Irène was born in Paris, France, on 12 September 1897 and was the first of Marie and Pierres two daughters. Her sister was Ėve.  They lost their father early on in 1906 due to a horse-drawn wagon incident and Marie was left to raise them. Education was important to Marie and Irènes education began at a school near the Paris Observatory. This school was chosen because it had a more challenging curriculum than the school nearby the Curie's home. In 1906, it was obvious Irène was talented in mathematics and her mother chose to focus on that instead of public school. Marie joined forces with a number of eminent French scholars, including the prominent French physicist Paul Langevin, to form "The Cooperative", which included a private gathering of nine students that were children of the most distinguished academics in France. Each contributed to educating these children in their respective homes. The curriculum of The Cooperative was varied and included not only the principles of science and scientific research but such diverse subjects as Chinese and sculpture and with great emphasis placed on self-expression and play.  Irène studied in this environment for about two years.
Irène and her sister Ève were sent to Poland to spend the summer with their Aunt Bronia (Maries sister) when Irène was thirteen. Irènes education was so rigorous that she still had a German and trigonometry lesson every day of that break. Irène re-entered a more orthodox learning environment by going back to high school at the Collège Sévigné in central Paris until 1914. She then went onto the Faculty of Science at the Sorbonne to complete her baccalaureate, until 1916 when her studies were interrupted by World War I.