← Back to homeÉcole Privée Sainte-Sophie
Luxembourg, Luxembourg · est. 1627 · Private
Illustration · Luxembourg
Sainte-Sophie is a private Catholic school in Kirchberg that traces its history to 1627, when the Sisters of the Congrégation Notre-Dame settled in Luxembourg. Today it has more than 800 pupils aged 3 to 16 from more than 30 countries and two curricula under one roof. The French school, since 2007: maternelle, élémentaire and collège (6e-3e) on the official French curriculum, all classes accredited by the French Ministry of Education. The Luxembourgish school: Spillschoul (kindergarten) with immersion in Luxembourgish and English, Grondschoul (primary, cycles 2.1-4.2), lower general secondary classes (7G-5G) and from September 2026 a classical section (7C-5C). Language of instruction: the French school teaches in French, Spillschoul in Luxembourgish and English; the school does not state the teaching language of Grondschoul and the lycée, only that they follow the official Luxembourg curriculum. In the French school German starts in MS and English in CP, and in collège both are taught from 6e with equal hours; some music, art and PE lessons may be taught in German, English or Luxembourgish. Classes have no more than 25 pupils. Since 2024 the school takes part in the PASCH initiative, and it holds the Fairtrade School and Label SDK distinctions.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $1 830–4 772 a year
1 620–4 224 EUR
Programmes
French programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
French, Luxembourgish
Languages taught
German, English
Class size
no more than 25 pupils per class
About the fees Fees are per term for 2026-2027; the year has three terms, and the annual range is the term fee multiplied by three. Maternelle and Spillschoul 1408 EUR per term (morning care included), élémentaire and Grondschoul 1289 EUR, collège 979 EUR, lycée général 540 EUR. Fees are lower from the second child: 1283, 1164, 934 and 495 EUR per term. Lunch and after-school care are extra: lunch 142-149 EUR per term for one day a week.
Admissions Demand exceeds places, so the school sets a priority order. The French school admits, in this order: siblings of current French-school pupils, siblings of already admitted children, children from kindergartens with an agreement with the school, "Élèves issus d'établissements français (en France ou AEFE/MLF)", French-speaking children from non-accredited classes, French-speaking children from non-French-speaking classes and finally "Élèves non francophones". The head reviews each file, looking at behaviour and attitude to work; children from non-accredited classes take a French and maths test. The French maternelle takes children from age 3, the Luxembourgish Spillschoul from age 4 on 1 September; maternelle children must be out of nappies. Pupils joining collège in cycle 4 must come from a 6e with both German and English. Registration is through the Eduka platform.
Stages and year groups Grades PS-3e; Spillschoul 1.1-1.2, Grondschoul 2.1-4.2, 7G-5G, 7C-5C. Two curricula. French school: maternelle (PS-GS), élémentaire (CP-CM2), collège (6e-3e) preparing for the brevet. The school states: "Les classes françaises sont toutes homologuées par le ministère de l'Éducation nationale français" and for collège "Toutes les classes de collège sont homologuées ... en tant que collège français à l'étranger"; AEFE accreditation dates from 2007. The 2025-2026 staff list names collège classes 6e, 5e and 4e. Luxembourgish school on the official Luxembourg curriculum: Spillschoul (1.1-1.2), Grondschoul (2.1-4.2), lycée général (7G-5G) with extra English, extra German and maths hours and a Powerful public speaking course, and from September 2026 lycée classique (7C-5C). The school has no final-year classes: schooling ends at 3e and 5G.
Address 4, rue Marguerite de Busbach, L-1014 Luxembourg
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
AEFE · accreditationZfA · language examinationPASCH · takes part in the programmeThe AEFE register gives the school partenaire status (recorded as École privée Notre-Dame-Sainte-Sophie): its French classes from maternelle to collège are accredited by France, and a Luxembourg curriculum runs alongside. It is a PASCH school with the German language diploma DSD.
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
AEFEAgency for French Education Abroad
It runs the network of French schools worldwide, while the accreditation itself, the homologation, is granted by the French education ministry and inspected by French state inspectors. A leaver from a homologated school moves into a school in France without an entrance examination. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
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 →ZfACentral Agency for German Schools Abroad
A German federal agency. It recognises a school as a German school abroad, funds it and grants the right to award the German leaving certificate. Quality is examined by a state inspection about once every six years, and schools that pass receive the mark of an excellent German school abroad.
What the badge means for this school. The organisation grants the school the right to prepare pupils for its language examination and to sit it. That is all the entry says: the examination covers one subject, the other subjects follow whatever curriculum the school works to, and no inspection of the school as a whole stands behind it. The diploma is real and the register is public, so the entry is shown - but on its own it does not bring a school into the ranking, by the same measure as an examination centre. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →PASCHSchools: Partners for the Future, an initiative of the German foreign ministry
More than two thousand schools in about 120 countries. A school cannot apply for itself: participants are chosen by German agencies in agreement with the embassy. Very different schools sit under one mark - full German schools abroad, and ordinary national schools that simply teach German well.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to a German support programme. By itself the mark means neither a German curriculum nor the right to award a German certificate: of the two thousand PASCH schools, about seventeen hundred hold no such right. Look for a ZfA status next to it - that is the one that is about this. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →French programme
The state programme of France. A school is homologated by the French ministry of education, and a leaver may move into a school in France without entrance tests. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
What this means for this school. Which year groups of this school are covered by homologation - only the primary ones, or all the way to the final year - is not stated here. The difference matters: it decides whether the school takes a child through to the French baccalaureate or hands them on to another school halfway.
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.
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: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: The school sits in a green setting in the Kirchberg district. Five sports halls, a psychomotricity room, a football and rugby pitch, four science labs (physics, chemistry, biology, digital sciences, robotics), two computer rooms, two libraries (primary and secondary) and a CDI, art studios, two music rooms, a chapel, a canteen with its own cooks and a cafeteria. Every classroom has an interactive board, and the La Coque aquatic centre is nearby. Free shuttle from Glacis for primary pupils and a school bus from the central station for secondary; a tram stop is nearby.
Clubs and activities: Karate · Danse (dance) · Club BD (comics) · Club robotique (robotics) · Club crochet (crochet) · Club de théâtre (drama) · Club d'échecs (chess) · Club de boxe (boxing) · Rugby · Fencing · Football · Athlétisme (athletics) · Chorale (choir) · Éveil musical (early music) · Solfège (music theory) · Peinture (painting) · Couture (sewing) · Anglais pour native speaker (English for native speakers)
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
The school publishes its team: the head, three deputies and the class teacher of every class; it does not give a total number of teachers. Teachers come from both the French and Luxembourgish systems and run joint projects.
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 policy
Two school nurses, infirmary open 7:30 to 18:00; individual care plans (PAI) for children with chronic conditions and allergies, and staff are regularly trained in first aid. The school has an anti-bullying prevention plan, all staff are trained to spot its signs, and the school takes part in the national anti-bullying day every year. Electronic devices, including smartwatches, are banned on site. The SePAS psycho-social service works with parents of cycle 4 pupils.
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 data80 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 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