← Back to homeBritish International School of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia · est. 2008 · Private
Illustration · Ljubljana
The British International School of Ljubljana has been running since 2008 and follows the English national curriculum from kindergarten to Sixth Form, with IGCSE and A Level examinations at the end. The school is non-selective: in kindergarten and primary there are no language requirements at all, and from Year 7 the level of English is assessed at entry, with support through the EAL programme where it is needed. There are around three hundred students and classes of 12 to 18; the 2024 inspection report counts children from 34 countries, while on its own pages the school speaks of more than forty nationalities. Everything is on one site in the Ljubljana district of Črnuče: two buildings joined by a walkway, a 300 square metre theatre hall, laboratories, an art studio, a library, a canteen and a playground renewed in 2024 with a climbing wall and a trampoline, while for sports halls the school uses the Ludus centre two minutes' walk away. The school belongs to an international group of schools - on its own pages it calls the group Orbital Education in one place and Ariston Education in another - and in 2021 it was rated "outstanding" in every section by the BSO inspection. The school does not publish a full list of graduate universities, naming only individual universities in accounts by the graduates themselves.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $14 521–22 885 a year
12 500–19 700 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Registration fee
≈ $1 394
1 200 EUR
About the fees Fees for the 2026/27 school year are published by stage: EYFS (Nursery and Reception) 12 500 euros a year, KS1 (Years 1-2) 16 300, KS2 (Years 3-6) 16 800, KS3 (Years 7-9) 18 600, KS4 (Years 10-11) 18 950, Sixth Form (Years 12-13) 19 700. The amounts sit in a separate PDF, "Schedule of Fees and Charges 2026-27", in the school documents section, and there is a Slovenian version as well; the page text carries no figures and the admissions page sends the reader to the file by link. No VAT is charged on tuition. Payment can be made in full (a 3 per cent discount for payment before 1 July) or in three parts: 40 per cent by 15 August, 30 by 15 December and 30 by 15 March. There is a 5 per cent discount for a second child and 10 per cent for subsequent children. For enrolment in the middle of a term, 0.7 per cent of the annual fee is charged for each school day.
Admissions The school is non-selective and takes students all year round while places are available. For Early Years and Primary up to Year 6 there are no entry or language requirements; fluent English is not needed before enrolment, and the EAL programme is in place. From Year 7 the level of English is assessed as part of admission, and entry into Year 12 requires IGCSE results or their equivalent. Children from the age of 6 sit the CAT4 ability test before enrolment or shortly afterwards. The year group is set by age under British rules, taking the previous school into account, and students are not usually placed ahead of their age group. Documents: passports or identity cards of the parents and the child, a birth certificate, the last three school reports and a photograph. The application is made through the portal, the decision is taken by the head, and once the offer is signed and the first payments made the place is confirmed; if the class is full and the requirements are met, the family goes onto a waiting list.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery - Year 13. One site, from Nursery to Year 13: EYFS (Nursery, Reception), KS1 (Years 1-2), KS2 (Years 3-6), KS3 (Years 7-9), KS4 (Years 10-11) with IGCSE and Sixth Form (Years 12-13) with AS and A Level. In Year 12 students usually take four AS subjects and in Year 13 carry three of them through to A Level. The year group is set by date of birth: in 2026/27 Nursery takes children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023. The school gives the age range in different ways: the 2024 inspection report and the year group table say from 3 to 18, while the page about the school and the prospectus say "students aged 2 to 18".
Address Cesta 24. junija 92, 1231 Ljubljana-Črnuče
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
COBIS · accreditationBSO · accreditationCambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeCOBIS - accredited member, BSO - regular inspections, Cambridge International - examination centre. The school adds to this membership of CIS, a compliance check by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2024, Bell Foundation accreditation for language support (renewed in June 2025 with a rating of "exemplary") and the AQA and Edexcel examination boards. The site gives two different names for the group the school belongs to: the "About Us" pages and a separate group page say Ariston Education, while the history page and the 2024 inspection report say Orbital Education Group, which the school joined in 2015.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
COBISCouncil of British International Schools
An association of British schools abroad with a quality inspection of its own. It has nine membership categories, and the word "accredited" appears in seven of them, although COBIS does its own inspection in one: in the rest it recognises an accreditation granted by somebody else.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results A Level 2024: 28 per cent of grades at A* and A against a UK average of 26.5 per cent; full pass rates in biology, chemistry, economics, history, English literature, mathematics and psychology; a pass rate above 90 per cent for seven years in a row. IGCSE 2024: 84 per cent of grades at A*-C in Cambridge IGCSE, a 100 per cent pass rate in French and 91 per cent in the sciences. For 2021 the school shows A Level at 75 per cent A*-A and IGCSE at 65 per cent A*-A; it repeats the same figures on the page about the school as a general description, so 28 and 75 per cent A*-A stand side by side on the site and the school does not reconcile them.
Where leavers go: University of Aberdeen · University of Sussex · Middlesex University
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓LaboratoriesSpecialist science laboratories.
✓Theatre or assembly hallA 300 square metre theatre hall.
✓LibraryLibrary.
✓CateringSchool canteen.
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: One site in the north of Ljubljana, in the Črnuče district; in 2021 the school gained a second building joined to the first by a raised walkway. Classrooms: spacious, light classrooms. Music: rooms for music practice. Assembly hall. Lower school: a separate learning centre for Early Years.
Clubs and activities (29): Supervised playground games · Homework club · Forest school · German club · Young scientists · Physical education club · Racket sports: padel and tennis · Volleyball · Three-dimensional art · Music ensemble · Science club · English as an additional language club · Advanced Slovene · Good deeds club · Yoga · Arts and crafts · Musical · Cycling proficiency licence · Minecraft esports · Mathematics club · Engineering club · University guidance · Crafts and gardening · Entrepreneurs' club · Forest restoration · Music school · Spanish, French and Chinese · Tennis · Ballet
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
The school runs its own two-week summer school on campus for children aged 3 to 11, from 8:00 to 15:00, open to children who do not attend the school as well; a high level of English is not required and it is taught by the school's EAL teachers. The last intake was more than seventy children. The price per week: for the school's own students the first week is free and the second costs 180 euros, for others 250 euros a week plus VAT, with two snacks, lunch and materials included.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
✓Number of teachers50
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The staff list is published by name and with biographies: fifty people, split into leadership, teaching staff and administration, each with their education, previous schools and work email. The head, Mel Hitchcocks, holds degrees in history, a PGCE from Durham and the NPQH qualification awarded in 2022. The school writes that all its teachers are fully qualified and selected for their experience, and gives a ratio of five students per teacher.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical roomA room for the short-term care of sick and injured students.
✓CounsellorA wellbeing and mental health policy, a Student Support Lead for a few hours a week, and a library of resources for students, parents and staff.
✓Child protection policyA "Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy 2026" of 81 pages, shared by the school and the group, approved by the head in September 2026, with the next review in 2028. The person responsible for child protection is named - Katarina Železinger, director of student wellbeing, with a separate telephone number; the deputy is the head of the school, plus two deputies for Early Years. It covers the procedure for reporting cases, allegations against staff, "low-level" concerns, protection for the person reporting and whistleblowing. There is a separate page on online safety with guidance for parents, filtering and monitoring, a policy on staff digital conduct, a mobile phone policy and a social media policy. There are policies on allergies and anaphylaxis, health and safety, incident reporting, positive behaviour and respectful language; the 2024 inspection found the requirements for welfare, health and safety to be met and noted a dedicated governor for safeguarding.
✓Staff trainingA section on safer recruitment: pre-employment checks, a Single Central Record of staff and ongoing monitoring.
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)85 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country