ICS Milan is a private international day school in Milan for children aged 1 to 18 with three campuses: Colletta (nursery and kindergarten), Tenca (nursery, kindergarten and primary) and Symbiosis (primary and secondary). The school is paritaria, meaning it is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education, so students can follow both international and Italian pathways. The nursery follows the British Early Years Foundation Stage; kindergarten and primary follow the IB Primary Years Programme philosophy (the school is a PYP candidate); grades 7-9 follow the IB Middle Years Programme together with the Italian scuola media curriculum; grades 10-11 take Cambridge IGCSE; grades 12-13 take the IB Diploma Programme. In parallel the school runs a four-year Italian liceo scientifico with applied sciences, combined with IGCSE and IB DP, and from 2026-2027 a Liceo Internazionale per l'Innovazione. The main language of instruction is English (about 80% of lessons), the second Italian; teaching in the liceo is bilingual. According to the school, about 1000 children of 55 nationalities attend and about 200 teachers work there.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $13 828–24 075 a year
12 240–21 310 EUR
Programmes
IB · MYP, DP · Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Italian
Languages taught
Spanish, French, Chinese
Students per teacher
1 to 5
About the fees Fees for the 2026-2027 school year, private rate, September to June: nursery and kindergarten 12240 EUR a year; primary at Tenca 12650 EUR in Year 1, 13470 EUR in Years 2-4, 14080 EUR in Years 5-6; primary at Symbiosis 12650 EUR in Year 1 and 15960 EUR in Years 2-6; Years 7-9 19060 EUR; Years 10-11 19860 EUR; Years 12-13 21310 EUR. Extra: lunch 1420-1670 EUR a year, an annual registration fee of 1100-1300 EUR and a one-off admission fee of 800-3000 EUR. For families whose fees are paid through an employer there is a corporate rate including lunch: from 15660 to 24980 EUR a year.
Admissions Admission runs all year subject to places: enquiry, campus visit, an admissions test if applicable, decision. Nursery and kindergarten have no requirements, including language; a meeting with the campus manager is recommended. Primary requires the two latest school reports translated into English and an interview with a teacher, and from Year 5 the online CAT4 reasoning test. Secondary requires the two latest reports in English, the CAT4 test and an interview; particular attention is paid to language level, and EAL/IAL support is set if there are gaps. The school states that it admits children of different nationalities, and its Italian licei are open to foreign students living in Italy for long or short periods; for international students the Italian state exams in middle school are not compulsory.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery, Kindergarten, Years 1-13. Nursery (12 months to 3 years) - British Early Years Foundation Stage; kindergarten (3-5) and primary (Years 1-6) - IB Primary Years Programme, the school is a PYP candidate, with elements of the Italian state curriculum; middle school (Years 7-9) - IB Middle Years Programme, authorised, together with the Italian scuola media and the first-cycle esame di Stato for Italian students; Years 10-11 - Cambridge IGCSE (since September 2024, grades 1-9); Years 12-13 - IB Diploma Programme, authorised, full diploma or IB courses. Italian pathway in upper secondary: a four-year liceo scientifico opzione scienze applicate (since 2022-2023, esame di Stato), whose first two years are combined with IGCSE and last two with IB DP; from 2026-2027, the Liceo Internazionale per l'Innovazione. The school is paritaria.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP, DP · authorised programmeCambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeGlobeducate · school is part of the networkThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Middle Years and Diploma programmes. The Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. For the Primary Years Programme the school is a candidate. All students take Cambridge IGCSE in Years 10-11; the four-year Italian science liceo combines its first two years with IGCSE and the last two with 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: MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. 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: IGCSE (ages 14-16). 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 →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.
Globeducateschool network
A K12 education group bringing together bilingual and international schools as well as online programmes. The site names "65+" schools in 11 countries and 40,000 pupils, and on all the pages read these numbers agree. Whether the group owns the schools, manages them or passes on its methodology under licence is not said on the site; the year of foundation and the country of registration are not named.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
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 pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Clubs and activities: Cambridge Preparation Club - English PET/FCE · French Certification Club - DELF Scolaire · Spanish Certification Club - DELE · ICS Newsroom · Musical Academy: Sing, Dance and Act · Individual Music Lessons · Illustration Course · Photography Club · Crochet Club · ICS Basketball Team · ICS Volleyball Team · Homework Club
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 reports about 1000 students and 200 teachers. The nursery has qualified early years practitioners; kindergarten has teachers and learning assistants; primary has specialists in art, music, Chinese, swimming and PE. All staff complete mandatory safeguarding training.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a safeguarding and child protection policy with a Designated Safeguarding Lead, mandatory training for all staff, a school nurse, an anti-bullying policy, a staff code of conduct, a first aid policy and a complaints procedure.
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%)90 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 data75 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
Milan, Italy · Private