Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. International

International

  • About
  • Accreditation
    • Accreditation agencies/inspection organisations: which ones are real?

      Agencies listed in this section are the official accreditation or inspection agencies that are run by the government, or have been given authority to accredit or inspect the schools in that country. These are not just membership organizations, but objective, arms-length and unavoidable for legitimate schools.

    • Accreditation of American schools (in the US and abroad)

      How to separate the sheep from the goats, the authorised from the bogus. Beware the alphabet soup of lookalike initials and reversed titles: all accrediting agencies are not equal. 

    • Inspected by Ofsted: True or False?

      An inspection or accreditation, painstakingly conducted by a recognised, authorised arms-length agency, is probably the single most important, in fact indispensible and crucial benchmark, when searching for schools abroad.

    • International Baccalaureate (IB) Schools

      The first place to start may just be the IBO website: International Baccalaureate Organization . (By contrast to the US Education turtle of a website, this one goes like a jet and has everything you're looking for right at your fingertips. We know this is a schools guide, but we couldn't help noticing...)

  • Australia
  • Bahrain
  • Brunei
    • Best schools in Brunei considered by expats

      A snapshot of international schools in Brunei that are considered (although not necessarily chosen) by English-speaking expat parents, with the best visited and reviewed by The Good Schools Guide International.

    • Brunei: international schools guide

      A short guide (mainly for expats) to education and international schools in Brunei by The Good Schools Guide International.

    • Living in Brunei: an expat guide

      Brunei's expats love its ideal environment for families: good security, good schooling, clean air, readily available domestic help, really cheap petrol, unspoilt jungle, and its central position for travel.

       

  • Choosing a school
    • Coming into the British school system from abroad

      For many people outside the UK, Britain's private school system is perplexing and impenetrable. An intricate web of gossip, secretive education 'consultants,' public exams with mystifying initials, and sniffy headmasters' secretaries seem to conspire to keep the system a closed book.

    • International schools abroad: how do I even begin?

      Some privileged expatriates may get a “look-see” visit to their new location prior to accepting a posting - depending on a company's, or government's, generosity. If you are one of them, the time you have for your visit will never seem like enough, but a bit of judicious homework and planning can make you feel less like a well-spun hamster by the end of the day.

    • Relocating Overseas: looking for a nursery abroad

      How do I look for an overseas nursery for my child? Will it be safe? An expert from the British Diplomatic Service Families Association gives you all the answers.

  • Curricula and exams
    • AP (advanced placement) coursework and exams (American system)

      Advanced Placement (AP) courses are curricula and exams created by the College Board (who also run the SAT I and II) and are much more rigorous than the general course offerings (including those characterized as "honours") at American high schools....and also very much needed to beef up normal US high school diplomas if one is applying to a US uni (although IB courses will also do the job).

    • British exam results: interpreting the scores

      Interpreting British Exam Results and What To Ask the School. The first question is, who is allowed to take them? It is extremely difficult to divine this for an international school – they can give so many excuses for such a transient population. Are pupils allowed to take any exam they want to, whether or not the school thinks they are up to it? Do the scores include ESL (English as a Second Language) students? 

    • The American curriculum (although a better name would be '50 states 50 curricula')

      The very name "American Curriculum" is a misnomer, since technically there is no such thing in the way that there is a National Curriculum of England, or a French national curriculum. All fifty states and most major cities/school districts (often county-wide, not just one city) set their own curriculum frameworks, priorities, funding, standards, tests and scheduling.

    • The European Baccalaureate: the European schools

      One of the lesser-known mysteries of the EU is the existence of the European Schools that lead to the European Baccalaureate. These schools were launched in the 1950s to serve the children who are dependents of employees of the European Institutions that are run under the auspices of the EU. The schools are funded by the EU and their dependents pay no tuition. Consequently, several of the schools are in Brussels, seat of the EU, and the others are located in Spain, Italy, Germany, Italy, UK, Luxembourg (where the largest schools is) and The Netherlands.

    • The International Baccalaureate explained

      Only someone like Mary Langford, who has set up, run, and inspected IB schools herself, could produce such a clear, condensed, no-frills treatise on this popular curriculum that is gaining momentum around the world with the speed of a rip tide.

    • The International Primary Curriculum Explained

      We contacted the office of the IPC for information to round out our own article describing this interesting and fast growing curriculum (now almost 1,300 schools in over 63 countries are using it, 1000 of those in England, Wales and Scotland alone). They offered to write it for us, and we thought what they sent was so thorough and spot on (and certainly all you'll ever need to know about the IPC!), we'd publish as is.   

    • The UK national curriculum, examinations and qualifications

      The National Curriculum for England is the framework used by all state schools in England. Children work at different levels according to age and ability. There are 4 key stages, with national testing at the end of each (the fourth being GCSE at which point the national curriculum no longer applies). By the end of key stage 1 (age 7), the average child is expected to achieve national curriculum level 2; this rises to level 4 at the end of key stage 2 and level 5 or 6 by the end of key stage 3. Only the most able pupils will achieve a level 8 with an additional exceptional performance category for those who achieve beyond this. Such performance is rare. In exceptional cases, schools can choose to disapply weaker students from some elements of the national curriculum.

  • France
  • Help and Advice
    • Advice to parents of new boarders

      No nonsense advice from parents (posted in the Middle East) who sent three children back home to board...two were "Enid Blyton" perfect fits (although one was a boy) but the third was a square peg and expected by the school to "stand up to the bullies"...

    • Culture shock at school

      Going to an international school in a new country can give children – and parents – quite a culture shock, something experienced by all new arrivals. 

    • Home and school overseas - do third culture kids make first class citizens?

      Along with globalisation has come greater mobility,  with millions of people crossing borders annually to work or migrate. They adapt new languages and customs but bring with them cultural influences from where they were raised. When children live overseas during their formative years in a country other than their own, they are tagged with a new label – “Third Culture Kids” (TCKs).

    • International schools: in name only?

      With over 8,000 international schools scattered across the world, globetrotting parents can work virtually anywhere secure in the knowledge that their accompanying offspring won’t have to compromise their education.

    • School ownership: what if a school is privately owned?

      Schools come under about four kinds of ownership:

    • Take the children or leave them at home?

      An overseas posting for a couple of years can be an incredibly enriching experience for the whole family. This is especially true for children who attend international schools where they will have an opportunity to collect a Contacts list full of exotic friends and broaden their minds by gaining first-hand experience of many different cultures.

    • You know you're a TCK if....

      No one knows more about TCKs than long-time diplomatic operator of many initials (TCK, CLO), Leslie Teixeira - born a TCK, married to a TCK, and raising TCKs. This just in....

  • Hong Kong
  • Kenya
    • Schools in Kenya: Education Information

      An expert's guide to both international schools and local educational system in Kenya, including Nairobi and Mombassa school systems, boarding, school run traffic conditions, teacher qualifications and national curriculum equivalencies.

  • Kuwait
    • Best schools in Kuwait considered by expats

      A snapshot of international schools in Kuwait that are considered (although not necessarily chosen) by English-speaking expat parents, with the best visited and reviewed by The Good Schools Guide International.

    • Kuwait: international schools guide

      A short guide (mainly for expats) to education and international schools in Kuwait  by The Good Schools Guide International.

    • Living in Kuwait: an expat guide

      From clubs to camel racing, fast cars to local diet restrictions...a bracing guide to living in volatile, social, exotic Kuwait.

  • Pakistan
  • Planning for university
  • Russia
  • Singapore
    • Best schools in Singapore considered by expats

      A snapshot of international schools in Singapore that are considered (although not necessarily chosen) by English-speaking expat parents, with the best visited and reviewed by The Good Schools Guide International.

    • Living in Singapore: an expat guide

      An up close and personal guide to the joys of living in Singapore, by The Good Schools Guide International's local editor Selina Boyd.

    • Singapore: international schools guide

      A short guide (mainly for expats) to education and international schools in Singapore by The Good Schools Guide International

    • Where to live in Singapore

      A guide to where to live in the city, if you have school-age children, by our Singapore editor, Selina Boyd.

  • Spain
  • Switzerland
    • La Maturité Suisse

      In some private schools in Switzerland, students can opt to take the Fédérale Maturité Suisse, (or “la matu” as it is known colloquially) which qualifies them for entry into any Swiss university or universities overseas.The Maturité Cantonale taken in the Canton de Vaud state schools may not be accepted by universities outside of Switzerland.

  • The Netherlands
  • Transitions
    • Coming home to roost: the pleasures and perils of returning to schools in the UK

      There comes a time in the life of most expatriate families when they have to decide about their children’s education – do we stay or do we go? Now or later? Should our children take all their public exams at an international school abroad, or would they be better served at a school in the UK? 

    • Comparative ages, grades and exams - US vs UK

      Comparing US and English ages, stages, grades and exams from English nursery through A levels, from American Kindergarten through 12th grade, and when students take AP, IB or GCSEs.

    • From American schools to British (National Curriculum for England, IGCSEs, A Levels)

      Moving from the American system into the British system is probably one of the trickiest transitions of all, and success very much depends on the age of the student and on his/her ability and willingness to adapt and take on the extra work that will undoubtedly be required. It would be exactly like jumping onto a jogging machine already going at full tilt.  

    • IB to IB: a seamless transition, wherever you go?

      We are moving back to the UK this June, once the children's school year is completed. My  middle son will have completed his first year of the two year IB course.  I approached the nearest IB school to us in terms of commutable distance, but they suggest that he start the IB all over again.

    • Relocating from Switzerland back to the UK

      Suddenly relocating back to the UK? Little children milling around your ankles and big children to find school places for? How do you manage if you are relocating from Switzerland to England? What is the transition like from international or Swiss schools back into the English system?

  • UK
    • Notes for foreign parents

      Most independent UK schools are now genuinely thrilled to welcome in foreign students, and no longer regard a cosmopolitan mix as a matter for shame (that they cannot fill the school with home-grown products). State schools too are getting used to the influx of EU students (boarded out with locals, or accommodated by the state boarding school network). Foreign students are perceived to add breadth, excitement, new horizons, not to mention fantastic exam results in exotic languages (Turkish, Norwegian, Polish, Mandarin, Japanese, Gujerati, Urdu among the most common), high intelligence (often) and motivation.

    • The basics of an English education

      For the uninitiated, the English education system can take a little getting used to. All children are entitled to be educated for free in the state sector; however, many parents prefer to educate their children privately at a public or independent school. Fees for public schools vary enormously from less than £6,000 per annum for a day place in a nursery or pre-prep to more than £30,000 p.a. for some top boarding schools.

    • The UK school system

      It helps, when planning your child's journey through school, to know the main stages and options, public or private.

  • USA
    • American schools abroad and at home: the basics

      The American curriculum is a mis-nomer (there is no such thing as a National Curriculum of America), but there are requirements that most American schools meet, and qualifications and characteristics found in most of the best ones whether in the US or across the world.


Subscribe for instant access to in-depth reviews:

☑ 30,000 Independent, state and special schools in our parent-friendly interactive directory
☑ Instant access to in-depth UK school reviews
☑ Honest, opinionated and fearless independent reviews of over 1,200 schools
☑ Independent tutor company reviews

Try before you buy - The Charter School Southwark

Buy Now