The public elementary school follows your address, unless your ward runs a choice round

Two Tokyo wards publish two different answers to "which public elementary school?" Koto lets a new first grader ask for a school other than the one for the address, inside a short window, and only within walking distance. Nerima keeps the address school, and treats a different campus as a special-reasons application that can be refused. Read the page for your own ward before you copy either one.

The address school is the designated school (指定校, shiteikō), inside a school zone (通学区域, tsūgaku kuiki). Koto's page, updated 17 September 2026, says ward elementary, junior high and compulsory-education schools start from that zone. Choice, where it exists, is only at entry:

学校選択制度は、小学校・中学校・義務教育学校にそれぞれ入学する際に限り、指定校以外の学校を希望することができる制度です。

Nerima's page, updated 1 October 2026, says the same starting point in one line: you cannot freely choose.

Koto: a choice, only at the door, only nearby

Koto's school choice system (学校選択制度, gakkō sentaku seido) applies when a child is about to enter, not when a family wants to move campuses later. For April 2027 (令和9年4月) the child must live in Koto, be due to enter an elementary, junior high or compulsory-education school that April, and file the choice slip in the back of Koto Ward School Guide 2026 by the deadline. The ward mails or hands that guide to people who qualify.

Point	What Koto published
Deadline	Friday 6 November 2026, must arrive at the School Affairs desk (学務課学事係)
After the deadline	No choice slip is accepted. A family who moves in after the deadline, or a child entering in a grade above the new intake, goes to the designated school
Elementary and the first half of a compulsory-education school	A school the child can walk to in 30 minutes, about 2 km, and only if that school can take children from outside its zone
If too many families ask	A public lottery decides who gets the out-of-zone seats
Bicycle	Not allowed for the trip to school

Junior high choice on the same page is wider: any ward junior high, and public transport is allowed. That is a different rule from the elementary walk. The number of out-of-zone seats differs by school. The page points at Reiwa 9 PDFs for the fine print. Those PDFs were not the source of the sentences above.

Koto also asks you to tell both the School Affairs desk and the designated school once a national, metropolitan or private place is settled, and to send the acceptance letter (入学許可書, nyūgaku kyokasho, or an approval letter). A copy may be posted, or you can file online. They use the numbers to build classes. Desk: 03-3647-9174, Koto Ward Office, 6th floor, window 2, 4-11-28 Toyo.

Nerima: a change request, not a choice

Nerima does not run that elementary menu. A Nerima resident who wants a ward school outside the zone files a designated-school change (指定校変更, shiteikō henkō). Someone who lives outside Nerima and wants a Nerima school files an out-of-area enrolment (区域外就学, kuikigai shūgaku). The page says neither application is approved merely because you filed it. Staff listen to the reason and judge it against a written standard. The building, the distance and how full the school is can still produce a no, even when the reason is on the list.

For a new first grader the change window is early to late October, and the result comes in late January. You need the school entry notice, which the ward says arrives in early October, plus the attachments named in the standard. A sibling already at the school you want can be filed online. Other reasons are at the counter or by post: School Affairs, school affairs desk, 12th floor, 6-12-1 Toyotamakita, phone 03-5984-5659. If the reason appears only after the window, call. They set the window so the school can prepare, and they still take late calls.

Six elementary schools are closed to children from outside the zone because classrooms are expected to run short: Nakamura, Kitamachi, Shakujii, Kami-Shakujii-Kita, Kowa and Yahara. Call anyway if an older sibling will be at that school when the younger child enters, if you will move into that zone within a year, or if there is a physical reason. For new junior-high first years, Nerima decides after a lottery planned for early December whether any school will be restricted, and posts the names by late December if so.

Out-of-area enrolment is harder. Nerima's page says each board's starting point is the children registered in its own municipality, and a Nerima school for a child who lives elsewhere is approved only in a truly unavoidable case. The same "the building may still say no" line applies.

What goes wrong

Filing Koto's slip on 7 November, or walking in a choice for a school 3 km away, drops you back to the designated school. In Nerima, "we prefer the other school's atmosphere" is not a form you can assume will pass. The standards PDF on the ward page is the list that counts. Moving house without telling the board leaves the child on the old zone's roll. A private acceptance you forget to report leaves a class place reserved in your name.

What to do now

• Read the school named on your entry notice. That is the default campus.
• In Koto, if you want a different elementary school for April 2027, file the choice slip so it arrives by Friday 6 November 2026, and only for a school inside the walk.
• In Nerima, if you have a special reason, file the change in October with the notice attached, and check the six restricted elementary schools first.
• If a private or national place comes through, tell the ward and the designated school, and send the acceptance paper they ask for.
• Another ward's rule is not these two. Verify with your own board.