← Back to homeDanila Kumar International School
Ljubljana, Slovenia · est. 1961 · State
Illustration · Ljubljana
Danila Kumar is a state school in the Bežigrad district of Ljubljana, running since 1961 and, since 1993, with an international department: the IB PYP and the first three years of the MYP, taught in English. It was set up at the request of the Slovenian ministry of education for the children of foreigners living in Slovenia, and the ministry still covers more than half of its costs - which is why fees here are two to three times lower than at the private international schools of Ljubljana. A child goes from kindergarten to Grade 8, classes hold 12 to 20 students, the ratio is six students per teacher, and last school year the department had children from 36 countries. The facilities here are those of a school in the full sense: three sports halls, a climbing wall, an all-weather artificial turf pitch under a dome, three outdoor playgrounds, a library with a reading room holding 39 000 books, 20 000 of them in English, two computer rooms with 25 machines each, a ceramics studio, a home economics room with a kitchen and a large auditorium; the school has a dentist, a dietician, an educational psychologist, special needs teachers and school counsellors. In the afternoon, after lessons, there is a programme of clubs, most of them free, and for adults the school runs English and Slovenian classes for parents. After that students move on: MYP 4 and 5 are taught at Gimnazija Bežigrad, and to transfer there a student needs final grades of no less than 4 in every MYP 3 subject.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 034–9 928 a year
6 055–8 546 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Slovene, French, German, Spanish
About the fees The school is a state school, but the international programme is fee-paying and the amounts are published in the text of the admissions page itself. For 2026/27: kindergarten with meals 8 545.90 euros a year, Grades 1 and 2 6 055.50, Grade 3 6 369, Grades 4 and 5 6 688, Grade 6 6 971.80, Grades 7 and 8 7 150 euros. The day programme after lessons is paid for separately: 2 926 euros for Grades 1-2, 2 699.40 for Grades 3-4 and 2 499.20 for Grade 5. The school explains the reason for its low fees compared with private schools itself: the ministry of education covers more than half of its operating costs.
Admissions Admission is open and runs all year round: the school accepts applications throughout the school year. Slovenian is not needed - teaching is in English, and Slovenian is offered as one of the foreign languages to choose from alongside German and French; there is no language examination at entry. Students are taken directly from schools abroad: the requirements are an application, academic records for the previous year with a translation into English where needed, a copy of a passport or identity card and, where needed, a psychological and educational report. The year group is set from the documents, after which there is a trial period of two to four weeks and the year group may be changed. Then comes the admissions committee, an interview at the school or by video call and a decision by post; there is a waiting list. The place is conditional: for the first three months the school observes the child's language, academic work and social and emotional state and reserves the right to withdraw the enrolment if the support it can offer proves insufficient. The school sets no formal requirement as to citizenship or a residence permit, although it describes itself as created for the children of foreigners living in Slovenia.
Stages and year groups Grades Kindergarten - Grade 8 (PYP and MYP 1-3). The international department takes a child from kindergarten to Grade 8. Kindergarten is split into two groups, K1 for ages 3-4 and K2 for ages 5-6, and it is part of the PYP as well. Then comes the PYP - Grades 1 to 5, designated 1M-5M, with the PYP exhibition in the last term of Grade 5. The school runs only the first three years of the MYP: Grades 6 to 8, designated 6M, 7M, 8M and 8I, with a compulsory personal project. There is no Grade 9 here: MYP 4 and 5 are taught at Gimnazija Bežigrad. Classes hold 12 to 20 students; the school does not publish the size of its annual intake.
Address Gogalova ulica 15, 1000 Ljubljana
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP · authorised programmeIB listing: the PYP was authorised on 2 March 1994 and the MYP on 23 July 1998, the school type is state and the language of instruction English. In its own parent handbook for 2026/27 the school writes that it received PYP authorisation in June 1998 and was one of the first schools in the world to hold it, and that it opened the international department in 1993. These two dates do not agree, and the school does not reconcile them. The school runs only the first three years of the MYP and shares the programme with Gimnazija Bežigrad, which teaches MYP 4 and 5.
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
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓LaboratoriesTwo science rooms.
✓Theatre or assembly hallA large auditorium for theatre productions.
✓LibraryA library with a reading room, more than 39 000 books, more than 20 000 of them in English.
✓CateringThe school's own kitchens: breakfast, morning and midday snacks and hot lunches, with a standard and a vegetarian menu; plus a fully equipped home economics room with a kitchen.
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: One site at Gogalova ulica 15 in the quiet Bežigrad district, ten minutes north of the centre of Ljubljana and a couple of minutes from the ring road exit; city buses 6, 8, 11 and 14 stop nearby, as does the Ljubljana-Ježica station. Classrooms: every class has its own room with a computer, internet and a projector, plus separate rooms for physical education, science, design, home economics, art, music and computing and separate language rooms (English, French, German, Spanish, Slovenian). Computer rooms: two computer rooms with 25 machines each, with a local network and broadband internet. Music: a music room.
Clubs and activities (28): Spanish · French · German · German café · Choir · Orff instruments and recorder · Ukulele · Cajón and ukulele · School orchestra · Sewing · Art · Extra art · Making things · Technical design · Fine motor skills · Calligraphy · Young gardeners · Climbing · Sports academy · Kin-Ball and ball games · Cricket and tag rugby · Team sports · School parliament · Debating · Journalism and the school newspaper · English conversation with a native speaker · FIRST LEGO League team · Mathematics club
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The staff list is published by name and in detail: the head of the school, Nuša Drinovec Sever, the head of the international department, Klemen Strmljan, the PYP and MYP coordinators, the form tutors of every class from kindergarten to Grade 8 and subject teachers with their subjects, room number, consultation hour and work email; technical and administrative staff are listed separately, including those on maternity leave. The school gives a ratio of one teacher to six students and classes of 12 to 20. Lessons are taught by Slovenian teachers and childcare staff, and foreign teachers work in the international programme from time to time. The school does not give qualifications or length of service.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access controlLeaving the site is logged: a parent registers the departure on a tablet at the entrance using the student's number, a permanent pass is issued for leaving alone at a set time, and a younger child may be collected by a brother or sister from Grade 5 upwards and only if the school has been told in advance; students not signed up for the day programme are unsupervised after lessons, and the school says so plainly.
✓Nurse or medical roomThe school has a dentist and a dietician. The procedure for illness and injury is described in the parent handbook: medicines only with written instructions and labelled, a sick child is laid down separately and the parents are called, an injured child is given first aid and a doctor is called if needed; there are separate rules on allergens at children's parties.
✓CounsellorAn educational psychologist, special needs teachers and school counsellors; the counselling service supports children with special needs through individual programmes and runs one-to-one conversations, class sessions and workshops for parents. The counselling service works continuously with the local Centre for Social Work and with the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, and with organisations that help children in social need; a separate strand is help for families in financial difficulty, with a named person responsible.
✓Child protection policyThe Wellbeing Policy (December 2024 version) states directly the school's commitment to protecting the mental health and safety of every member of the school community, alongside a code of conduct, an inclusion policy and an academic honesty policy - all published in the documentation section.
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policyThe wellbeing policy names anti-bullying initiatives and open dialogue forums to build a sense of belonging and inclusion.
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%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 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