Schools and gans in Netanya: registration, streams and help for olim pupils

Education is compulsory in Israel from age 3 (gan) to 18, and to 21 in special education. Netanya is a big system: the Ministry of Education's open data lists 673 active institutions in the city, including 439 kindergartens, 118 day-care centres and 86 schools (data.gov.il (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה), queried 5 Oct 2026).

The one thing to do first

Every registration needs the property-holder confirmation from the Revenue Division (arnona), 4 HaTzoran St. Get it when you apply for your arnona discount. If you can't, a lawyer's declaration that you live in the city is accepted (olim2netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)). See the first-week guide.

Where to register

There are four registration departments: early childhood (ages 3-6), elementary (grades 1-6), post-elementary (7-12) and special education. The offices are at 12 Tchernichovsky St, registration hotline 09-8362896 (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)). See the listing.

If you'd rather go somewhere closer, there are regional help desks at community centres:

• North: Neot Herzl CC, 09-8625059
• South: Ramat Yadin CC, 09-8652762, and Kiryat Nordau CC, 09-8355518
• East: Neot Ganim CC, 09-8619911

Arriving mid-year with a gan-age child

Gan registration for families who arrive during the year ("exceptional registration") is at 12 Tchernichovsky St, entrance floor: Sun, Mon, Wed and Thu 08:30-13:30, Tue 08:30-15:30. Bring both parents' IDs with the new address, the Revenue Division address confirmation, and a registration-cancellation form from your previous town (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)). See the listing.

Streams and first grade

First-grade registration uses controlled choice within registration zones, with separate streams: state (mamlachti), state-religious (mamlachti-dati), Haredi state, and recognised unofficial or exempt schools (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)). The directory lists a selection of schools with their stream.

Support for olim pupils

• Ya'el (after-school academic help in some elementary schools since 2018) and PeLa (in some secondary schools since 2008), for pupils who have been in Israel up to 10 years. There is also a summer ulpan for children in August and first-grade preparation workshops for olim (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).
• In secondary schools, "Ma'atefet Klita" adds counsellors, mediators and bagrut tutoring. Olim are about 11% of post-elementary pupils and come from 53 countries (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).
• The city's three early-childhood centres (Neot Shaked, Beit Ginsburg and Weinberg) offer OT, speech therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and first-grade readiness for ages 0-6 (City of Netanya (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).

For French-speaking families

• KIAH's Allé programme supports pupils from France in four elementary schools and three high schools in Netanya, plus the Israeli-French School and Maimonide-Rambam (KIAH (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)). See the listing.
• The Jewish Agency's French page describes an integration set-up in 3 primary and 3 secondary schools: extra ulpan hours, French-speaking national-service volunteers, homework help and a francophone coordinator, plus a summer registration day for olim. The page is undated (Jewish Agency (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).
• Qualita's Mehoubarim programme runs school-support centres in Netanya (Qualita (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).
• Netanya Academic College has a Campus Francophone for students (Netanya Academic College (נפתח בכרטיסייה חדשה)).

What I couldn't confirm

I found no source for an English-medium or specifically "Anglo-friendly" school in Netanya, so I haven't named one. A 2025 French guide mentions a private Jewish school and a 2015 article a boys' school for pupils from the French system; I could not confirm either is operating today, so they are not listed. If you know, the "Add a listing" button reaches me.