest or quiet activities, creative, play, language and maths activities, a break, then quiet activities and group games until 16:00 (Ministry all-day school leaflet, January 2026).

If your child is under 4, or goes to a private nursery or kindergarten, our nursery and kindergarten subsidy guide explains the official fee subsidies and which settings take part.

You apply with the expression-of-interest form POS01, which you hand in to the school your child will attend that September. For a child starting first grade, that is the primary school, not the kindergarten. For 2026-27, final enrolment ran from Monday 8 to Friday 12 June 2026, and the Ministry said there would be no other enrolment period (enrolment circular, 5 June 2026). In September, late applicants get a place only if the classes already formed have room.

The window moves every year: 15 to 19 January 2024 for 2024-25 (enrolment circular, 5 January 2024), 5 to 14 May 2025 for 2025-26 (enrolment circular, 29 April 2025) and 8 to 12 June 2026 for 2026-27. No 2027-28 enrolment circular had been published by 5 November 2026, so ask your school from January 2027 and watch the Ministry's all-day school announcements.

In September the school sends an approval form (POS02) to sign once it has checked that you owe nothing for lunches; in 2026 it was due by 21 September (all-day school circular, 7 September 2026). The forms come in several languages.

Lunch is compulsory and paid by parents

The Ministry lists no fee for attending the all-day school. The cost to parents is lunch (Ministry information for parents on form POS01):

• Every child in the afternoon takes part in the school lunch programme
• The school's parents' association (in Greek, Syndesmos Goneon) arranges the meals
• You prepay in the first week of each month, and if you stop paying the afternoon place stops
• Food from home is not allowed
• Unpaid lunch debts from the previous year block enrolment

There is no national meal price; each parents' association sets its own. As examples, one public primary school in the Nicosia district set €80 a month per child for 2026-27 (€60 for a second child), and another charged €3.75 a day in 2024-25. Ask your school for its current price.

Some families get help. The Ministry pays €321 a year per eligible child towards lunch, and parents pay the rest. Eligible children are children of Guaranteed Minimum Income recipients, children in the care of the Social Welfare Services, and children in financial need chosen by the school's committee, up to 2 for every 25 pupils (all-day school circular, 7 September 2026).

Some primary schools are unified all-day schools (in Greek, Eniaio Oloimero Scholeio, or EOS). Here the longer day is not optional: every pupil stays, and the school has one timetable and one management for the whole day (Regulatory Administrative Act 168/2024).

In 2026-27, pupils attend from 14 September 2026 to 15 June 2027. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays the day runs from 07:45 to 15:05 or 16:00, and each school has a fixed finishing time. On Wednesdays every pupil finishes at 13:05, though one school has its own Wednesday timetable (unified all-day schools annex, 2026-27).

The longer day brings more English, computing, French in the fifth and sixth grades (two periods a week), interest subjects in groups of at least 12 children, and a 40-minute lunch. Support teaching sits in the 6th or 7th period, so that homework stays to a minimum for children who get home after 15:05 or 16:00. The Ministry's guide for parents also mentions sport and robotics (Ministry guide for parents, 2026).

Parents pay for meals. The Ministry pays €470 a year per eligible child: children of Guaranteed Minimum Income recipients, children in Social Welfare care, and children in financial need, up to 20% of the school's pupils.

No 2026-27 document lists the unified all-day schools, so ask your local school or the Ministry whether it is one. If it is, plan for a 13:05 pick-up on Wednesdays.

Public gymnasium days run from 07:30 to 13:35, five days a week, with 38 periods a week: two days of seven 45-minute periods and three days of eight 40-minute periods, according to the EU's official Eurydice description (EU Eurydice: lower secondary education in Cyprus).

In 2026-27, secondary pupils started on 7 September 2026. Tuesday 8 December 2026 and Wednesday 10 February 2027 are teacher days with no pupils (secondary school circular, 18 August 2026).

All-day gymnasia

In 2026-27, seven public gymnasia run an all-day programme from 14:00 to 15:20 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with two tracks: STEAM, or Greek language and culture. They are Pagkyprion and Archangelos Lakatamia gymnasia in Nicosia, Laniteio and Ypsonas in Limassol, Evryviadeio in Larnaca, Paralimni in Famagusta and Nikolaideio in Paphos.

A few other gymnasia run an optional all-day pilot, technical lessons from 14:00 or afternoon activity programmes, so ask your school what it offers.

State Institutes for Further Education

The State Institutes for Further Education (in Greek, Kratika Instituta Epimorfosis, KIE) run afternoon and evening classes for pupils and adults at 46 institutes housed in public schools. They teach foreign languages, secondary-school subjects, preparation for the Pancyprian university-entry exams, and international exams such as Cambridge English, IGCSE, IELTS and DELF (State Institutes leaflet, March 2026).

Classes meet twice a week for 90 minutes, and fees range from €225 to €410 a year (State Institutes fees page). The March 2026 leaflet lists:

• Lower levels: from €225 a year (€115 for children of large or five-member families)
• Higher levels: from €265 a year (€130)
• Pancyprian exam courses: €410 a year (€205)
• Scholarships: available for foreign languages

Enrolment for 2026-27 ran at the local institute from 22 April to 10 June 2026 (State Institutes enrolment, 17 March 2026), with extra places in existing classes from 1 to 10 September 2026 (supplementary enrolment, 25 August 2026). Check the 2027-28 dates when the Ministry announces them.

Outside school, many children go to an after-school centre. In Cyprus law these are Child Protection and Activity Centres (in Greek, Kentra Prostasias kai Apascholisis Paidion), and many municipalities call them children's clubs (in Greek, paidikes leshes). Greek-language search results about KDAP describe Greece's system, not Cyprus's.

Under Law 2(I)/1996, any premises that look after more than two children under 18 during the day must be registered with the Director of the Social Welfare Services. The Director keeps a register and issues a certificate, which the centre must display (Law 2(I)/1996). The detailed rules are in the 1997 Regulations (Regulatory Administrative Act 157/1997). Ask to see the certificate before you sign up.

Many centres are run by municipalities and non-profit organisations. A state grant scheme published in 2023 offered them funding to build or upgrade centres for children aged 6 to 13 (Social Welfare Services grant scheme, 2023). We found no national public list of registered centres and no national fee or subsidy for parents, so ask your municipality what it runs.

Example: Strovolos Municipality

The rules of Strovolos Municipality's centres give an idea of what to expect (Strovolos Municipality centre rules):

• 13 centres for children of Strovolos residents
• Open from 13:05 to 18:00 on school days, or from 15:00 for children at an all-day school (13:05 on its Wednesdays)
• Open from 07:00 to 18:00 in the school holidays, and closed for 4 weeks in August
• Hot lunch and an afternoon snack
• Staff help children prepare for the next day, but checking homework stays with parents
• A monthly invoice, and a place is lost after 2 months of unpaid fees

We found no rule in the Private Schools Law that sets daily start or finish times. The law shapes the school day indirectly, through each school's approved timetable, its weekly teaching periods and its yearly study guide (Private Schools Law 147(I)/2019).

Greek-speaking private schools of the same type as public schools follow the public timetable, and similar-type schools cover at least two thirds of it. Most English-medium and international schools follow another country's system, but must still teach Greek and Cyprus history for set weekly periods.

Ask for the study guide

Every private school, from kindergarten to secondary, must issue a study guide (in Greek, Odigos Spoudon) each school year before enrolment, approved by the Ministry of Education. It must state the weekly periods for each subject, the length of a teaching period, the support teaching offered, the school calendar, and the annual tuition, registration and other charges, with payment terms and the refund policy. Ask for it before you enrol.

A typical private school day

There is no official data on private school hours. In the few timetables we checked, private primary schools kept roughly the public morning, finishing at about 13:00 to 13:30, with an optional extended day or clubs until about 16:00, and secondary days ended around 14:15. Check each school.

What the extra hours cost

The Ministry publishes the fees each private school declares for the coming year (Ministry fee lists for private schools). The list for private kindergartens says its tuition covers attendance closest to the public pre-primary timetable, until midday, and tells parents to ask the school about other hours (private kindergarten fee list, 2026-27).

In the 2026-27 kindergarten list, only about 1 in 10 listings mention an afternoon or extended-hours charge. Where they give a price, it is usually €30 to €60 a month above the standard fee (about €20 to €150 across the list), with pick-up times from 14:00 to as late as 18:00. About ten nurseries list a separate meal charge, mostly €50 to €75 a month.

The 2026-27 primary and secondary lists show no afternoon, all-day or late pick-up charges at all (private primary fee list, 2026-27, private secondary fee list, 2026-27). That does not mean there are none. Ask each school in writing what its extended day costs, and add it to your budget with our school fees calculator. Our guide to private school fees covers the other costs, and our school transport page shows which private schools list a bus service.

For the other differences between the two sectors, see our guide to the differences between public and private schools.

Questions to ask a school about the school day

• What time does the day start and end for my child's year group?
• Is there an extended day or club, until what time, and what does it cost each month?
• Can we choose some days only, or pick up early on some days?
• Who supervises the afternoon, and how many children are in each group?
• Is lunch provided, what does it cost, and can children bring food from home?
• Is homework done at school, and who checks it?
• Does a school bus run after the extended day?
• Can we see this year's study guide with every charge?

Our school visit checklist has more questions to take to a school visit.

1. Work out the pick-up time you need on each weekday, including Wednesday.
2. Ask your public school whether it runs an optional or a unified all-day school, and until what time.
3. Watch for the all-day enrolment window: it was in January, May and June in the last three years, so ask from January 2027 for 2027-28.
4. Budget for lunch, and check whether your child qualifies for the lunch subsidy.
5. Plan care for the first two weeks of term and the school holidays, when the public afternoon does not run.
6. If you are comparing private schools, ask each for its study guide and the written cost of its extended day.
7. If you need care until 18:00, ask your municipality about registered after-school centres.

The Minister of Education has said the aim is to extend the all-day school to all public primary-education schools by 2028 (Minister's announcement, 4 June 2026). Until then, check what your own school offers each year.

Hours, dates and prices change every year, so confirm the details with the school or the Ministry of Education. This guide is general information.