<p>The purpose of this study was to assess organisational readiness across eight Danish vocational schools prior to the implementation of a systems-based programme to promote health and wellbeing among students. We used questionnaire data from school staff (<i>n</i> = 119) and qualitative interviews with school department managers (<i>n</i> = 9). The analysis indicated moderate levels of overall organisational readiness, with health promotion capacity being the lowest-scoring component compared to general capacity and motivation for health promotion. Vocational schools within the social healthcare educational track scored higher on organisational readiness compared to commercial, agricultural, and technical educational tracks. Moreover, the study identified that staff who had been employed for a longer time experienced lower levels of organisational readiness, pointing to an area for future research. The findings provide suggestions for enhancing organisational readiness to implement systems-based health promotion initiatives in vocational schools or similar settings. <i>Trial registration</i>: Registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05308459, retrospectively registered on 4th April 2022.</p>