Bilingual European School (BES) is a private bilingual school in Milan, founded in 1999 and describing itself as the city's first bilingual school; its feeder is the English-language British American Pre-School (BAPS), opened in 1987. In the kindergarten for ages 2-6 the whole day is in English under the British Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. The primary and middle school are paritaria and teach on a half English, half Italian model: in primary the Italian national curriculum is combined with the IB Primary Years Programme, and the middle school is a candidate for the IB Middle Years Programme. Since the 2025-2026 school year a four-year bilingual liceo scientifico, applied sciences option, has offered a double diploma: the Italian maturità and the Canadian Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The school puts strong emphasis on creativity, project work and robotics. Teachers are native speakers of Italian and English.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $12 337–17 545 a year
10 920–15 530 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Italian
Languages taught
French, Spanish
Class size
normally no more than 25 students per class
Registration fee
≈ $2 824
2 500 EUR
About the fees Annual tuition (contributo scolastico) for 2026-2027: Toddlers 10920 EUR, Nursery and Transition 11430 EUR, Reception 11540 EUR, Year 1-3 11830 EUR, Year 4-5 11985 EUR, middle school (Year 6-8) 13130 EUR, liceo (Year 9-10) 15530 EUR. On top of this an annual registration: 1500 EUR in the kindergarten, 1600 EUR in primary, 1900 EUR in middle school, 2000 EUR in the liceo; with it the full annual total ranges from 12420 to 17530 EUR. A 10% discount applies to the second and subsequent children.
Admissions The school selects students on the basis of previous schooling: an interview and, from age 6, an assessment test; it considers age and maturity, the ability to follow the curriculum, the school's ability to meet any special educational needs, conduct at the previous school and regular fee payment; when places are oversubscribed, applications are taken in order of submission. Parents do not need to know English. The school explicitly welcomes families moving from another city or another country and accepts transfers at the start and during the year; the transition is supported by two psychologists and a psychomotor therapist, and families can try a Stay and Learn morning before enrolling. Support programmes run for children who need English or Italian as a second language.
Stages and year groups Grades Toddlers, Nursery, Transition, Reception, Year 1-12. British American Pre-School (kindergarten, entirely in English): Toddlers ages 2-3, Nursery 3-4, Transition 4-5 (Early Years Foundation Stage), Reception 5-6 (Key Stage 1 of the British curriculum). Scuola primaria paritaria (Year 1-5): the Italian national curriculum combined with the IB Primary Years Programme, half in English and half in Italian, 8:30 to 16:00. Scuola secondaria di primo grado paritaria (Year 6-8): the Italian curriculum, 15 hours a week in English, a third language chosen between French and Spanish, 8:15 to 16:15, Wednesdays until 14:20; the school is a candidate for the IB Middle Years Programme. Liceo (Year 9-12): a four-year bilingual liceo scientifico delle scienze applicate, paritario, 33 hours a week, with a double diploma - the Italian esame di Stato and the Canadian Ontario Secondary School Diploma (courses and credits through the platform of an Ontario school inspected by the Ontario Ministry of Education); opened in 2025-2026, with Year 9 and 10 running in 2026-2027. Classes normally have no more than 25 students.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · authorised programmeGlobeducate · school is part of the networkThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Primary Years Programme. For the Middle Years Programme the school is a candidate.
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). 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.
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.
Globeducateschool network
A K12 education group bringing together bilingual and international schools as well as online programmes. The site names "65+" schools in 11 countries and 40,000 pupils, and on all the pages read these numbers agree. Whether the group owns the schools, manages them or passes on its methodology under licence is not said on the site; the year of foundation and the country of registration are not named.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
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 hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Playground · Makerspace
Clubs and activities: Judo · Football · Drama · Dance · Chess · Yoga · Karate · Spanish (Instituto Cervantes A2 exam preparation) · Choir · Mini Games · Ping Pong · Latin · LEGO Education Story Starter · LEGO Coding and Robotics · Create Your Own Video Game · French
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: native speakers of Italian and English; specialists in art, music and psychomotor activities
Teachers are native speakers of Italian and English. Kindergarten teachers are native English speakers or equivalent, and art, music and psychomotor activities are taught by specialists. The school trains its teachers together with Milano-Bicocca University, Harvard and the IB; a learning support service with a psychotherapist and a neuro-psychomotor therapist works within the school.
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 room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a team of designated safeguarding leads covering every stage and non-teaching staff, which meets regularly; teaching and non-teaching staff receive periodic safeguarding training. The learning support service (a psychotherapist and a neuro-psychomotor therapist) observes classes and advises students, teachers and parents; a psychological counselling service runs. A nurse is on duty every day.
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 data75 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
Milan, Italy · est. 1999 · Private