Luxembourg · Differdange

EIDE, a public Accredited European School in the south, not Kirchberg

A Luxembourg public school in the south, accredited to teach the European Schools programmes. It is not Kirchberg, not Bertrange, and not a fee-paying IB campus. There is no registration fee. The 1–15 March 2026 window is already closed. The live offer table is still labelled 2025/2026.

dagschoolgemengdOnderzocht 1-9-2026

Officiële website Differdange Luxemburg gids

Dit portret staat nog in het Engels. De andere talen komen school voor school.

Curriculum zoals de school het publiceert:European Schools curriculum · European Baccalaureate · Luxembourg preparatory and integration classes

Onderwijstalen:Section language as first language (L1) — French, English, or German in secondary — plus L2 and further languages as the European Schools prescribe

École Internationale Differdange et Esch-sur-Alzette — EIDE — is a Luxembourg public school, accredited to teach the European Schools programmes through the European Baccalaureate. Official site eide.lu. It is not European School Luxembourg I on Kirchberg, not European School Luxembourg II in Bertrange, and not the International School of Luxembourg.

The school’s own pages print no registration fee. The accredited-school page says it plainly: unlike the European Schools established in Luxembourg, EIDE is open to all pupils, without inscription fees.

It is a day school. There is no boarding house. If the posting has not found a flat in the south, Differdange will not absorb the child.

Director on the management page: Gérard Zens. Deputy: Elisabeth Da Silva. BAC coordinator: Marcus Balloch. Write inscriptions at inscriptions@eide.lu. Secretariat: secretariat@eide.lu, +352 288 572-1, B.P. 7, L-4501 Differdange.

The useful questions are south-Luxembourg questions. Is this child meant for a public Accredited European School, or for a Type 1 house that still asks Category I–III? Which language section is the dominant language — French, English, or German — and does that year exist on the site you can actually drive? And do you understand that the 2026 window is already history?

Who it is for

The ministry put a public international school in the south because the central pole already had international lycée tracks and the south did not. The home page: EIDE is aimed primarily at young people from Differdange and Esch-sur-Alzette, and from the south of the country. It also names children from immigrant backgrounds, and families who are only here for a while and will continue school in another country.

M1 from 4 through S7 from 18, the accredited-school page says, including the European Baccalaureate. Beside that European path sit voie préparatoire and ACCU integration classes. Those two, the inscriptions page says, follow Luxembourg technical-secondary law, not the European Schools regulations.

It will not suit a family who only want Kirchberg because the institutions are there, or St George’s Luxembourg because the classroom is English. Walk those if that is the climate. They share a country and not a ring.

Not Luxembourg I, not Luxembourg II, not a free Type 1

Luxembourg I and Luxembourg II are Type 1 European Schools. Category I is fee-exempt there because a parent works for a European institution. EIDE is a public Accredited European School. Open to all. No inscription fee. That is not the same admissions weather, and it is not the same Tuesday.

The International School of Luxembourg is a fee-paying international. Rue John Ernest Dolibois is a state campus.

We will not call this “the other European School” as if Kirchberg had sprouted a third Type 1 house. The paper can look similar. The door is public, and it is in the south.

The campus you can actually picture

Three sites, as the footer and the contact pages print them.

Differdange, nursery and primary — 3, rue John Ernest Dolibois, L-4573 Differdange.

Differdange, secondary and headquarters — 6, rue John Ernest Dolibois, L-4573 Differdange.

Esch-sur-Alzette — 91, rue Victor Hugo, L-4141 Esch-sur-Alzette. The homepage footer titles that site nursery and primary. The 2025/26 offer table also prints secondary years at Esch. The German contact pages label the same street as both primary and secondary. We will not invent a second Esch building.

Schifflange, ACCU — 201, rue de Noertzange, L-3861 Schifflange.

Secretariat hours in term time, as the contact pages print them: Differdange, Esch and Schifflange 07:30–12:00 every weekday, plus 13:00–16:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

The EURSC accredited-location page we opened still prints older Differdange streets — rue de la Montagne, rue Emile Mark — and the old eidd.lu mail. We will not send you there. Use eide.lu and rue John Ernest Dolibois.

Time the 7:45 from the commune you can actually live in. The south is not Kirchberg with a shorter label.

Languages

Three sections, the inscriptions page says: French, English, and German — German in secondary only.

A child is placed in the section of their mother tongue or dominant language, when that section exists. Parents do not choose L1. The director does. If there is doubt, the school runs comparative language tests, including in nursery.

SWALS — students without a language section — usually sit in a vehicular section, DE, EN or FR, and take their mother tongue as L1.

The L1 decided at enrolment is, in principle, final.

The offer table on that page is still headed Offre scolaire 2025/2026. As printed there:

	Differdange	Esch-sur-Alzette	Schifflange
French	M1–M2, P1–P5, S1–S7	P1–P5, S1–S3, VP1–VP3	ACCU
English	M1–M2, P1–P5, S1–S7	P1–P5, S1–S2	ACCU
German	S1–S2 and S4–S7	S3, VP1–VP3

We will not promote that table into a 2026/27 map. Ask inscriptions@eide.lu which years are actually open on which site this September.

How a child already did — and will again — get in

For 2026–27 the inscriptions page printed:

Open days: 24 February 2026, Esch, primary only; 26 February 2026, Differdange, nursery, primary and secondary.
New-pupil files: 1 to 15 March 2026.
First period reserved for M1, P1, S1, VP1 and ACCU. Files in by 15 March ranked ahead of late files.
P2–P5, S2–S5 and VP2–VP3 were full; a place only in exceptional cases.
Pupils already in the house are automatically re-enrolled.
Answers by e-mail only.

That window is already closed. We will not invent a 2027 calendar the live page has not yet printed. Read eide.lu — inscriptions.

Money

There is no registration fee. The school repeats that on the home page, the accredited-school page, and the inscriptions page.

We will not invent a canteen price, a bus fare, or a trip invoice the pages we opened did not print. Ask the secretariat what other costs still arrive.

This is the public contrast with Kirchberg and Bertrange. Category III at the Type 1 houses is a Board euro table. Here the door itself does not charge to enter.

Leaving certificate

The European Baccalaureate. The accredited-school page: recognised by international treaties as equivalent to national higher-education entrance diplomas in every EU member state. There is also a guide for UK university admissions officers, and a compliance dossier for the Bac.

That is not the IB at ISL, not A Levels at St George’s, and not the French Bac at Vauban. The inscriptions page adds that studies also open vocational training. We will not translate either sentence into a Luxembourgish lycée place.

What to ask on the stairs

Ask whether this child’s dominant language actually has a section — and whether that year is on Differdange, Esch, or neither. Ask how the director will set L1 if the family is unsure. Ask whether this year is still full in P2–P5 or S2–S5. Ask what the 2027 window will be, because 2026 is already over. Ask how the 7:45 sits from France or from Kirchberg. Ask what “no inscription fee” still leaves on a trip letter.

We are not ranking the south against Kirchberg. We are not inventing a 2027 closing day.

Read the live inscriptions page and the accredited-school page before you resign a Differdange or Esch flat. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.