← Back to the rankingInternational American School of Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland · est. 1989 · Private
Illustration · Warsaw
The International American School of Warsaw (IAS) is a private international school in Warsaw's Ursynów district, opened in September 1989 as the first private American school in post-communist Poland; since 1994 it has worked in its own building by the Kabaty forest. Children from Pre-KG (from three and a half) to Grade 12 from more than 40 countries study here, with about seven students per teacher. Lessons are in English, Polish is taught as a subject at every stage, and French or German is added from Grade 6. In Grade 10 (Pre-IB) students choose one of three routes: the IB Diploma (authorised since 2006), the American High School Diploma or the Polish Matura; IB and Matura graduates also receive the American diploma. The Middle School has been an IB MYP candidate since 2025. In May 2026 the IB Diploma average was 34 against a world average of about 30.6.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $12 395–22 724 a year
48 000–88 000 PLN
Programmes
IB · DP · American programme · National programme
Admits from
3.5 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Polish, French, German
Students per teacher
about seven students per teacher across the school
Class size
usually up to about eighteen students, smaller in the youngest years; an average of five children per teacher in kindergarten
About the fees Fees are the same for 2026/2027 and 2027/2028, per year: Kindergarten 48000 zloty, grades 1-2 58000, grades 3-4 68000, grades 5-6 74000, grades 7-9 78000, grades 10-12 88000 zloty. They are paid in ten monthly instalments from September to June by the 10th, with no payments in July and August; fees may be adjusted yearly. Discounts do not combine, one is chosen: 5% for a second child, 10% for a third, 15% for a fourth, 2% for each year at the school, 6% for paying the full year before 15 August; a late payment loses that month's discount. Tuition covers the day from 08:30 to 15:10 and clubs, American and Polish examinations, the IB programme, the psychologist, on-site medical care, sport including swimming, counselling and loaned textbooks. The fee page does not give a Pre-KG amount.
Admissions Admissions run all year, including mid-year, subject to places; for 2026/2027 most classes are full and a waiting list operates. Steps: online application, report cards for the last two years and a teacher recommendation, a signed agreement, review by admissions, entrance tests if needed (most often English and mathematics), and payment of the annual 4000 zloty enrolment fee. Grade placement follows age at enrolment, language, prior schooling and additional needs. Up to Grade 10 the school accepts children at any level of English, placing those at A0-B2+ in the paid EAL programme; entry to Grade 10 requires at least B1+ English. Entry to the IB Diploma is in Grade 11, subject to places and prior schooling. The school accepts foreigners: children of more than 40 nationalities attend, and newcomers without Polish take Polish as an Additional Language.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-KG, KG, 1-12. Pre-KG (ages 3.5-4.5) and Kindergarten (ages 4.5-6) in the Early Years School at Dembego 12; Elementary School grades 1-5 at Dembego 12; Middle School grades 6-8 and High School grades 9-12 at Dembego 18. The curriculum follows American standards alongside the Polish programme (MEN). Grade 10 is Pre-IB and the choice of route: IB Diploma Programme in grades 11-12 (since 2006, six subjects, three at higher level, TOK, Extended Essay, CAS; via Pamoja at extra cost Business Management, Economics, Spanish, ITGS), the American High School Diploma (Cognia, five subjects, a 1500 word research paper) or the Polish Matura. The Middle School has been an IB MYP candidate since 2025. ISA tests are compulsory in grades 4, 6, 8 and 10; the school is an SAT test centre.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCognia · accreditationThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. For the Middle Years the school is a candidate since 2025. The school is accredited by Cognia.
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: 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 →CogniaCognia, formerly AdvancED
The widest-reaching American accreditation: some forty thousand schools in over a hundred countries. It accredits both individual schools and whole school systems. It also sells a paid membership with no inspection behind it, and that membership is often passed off as accreditation.
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 →American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
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
Average IB score
34 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma, May 2026: average 34 points against a world average of about 30.6, highest 41, average subject grade 5.36 against 4.97 worldwide; strongest results in English A Language and Literature, Business Management and Psychology. The school says it enters all students working toward the full diploma.
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · University of California · King's College London · University College London (UCL)
The school says graduates go to universities in the UK, the USA and the EU and names universities attended by notable alumni; more than a thousand students have graduated since 1989.
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 transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Clubs and activities: Art Club · Drama · Film Club · Football · Frisbee · Programming · STEAM Club · Tabletop Games · IASMUN · IAS Times · IAS Podcast · Student Council
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
Teachers come from the USA, Britain, Ireland, Scotland, France, India, Turkey, Pakistan and Poland; all humanities courses are taught by native English speakers. Each class has two homeroom teachers, one from the Polish and one from the international programme.
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 policynot stated on the website
The safeguarding policy follows Polish law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; all staff, interns and volunteers undergo criminal record checks. The school has a school counsellor, a psychologist, a pedagogue, a pedagogical therapist and a speech therapist, and a nurse on campus all day. Students up to Grade 8 are supervised all day, the Wąwozowa gate is closed from 08:40 to 15:00 and opened by buzzer, and phones are handed in each morning. Academic integrity rules apply, with Turnitin checks.
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%)84 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 data80 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 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