← Back to homeEuropean School Brussels I
Brussels, Belgium · est. 1958 · State
Illustration · Brussels
The European School Brussels I (EEB1) is the oldest European School in Brussels: it "opened its doors on rue du Trône" in September 1958 with 26 pupils and six teachers. The European Schools are public, intergovernmental schools run jointly by the EU Member States and the EU institutions; they provide a multilingual education for children of EU staff from nursery to the European Baccalaureate. According to the Director, EEB1 now has more than 4000 pupils of 60 different nationalities and more than 500 members of staff. The school has two sites: Uccle covers all cycles, while Berkendael (Forest) has only the nursery and primary cycles. Teaching is organised in language sections: each child learns in their mother tongue or dominant language and from primary year 1 studies a second language (English, French or German), later used to teach history, geography and other subjects. The school stresses inclusion and support for pupils with different learning profiles; its motto is "Live, Learn, Work Together". It holds an annual Science Festival, and students take part in the MUNUCCLE Model United Nations and a solidarity project in Guatemala.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 036–9 443 a year
4 457.8–8 358.46 EUR
Programmes
European Baccalaureate
Admits from
4 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Greek
About the fees Tuition (minerval) is set by the Board of Governors of the European Schools. Category I pupils, children of staff of the EU institutions, are exempt from school fees; for Category II the fee is set by an agreement with the employer; a family without such a link pays the Category III rate. The Category III rate for the 2026-2027 school year for pupils enrolled from the 2013-2014 school year onwards: nursery 4457.80 euros, primary 6129.55 euros, secondary 8358.46 euros a year. The school's own website lists school expenses and refers to the European Schools website eursc.eu for the tuition amounts.
Admissions The Brussels European Schools, the school writes, "are primarily intended for the children of the European institutions' staff". Pupils are divided into three categories according to their parents' employment. Category I covers children of staff of the EU institutions and assimilated organisations: the schools must admit them and they are exempt from school fees. Category II covers pupils under individual agreements with employers. Category III covers everyone else, admitted only in so far as places are available. Enrolment in all Brussels European Schools is decided by a single body, the Central Enrolment Authority, under an enrolment policy adopted for each school year. The 2026-2027 policy (Article 7.4), "in view of the increase in pupil numbers and of the current overcrowding of the Brussels European Schools", admits category III pupils "solely if they fulfil the following cumulative conditions": the pupil's brother or sister is already enrolled at one of the Brussels European Schools and will continue there; the application is for the school or site attended by that sibling, with a place available in the language section and year group requested; no category III pupil may be admitted to a class which already has 24 pupils; and such applications are considered only in the second or third enrolment phase. Applications are made online through the enrolment portal: the link is available on the intranets of the EU institutions, and otherwise the enrolment secretariat of the chosen school sends it after an eligibility check. Pupils are admitted to the nursery in September of the calendar year in which the child reaches four years of age and to primary year 1 in the year in which the child reaches six. The language section is determined by the Director according to the child's mother tongue or dominant language; where no such section exists, the child is enrolled in one of the English, French or German sections as a pupil without a language section (SWALS). Nationality is not restricted: the Director writes of pupils of "60 different nationalities". The Uccle and Berkendael sites have separate enrolment secretariats.
Stages and year groups Grades M1-M2, P1-P5, S1-S7. The European School system: two years of nursery (M1-M2), five years of primary (P1-P5) and seven years of secondary (S1-S7), leading to the European Baccalaureate. Twelve language sections in the 2026-2027 school year. Uccle: Danish (DA), German (DE), English (EN), Spanish (ES), French (FR), Hungarian (HU) and Polish (PL) in all cycles; Italian (IT) in primary and secondary; Latvian (LV) and Slovak (SK) in secondary up to S4; Slovenian (SL) in nursery and P1-P2. Berkendael (nursery and primary): English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latvian, Slovak and Greek (EL) satellite classes, with German in primary only. According to the school's table, enrolment in the English nursery and primary and the Italian primary at Uccle and the German primary at Berkendael is "possible on the basis of particular circumstances or regrouping of siblings within a given cycle only". Pupils without a language section (SWALS) join an English, French or German section and have separate mother-tongue lessons: Slovenian in P3-P5 and secondary, Latvian and Slovak in S5-S7. There is no IB programme on the school's website.
Address Avenue du Vert Chasseur 46, 1180 Uccle, Bruxelles
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
European Schools · authorised programmeA Type I European School: the European Union's European Schools system lists it in its register. The school is intergovernmental, teaches in language sections of EU countries and awards the European Baccalaureate. Fees for families not employed by EU institutions (category III) are published by the European Schools system.
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
European SchoolsThe European Union's European Schools (Schola Europaea)
An intergovernmental system of European Union schools with its own curriculum and its own certificate, the European Baccalaureate. It runs thirteen schools of its own, and national schools gain the status of Accredited European School after an audit with a visit by inspectors. The certificate is recognised for university entry in every EU country.
What the badge means for this school. The school runs the European Schools curriculum, and this can be checked in the system's lists at eursc.eu. The system's own schools are checked by inspectors from EU countries, accredited schools pass an in-school audit, and accreditation is renewed every three years. Whether the school awards the European Baccalaureate, and whom it admits, is stated on its own page. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →European Baccalaureate
The European Union's European Schools curriculum from nursery to the final year, with the European Baccalaureate as the leaving certificate. Teaching is in language sections, and a second language is compulsory from primary school.
What this means for this school. The curriculum and the certificate are set by the European Schools system, whose Board of Governors is made up of the education ministers of the EU countries. European Baccalaureate papers are marked by the teacher and an external examiner, and the certificate is recognised for university entry in every EU country and in several others. A school may award it only if it is one of the system's own schools or is accredited for the senior years.
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 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
Clubs and activities: MUNUCCLE · Bio Camp · ESSS: European Schools Science Symposium · Science Festival · The Lego project · Performing Music & Arts · Work Experience · Solidarity Project Guatemala
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access control
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Each site has an infirmary: the nurse gives first aid and can call an ambulance, and at Berkendael the school doctor examines pupils in M2, P1, P3 and P5. Five school psychologists (Uccle, Berkendael and three in secondary) support pupils and families but do not carry out psychotherapy or assessments. The school runs the Finnish KiVa anti-bullying programme and has an anti-bullying policy, a good behaviour policy, a pupil code of conduct, mobile phone and digital rules, and suicide prevention guidelines. Parents of M1-P2 pupils may enter the site on foot only with an access badge.
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 data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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