← Back to the rankingBritish School of Plovdiv
Markovo, Bulgaria · est. 2019 · Private
Illustration · Markovo
The British School of Plovdiv (BSP) is a private British school in the village of Markovo near Plovdiv for children aged 2 to 18: kindergarten, school from grade 1 to IGCSE, and a college with A Levels. The school opened in 2019; its owner founded the British School of Sofia in 2010, and BSP works with it as one school on several sites, sharing subject leadership. BSP is registered by the UK Department for Education as a British School Overseas (BSO, URN 151240) after a Penta inspection in April 2024 and describes itself as an accredited Cambridge International School. The language of lessons and communication is English; all students study Bulgarian as a native or foreign language, and Spanish from grade 3. The school does not issue a Bulgarian diploma and stresses that it is not bilingual. Students come from 15 nationalities, about 70% of them foreign; classes are small, usually up to 10 students. According to the April 2024 inspection report, the school had 37 students. The school day runs from 8:45 to 16:00 in kindergarten and to 16:30 in school.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $10 845–18 889 a year
9 600–16 720 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Bulgarian, Spanish
Students per teacher
according to the website, 2 students per teacher in kindergarten and school and 7 in the college; the 2024 inspection noted one teacher for every three students
Class size
on average 10, at most 20 students; in the college on average 8 pupils
About the fees Fees for the 2026-2027 school year for 10 months, in euro, paid annually: Nursery 9600, Reception 10350, grades 1-2 12570, grades 3-6 13420, grades 7-9 14360, IGCSE Year 1-2 15770, A Level Year 1-2 16720. Paying in two or three instalments costs slightly more (for example, grades 1-2: 2 x 6635 or 3 x 4660 euro). The resources fee for electronic materials is included. A 5% discount applies for a second child and 10% for a third and subsequent child. Meals per year cost 1700 euro in kindergarten and 1850 euro in school; two-way transport 2440 euro, one-way 1450 euro. Cambridge Checkpoint, IGCSE and A Level exams are charged separately at examination board rates.
Admissions Admissions for the next year run from January to the end of June; families relocating in summer may apply until 31 August, and during the year students are admitted if places are available. Required are the online form, the child's birth certificate or passport, the parents' passports, reports for the last two years in English or Bulgarian and medical documents under Bulgarian rules. Children start grade 1 at 6. For grades 4-6 the child takes an English entrance exam, for grades 7-9 English (test and essay) and mathematics exams and an interview with the academic head; for the college (A Level), English and mathematics exams and an interview. Children may apply without fluent English: teachers are experienced with non-native speakers and give extra help, and adaptation usually takes 3-6 months. The school admits foreigners: according to the school, about 70% of students are foreign, from 15 countries.
Stages and year groups Grades kindergarten (ages 2-5), 1-9, IGCSE Year 1-2, A Level Year 1-2. Kindergarten (Pre-Nursery, Nursery, Reception; ages 2-5): International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) and Monster Phonics. Primary (grades 1-6): Cambridge Primary and the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), with the Cambridge Primary Checkpoint in English, mathematics and science in grade 6. Lower Secondary (grades 7-9): Cambridge Lower Secondary with the Checkpoint in grade 9. IGCSE Year 1-2 (ages 14-16): Cambridge IGCSE, exams in grade 11. College (ages 16-18): A Level Year 1-2 with exams in grade 13. There is no Bulgarian curriculum or Bulgarian diploma; transferring to a Bulgarian school after grade 4 (or grade 8) requires exams in Bulgarian and history, and the school issues a certificate validated by the British Embassy with an apostille.
Address 45 Tsar Ivan Asen II Str., 4108 Markovo (Plovdiv)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
BSO · accreditationThe school is inspected under the British Schools Overseas scheme. It teaches the Cambridge Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE and A Level programmes.
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
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 →CambridgePrimary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, A-Level
Programmes of the University of Cambridge: the school teaches to Cambridge syllabuses and enters its pupils for exams that Cambridge marks itself. Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end. 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.
What this means for this school. The papers are marked by Cambridge, not by the school, so a leaver's grade does not depend on how strict their own teachers are with them. To enter pupils for these exams a school has to be registered as a Cambridge exam centre; registration as a centre is permission to run exams rather than accreditation of the school, and it says nothing about the quality of teaching. IGCSE is taken at around Year 10 or 11 and A-Level in the final years, and it is the A-Level results that carry a pupil into British and many other universities.
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 pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground · Makerspace
Campus: The school occupies a former large private house on three floors in a quiet residential area of the village of Markovo near Plovdiv. It has a shaded garden with play equipment, a fenced outdoor swimming pool, a dining room and a covered area where older students eat, a Mac computer room and a Lego and robotics room, a large multipurpose hall for assemblies, PE, practical science and exams, a medical room and a small library. Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard, students from grade 1 use school-provided iPads, and all rooms have air-conditioning and air-filtration units. School minibuses provide transport around Plovdiv, Markovo and nearby villages. There is no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Piano · Guitar · Chess · Taekwondo · Mental Maths
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: education and qualifications appropriate to the subject taught (according to the school)
The staff page lists the principal and owner, the head of secondary and pastoral care, the head of primary and 18 teachers: primary class teachers and teachers of English, Bulgarian, Spanish, mathematics, science, art, music, physical education and kindergarten; the student support team includes a school counsellor. According to the school, all teachers have the education and qualifications for their subjects and take part in continuous professional development; some subject leadership comes from the sister school in Sofia.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
✓CCTV
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access control
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The perimeter and the single entrance are constantly monitored, adults enter only on school business, and CCTV operates inside and outside; the youngest children are handed over to parents at the gate under staff supervision, and bus students are escorted from the garage. The school has annually updated policies on child protection, anti-bullying, behaviour, first aid and fire safety; the headteacher is the designated safeguarding lead, with the academic coordinator as deputy; staff refresh safeguarding training to the UK standard. There is a full-time nurse and a medical room, and a school counsellor; the PSHE course teaches health and safe behaviour.
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%)95 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 data95 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 data73 "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