Darbi College is a private, fee-paying British-style day school in central Sofia for students who have completed grades 7-10 of a Bulgarian school. It was founded in 2007 and in the same year became the first school in Bulgaria authorised by Cambridge Assessment International Education, as centre BG004; since 2008 it has also administered Oxford admission tests. Tuition is full-day: academic classes, extracurricular activities and university admission preparation. The programme follows the British system: a Reception year after grade 7, a two-year IGCSE after grade 8 or 9 and a two-year A Level after grade 10; all subjects except Bulgarian are taught in English, and assessment is fully external, with certificates issued by Cambridge. Every student has a Personal Tutor, classes are taught in small groups, and students choose their subject combinations freely. In 2026 the school's eighteenth class graduated; graduates study at universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, France, the USA and Bulgaria.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $19 045–22 242 a year
16 858–19 688 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Bulgarian, French
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027: Reception year 16858 euro, IGCSE first and second year 17227 euro each, IGCSE in one year 19688 euro, A Level first and second year 17596 euro each.
Admissions The school admits students after grade 7 into the Reception year (a five-year course), after grade 8 or 9 into IGCSE and after grade 10 into A Level. Stages: an open day, a meeting with the applicant and parents, diagnostic tests in English and mathematics (after grade 10 English is compulsory and mathematics only if it is part of the A Level plan) and an interview with the admissions committee; after the tests the applicant receives an admission letter. Requirements are very good academic results and motivation, which is the committee's main criterion. A high level of English is recommended but not required for the Reception year, which includes intensive English. The deadline is 15 June or until groups are full. The website does not discuss foreign students or their documents.
Stages and year groups Reception year after grade 7: English (10 hours a week) and English Literature (4 hours), mathematics, ICT, science, history and geography in English, plus Bulgarian language and literature. Cambridge IGCSE: two years after grade 8 (5-8 subjects) or one year after grade 9 (at least 5 subjects), 13 subjects to choose from. Cambridge International AS and A Level: two years after grade 10, four subjects in the first year and three in the second, 12 subjects to choose from. Cambridge exams are held twice a year, in May-June and October-November. The school says IGCSE corresponds to a completed grade 10 in a Bulgarian school; A Level certificates are accepted by Bulgarian universities after legalisation and recognition by the Ministry of Education. The website does not mention the Bulgarian national curriculum or a Bulgarian diploma.
Address ul. Rakovski 58, 1000 Sofia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre: it teaches IGCSE and A Level courses.
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
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: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). 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.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Where leavers go: Imperial College London · University of Leicester · University of Kent · Royal Holloway, University of London · Loughborough University · Queen Mary University of London · Erasmus University Rotterdam · Utrecht University · University of Groningen · Hanze University of Applied Sciences · Vienna University of Economics and Business · BIMM University Berlin and others, 19 universities in the school's list in all
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 is in central Sofia on Rakovski Street, near the metro, tram, trolleybus and bus. Science laboratories are equipped to Cambridge requirements. There is no boarding.
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 sizenot stated
What the listings show: many teachers hold doctorates (French, biology, chemistry) and master's degrees from leading universities
The website presents the administration and teachers with their education: the director holds an MA in American literature from Sofia University; teachers include PhDs in comparative literature, philology, biology and chemistry, graduates of Sofia University and of universities in Switzerland and Greece, and a speaking examiner. Every student has a Personal Tutor, teaching is in small groups, and additional one-to-one tutorials are available.
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%)85 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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
Sofia, Bulgaria · est. 2007 · Private