← Back to homeCarlucci American International School of Lisbon
Sintra, Portugal · est. 1956 · Private
Illustration · Sintra
The school opened in 1956 as a small American school with nine students and since 2001 has carried the name of the U.S. ambassador Frank Carlucci. It now has more than 700 students from age 3 to Grade 12 and is owned by the non-profit Fundação Escola Americana de Lisboa. The campus in Linhó near Sintra was purpose-built in the late 1990s. The programme is American: a high school student earns an American diploma and about 80 percent also take the IB Diploma. Lessons are in English: the pages for parents and students, the admission requirements and the schedule are all in English, and the support for those whose English is not yet enough is called Foundations of English and English as an Additional Language; Portuguese in the elementary school is taught by specialist teachers, and almost a quarter of IB graduates earn a bilingual diploma. Classes hold no more than 20 students and a high school grade level no more than 60.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $14 089–27 337 a year
12 128–23 532 EUR
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Portuguese
Students
Более 700 учеников
Admissions Applications are accepted all year round and a child is admitted mid-year if there is space: the school is built for families who move to Lisbon outside the school calendar. Early childhood entry is by age on September 1: three years old for EC3, four for EC4, five for Kindergarten, six for Grade 1; the child is expected to eat and use the bathroom independently. School records for the last three years and external test results are required, and documents not in English or Portuguese are translated. A high school applicant whose records do not show sufficient English is invited to a language assessment. The application fee is 100 euros.
Stages and year groups Grades EC3 - Grade 12. The stages run from early childhood (EC3 and EC4) through Kindergarten and the elementary school to the middle school (Grades 6-8) and the high school (Grades 9-12).
Address Rua António dos Reis 95, Linhó, 2710-301 Sintra
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCIS · membershipMSA · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeschool 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 →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to this organisation but has not been through its accreditation. The difference matters: membership is usually paid for and has no external inspection behind it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
34 (world average 30.88)
Exam results Class of 2026: 54 IB candidates, a diploma average of 34 against the world average of 30.8, a 100 percent pass rate and a bilingual diploma for 24 percent. 44 students sat the SAT: 638 out of 800 for reading and writing, 638 out of 800 for maths, 1275 out of 1600 in total, with 86 percent meeting the SAT benchmarks. AP courses are available through a partner programme, 23 courses in all.
Where leavers go: University of Cambridge · King's College London · University of Manchester · University of Birmingham · University of Warwick · Lancaster University · Loughborough University · Royal Academy of Music · University of the Arts London · Goldsmiths University of London · Boston College · Georgetown University and others, 26 universities in the school's list in all
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground · Makerspace
Campus: The campus was purpose-built for the school: a full-size football field, two multi-purpose fields, three outdoor basketball courts, a track-and-field area, a main gymnasium, a smaller gym for younger children, a fitness room, science labs, art and music rooms, a theatre seating over 400, a main library with more than 40000 books in English and Portuguese, a second library for the elementary school, a maker space with 3D printers and laser cutters, a canteen and a snack bar, dedicated playgrounds for the youngest classes, and school buses.
Clubs and activities: Ballet · Capoeira · Chess · Cooking Club · Drama Club · Dungeons & Dragons · Ecolution Club · Experimental Art Club · Fitness Club · Flag Football · Games Club · Girl Scouts · Graphic Novel & Comics · Gymnastics · Hip-Hop · Homework Clinic · Lego Club · Portuguese Club · Robothink · Upper Elementary Choir · Varsity Sports · Applied Chinese · Piano · Guitar · Drums · Voice
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
A class holds no more than 20 students and a high school grade level no more than 60. Alongside teachers there is a student support service: Foundations of English and English as an Additional Language in small groups, a personal counsellor and a career counsellor for Grades 9-10.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school runs a student support service with personal counselling and career counselling.
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%)82 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 data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data90 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