← Back to the rankingManara International School
Istanbul, Turkey · est. 2016 · Private
Illustration · Istanbul
A private international school in the Bahçeşehir quarter of the Başakşehir district of İstanbul: the school writes that it stands among residential neighbourhoods with a view over the Gölet lake and that it has been running since 2016. It teaches the American and the Libyan curricula with the permission of the Turkish Ministry of Education. There are three languages: English and Arabic as languages of instruction and Turkish as the language of joining local life. The school calls itself a centre for the SAT, AP and ACT international examinations and uses the Exact Path diagnostic tool to tailor learning to the individual student. In the kindergarten it adds the Montessori method with practical-life exercises to its own programme, and in the middle and senior grades it runs robotics and programming and keeps laboratories for the different sciences.
Key facts
Programmes
Montessori · American programme
Languages of instruction
English, Arabic
About the fees The school publishes no fees on its site: there is no price list and no payment page, and it asks that questions about admission, curriculum and transport be put to it directly by phone, email or through the form.
Admissions Admission runs through the contact office: on its contact page the school undertakes to answer questions about admission, curriculum, transport and general matters, and invites families to fill in a form with a name, a phone number and a message. The site names no entrance tests, no deadlines and no list of documents.
Stages and year groups Grades Kindergarten - 12. Levels: kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school - the school takes a child from the first day of kindergarten to graduation. There are two curricula, American and Libyan, both permitted by the Turkish Ministry of Education at every level. The school gives no ages and no grade numbers.
Address Bahçeşehir 1. Kısım Mah., Sakarya Cad., Bina 45/A, Başakşehir - İstanbul
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the Middle States Association registry as accredited. The school itself never mentions that organisation: its accreditations page names the Turkish Ministry of Education's permissions to teach the American and Libyan curricula at every level, full accreditation by the American International Accreditation Association of Schools and Colleges, and recognition by the Libyan Ministry of Education, and it writes of the American curriculum that it is accredited by the education authority of the state of California. Separately the school calls itself an authorised centre for the SAT, AP and ACT international examinations, without giving any centre numbers. Of its own certificate it writes that it qualifies a student to enter universities abroad.
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
MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
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 →College BoardCollege Board, the AP programme
An American organisation that allows a school to put the letters AP on a pupil's transcript. The permission is granted course by course and tied to a particular teacher, it has to be renewed every year, and College Board reads the course syllabus before granting it.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run advanced AP courses - not the school as a whole, but one by one: by subject and by teacher. Governance, safeguarding and the primary years are not part of that check. Which subjects are actually approved is visible in the ledger. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
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
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school stands in the Bahçeşehir quarter of Başakşehir, among residential neighbourhoods and overlooking the Gölet lake; it lists no rooms, showing the campus as a gallery of photographs instead.
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 Value for money (6%) scored at the median65 "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 7 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