National elementary schools in Tokyo: one school's lottery round, and what the next school publishes itself

A national elementary school (国立小学校, kokuritsu shogakko) is a school attached to a national university. Each school writes its own notice: its own area, its own number of places, and its own way of choosing children. There is no single Tokyo form, and the pages read for this article do not publish a roster of every national elementary school in the prefecture. Two schools have a page in hand. The University of Tsukuba Elementary School has its own notice, covered separately.

What follows is the Setagaya campus of Tokyo Gakugei University (東京学芸大学附属世田谷小学校) for April 2027, plus the only sentences that could be read on Ochanomizu University's notice. Nothing here promises a place.

Setagaya campus, April 2027

The notice is dated 2 September 2026 and recruits the first-year class for Reiwa 9.

• 105 places. The sex with more applicants is given 53 places, and the other sex 52. It is not a fixed split of 53 boys and 52 girls.
• Born 2 April 2020 through 1 April 2021.
• Address at the moment you submit the form. The child lives with a parent inside the school's area and has a resident record (住民票, juminhyo) there.

願書提出の時点において本校の定める地域に、保護者とともに実際に居住し、住民票がある児童

A plan to move in later is not the rule this sentence states. The area is a list of chome, not the whole of Setagaya, Meguro, or Ota. Some district names appear with only one or two chome. Ota's lines on the list are 石川町 1–2, 北千束 1–3, 田園調布 1–5, 南千束 1–3, and 雪谷大塚町. Setagaya and Meguro are longer lists on the same page. Match your chome to the line. The school is at 世田谷区深沢4-10-1, and cars are forbidden on the grounds.

Step	When
Information session, as a video. Register first; the viewing method arrives by email. Open only during the delivery window.	10–23 September 2026
Application form on sale. ¥2,000 including tax, cash only. 10 September at the children's hall; from 11 September at the office window. Weekdays 9:00–12:00 and 13:00–16:00.	10–24 September 2026
Mail the application. A postmark counts.	17–25 September 2026
Ask the vice-principal, before you apply, if selection or school life will need extra support. Weekdays 9:00–12:00, 03-5706-2131.	17–24 September 2026
Developmental survey (発育調査, hatsuiku chosa) begins. The notice does not print the last day, and it does not describe the tasks.	from Wednesday 25 November 2026
Announcement and lottery (発表・抽せん)	Saturday 28 November 2026

The exam fee (入学検定料) is ¥3,300. A postmark of 16 September or earlier, or of 26 September or later, is rejected, and that child does not take the survey:

願書提出用封筒の消印が9月16日までのものと9月26日以降のものについての出願は不可となり、発育調査を受けられません。

The notice puts the announcement and the lottery on the same day. It does not say how the survey and the lottery combine, and it does not say that a survey result by itself decides the class. Tuition after entry is not on this page.

Reading this on 9 October 2026, the September windows on the notice are already past. The November survey and the 28 November lottery are still ahead for a family that posted the form inside the window.

Ochanomizu's notice, as far as the page could be read

Ochanomizu University Elementary School (お茶の水女子大学附属小学校), 文京区大塚2-1-1, updated its April 2027 notice on 1 October 2026. The page says the recruitment booklet is distributed from 1 through 26 October, and that a school guide can be downloaded from the same page. Registering on Miraicompass (ミライコンパス) produces a PIN for those files. The office phone is 03-5978-5873.

The booklet PDF linked from that page did not yield readable text when it was opened, so this article does not state Ochanomizu's places, fee, area, or what its test asks. Those facts live in the booklet. Do not copy the Setagaya campus dates onto Ochanomizu.

What this means for a foreign family

The Setagaya campus asks for a resident record, in the listed chome, with a parent, on the day the form goes in the post. A lease outside the list, or a record that still shows the old address, fails the sentence the school printed. The form was sold for cash, in person, on weekday hours, and the information session was a video that required a registration and an email. The pages do not say the school runs the survey in English.

A national elementary school is one choice among schools. The public elementary school for your address is a separate process at the ward, with its own notice.

What goes wrong

• Living in Setagaya, Meguro, or Ota and assuming the whole ward is inside the area.
• Posting the form on a date the notice rejects, including a postmark that is too early.
• Driving to the school. The notice forbids it.
• Treating every national elementary school as the same lottery. Tsukuba and Ochanomizu publish their own notices.
• Reading "lottery" as a promise that a complete application becomes a place. The Setagaya notice recruits 105 children and then holds a survey and a lottery.

What to do now

1. If you posted a Setagaya campus form with a September 2026 postmark inside 17–25 September, keep 25 November as the start of the survey and 28 November as the announcement and lottery. Call 03-5706-2131 if you asked for extra support and have not heard back. Leave the car at home.
2. If you did not post it, this notice does not show a second window.
3. If you are looking at Ochanomizu, the distribution window on its 1 October 2026 notice runs through 26 October 2026. Register on Miraicompass, get the PIN, and read the booklet for places, area, and fee before you spend the money.
4. Open the Setagaya campus area page and match your chome before you plan around that school in a later year. The list is the rule, not the ward name.