The Canadian School of Milan is a private international day school in central Milan for children aged 2 to 18. It was founded in 2004 by the Italian-Canadian educator Antonella Salvadori del Prato: it began as a small nursery on Via Plinio, moved in 2014 to the Gioia campus adding Primary, Middle and High School, and in 2023 opened a second campus, Vivaio, for the Middle and Senior School. The founder still oversees the school personally. Teaching is in English at every stage: the Primary School follows a hybrid curriculum drawing on the Ontario, British and international models with elements of the Italian curriculum, the Middle School (grades 6-8) follows Cambridge Lower Secondary, grades 9-10 follow Cambridge IGCSE, mandatory for all, and grades 11-12 the IB Diploma Programme. The school describes itself as recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education and prepares students for the Italian proficiency exams at the end of grades 5 and 8. Students come from more than 35 nationalities; classes have up to 22 students, and most teachers come from Canada, the UK and the US.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $15 025–24 459 a year
13 300–21 650 EUR
Programmes
IB · DP · Cambridge · Lower Secondary, IGCSE
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Italian, French, Spanish
Class size
no more than 22 students per class
Registration fee
≈ $3 276
2 900 EUR
About the fees Annual tuition 2026-2027: Nursery - Pre-K (ages 2-4) 13300 EUR, Kindergarten - grade 2 15100 EUR, grades 3-5 16000 EUR, grades 6-8 18350 EUR, grades 9-10 20400 EUR, grades 11-12 21650 EUR. A corporate surcharge of 1000 EUR applies when a company pays. A 10% sibling discount applies to the second and each additional child. Payment in three instalments: 40% by 30 April 2026, 30% by 30 September 2026, 30% by 31 January 2027. Textbooks are included for the Primary School and bought separately in Middle and Senior School. Fees are reviewed annually.
Admissions Admissions are rolling, subject to space. Steps: tour or open day, online application with the last two school reports, passport or ID, any special educational needs documents and custody documents; senior school applicants need a reference. Then an interview and, if needed, an entry assessment; all applicants to grades 9-12 take a written entry assessment regardless of background. A decision is given within 5 working days, and the place is secured by paying the admission fee within 10 days. The school is non-selective and says it is open to families irrespective of culture, nationality, gender or religion. From age 5 (Kindergarten) a reasonable age-appropriate level of English is expected, and a high level in Middle and High School; no English is required for Nursery and Pre-K; paid English as an Additional Language support is available. At least one parent should have good English, as all school communication is in English. Children are not placed above their age group, using the calendar year. External applicants to grade 11 IB DP are admitted before the start of grade 11 based on grades (IGCSE level 5 or above in all subjects, or an average of about 7 on an Italian report); grade 12 entry requires completed grade 11 DP at another IB school.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery, Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1-12. Early Years: Nursery and Pre-K (ages 2-4) following the British Early Years Foundation Stage. Primary: Kindergarten to grade 5 (ages 5-11), a hybrid curriculum drawing on the Ontario, British National and international curricula with elements of the Italian curriculum; Italian 5° Exam Prep prepares for the Italian proficiency exam at the end of grade 5. Middle School: grades 6-8 (ages 11-14) following Cambridge Lower Secondary, with preparation for the Italian grade 8 exam (terza media). Senior School: grades 9-10 Cambridge IGCSE, mandatory for all (English Language and Literature, Mathematics and Additional Mathematics, Co-ordinated Sciences Double Award, History, Italian; electives French or Spanish and Art & Design, Music or Drama), grades 11-12 IB Diploma Programme (subjects: English A and B, French A and B, Italian A and B, Spanish A, B and ab initio, History, Economics, Business, ESS, Maths AA and AI, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Visual Arts), with a bilingual IB diploma possible. The 2025 brochure also mentions the Ontario OSSD.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCambridge · Lower Secondary, IGCSE · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. The Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge Lower Secondary, Cambridge IGCSE. Grades 6-8 follow Cambridge Lower Secondary, then all pupils take IGCSE in Grades 9-10 (English, maths, sciences, history, Italian and more) before the IB Diploma.
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: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
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: Lower Secondary (ages 11-14), IGCSE (ages 14-16). 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.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school does not publish exact IB Diploma scores; it says that in recent years its average results have exceeded the global average, several students have scored above 40 points and top achievers reached 44 out of 45.
Where leavers go: Stanford University · University of Chicago · Imperial College London · University of Toronto · McGill University · New York University · University of Edinburgh · Georgia Institute of Technology · University of Amsterdam · University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) · Leiden University · University of St Andrews
and others, 20 universities in the school's list in allThe school publishes the full list of universities that made offers to its graduates in 2021-2024 in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe and Asia; a university counsellor guides students from grade 8 to grade 12.
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
Clubs and activities: Arts & Crafts · Hip Hop Dance · Ballet · Soccer · Karate · Mindfulness · Mini Rugby · Bricks Club · Violin · French for Beginners and for Natives · Choir · Debate Club · Duke of Edinburgh · Public Speaking Club · STEM Racing Club · School Band · Figure Drawing · Embroidery · Living Eco Club · Model United Nations · Photography Workshop
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: Most teachers hold Canadian, British or American qualifications and have experience in their home countries and in international schools; teachers of Italian, French and Spanish are native speakers; teaching assistants work in Early Years and Primary.
Teaching staff come mainly from Canada, the UK and the US; there are specialist teachers of music, art, physical education, drama and languages, and instrumental and voice instructors. Special educational needs support is available on both campuses; the school employs a psychologist.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school employs a qualified psychologist; a counselling service offers one-to-one sessions and group workshops, along with a personal and social education curriculum. All campuses are staffed with qualified first-aiders. The school publishes admissions, anti-bullying, attendance, behaviour and recruitment policies.
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%)84 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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 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. 2004 · Private