← Back to homeInternational School of Brussels
Brussels, Belgium · est. 1951 · Private
Illustration · Brussels
The International School of Brussels is the oldest international school in Belgium: it opened in 1951 as the American School of Brussels for US military families and took its present name in 1953. The school is not-for-profit and teaches children aged 2.5 to 18, from Preschool to Grade 12; it has more than 1300 students from over 60 countries. The campus lies by the Forêt de Soignes in Watermael-Boitsfort, in south-east Brussels. "English is our primary teaching language", the school states; French starts at 2.5, from Grade 5 some subjects can be studied in French, and there is a Home Language Programme. The High School offers over 120 courses and several graduation pathways: the IB Diploma, AP, BTEC and the US diploma. Inclusion is central: every student who can complete the IB Diploma is given access, and there is a programme for students with intensive learning needs. The Athletics Programme covers 15 sports and over 50 teams, including American football, lacrosse and baseball.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $25 978–57 735 a year
22 995–51 105 EUR
Programmes
IB · DP · BTEC · AP · American programme
Admits from
2.5 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
French, Dutch, Spanish, Chinese
Registration fee
≈ $2 259
2 000 EUR
About the fees Annual tuition for the 2026-2027 school year: Preschool 22995 euros, Pre-Kindergarten 25480, Kindergarten 38440, Grades 1-2 41400, Grades 3-6 42145, Grades 7-9 48135, Grades 10-12 51105 euros. Access Programme tuition is lower: 3700 euros for Preschool - Grade 6, 4500 for Grades 7-9, 5400 for Grades 10-12. Fees are invoiced in May for the whole year; 25% is reimbursed if a student leaves before the end of January.
Admissions "ISB exists to serve both the educational needs of globally mobile families whose employment brings them to Brussels, and those of local families who want their children to benefit from an English-language education"; the scholarship for Grades 7-12 "is open to students of all nationalities". Admissions are open throughout the year, typically before 1 May; the online application has six steps, the Head of the relevant section decides, a decision follows within 7-10 working days and families confirm within five working days. Early Childhood placement is based on age at 1 November, higher grades on age and previous schooling, sometimes with a placement test. English is not required: the English Language Development Programme supports learners. IB Diploma students cannot start after early October unless their IB courses are transferable. If a class is full, the child joins a waiting pool. The separate Access Programme accepts applications until 31 March at reduced fees.
Stages and year groups Grades Preschool - Grade 12. Lower School: Early Years (Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, ages 2.5-5), Junior Elementary (Grades 1-4) and Senior Elementary (Grades 5-6). Upper School: Middle School (Grades 7-9) and High School (Grades 10-12). The school says it offers five graduation pathways; the website names the IB Diploma, Advanced Placement (AP), Pearson BTEC (Sport and Art & Design) and the US High School Diploma. A significant number of graduates earn a bilingual IB diploma. The Middle School runs a Science and Social Studies in French programme for students with at least two years of French. Intensive Learning Support serves students with significant learning needs.
Address Kattenberg 19, 1170 Brussels
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationMSA · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school. It is accredited by CIS and by MSA (Middle States Association): by MSA since 1991, with the latest review in April 2025, valid until 2030. It appears in the College Board AP Course Ledger for the 2025-2026 school year with 15 subjects.
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 →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
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 →MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
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 →College BoardCollege Board, the AP programme
An American organisation that allows a school to put the letters AP on a pupil's transcript. The permission is granted course by course and tied to a particular teacher, it has to be renewed every year, and College Board reads the course syllabus before granting it.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run advanced AP courses - not the school as a whole, but one by one: by subject and by teacher. Governance, safeguarding and the primary years are not part of that check. Which subjects are actually approved is visible in the ledger. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Authorisation here runs a year at a time: the register lists the school for the 2025-2026 school year.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →BTEC
A British vocational qualification from Pearson: not an academic course with an exam at the end, but a programme of practical assignments in a particular trade, from engineering and business to art and sport.
What this means for this school. Teaching and assessment work differently from A-level: instead of written exams there is a run of practical assignments marked by the school, while Pearson checks the school itself and samples the work. British universities do accept BTEC, but not all of them and not for every course: level 3 carries the same UCAS points as A-level, and that is what a family aiming at a particular university should look at. For a child who needs the classic academic route, BTEC is not a replacement for A-level but a different path.
AP
Advanced Placement: American advanced courses for the senior years. The exam for a course is set and marked by the College Board, not by the school. A good result is counted by American universities as a first-year course already passed, which saves a student time and money.
What this means for this school. A school does not get to call a course AP automatically: the College Board reads the course syllabus and approves it separately for every subject and every teacher, and the permission has to be renewed each year. Every approved school in the world is listed in the open AP Course Ledger, and this school's entry there stands as a line in the accreditation block above. How many courses a school is approved for, and in which subjects, the ledger does not show in its general listing. AP has no leaving certificate of its own: it sits on top of the school's main programme rather than being a separate system.
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.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
35.4 (world average 30.88)
AP scores of 3 and above
92%
Exam results Results for 2026: of 149 graduates, 125 took IB exams and 105 were full Diploma candidates; the average IBDP score was 35.4, the pass rate 97%, 45% earned a bilingual diploma and 16.2% scored 40 points or more. The school stresses that it does not select students for the programme. AP: 125 students completed 229 exams in 21 subjects, with 92% of exams scored 3 or higher. BTEC: 12 graduates, 100% pass rate.
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · Imperial College London · London School of Economics and Political Science · University College London · King's College London · University of St Andrews · University of Chicago · Columbia University · University of Toronto · McGill University · The University of Tokyo · Delft University of Technology
and others, 16 universities in the school's list in allGraduates of 2025 received offers from 220 institutions in 20 countries, including 148 offers from QS top 100 universities and 117 from Russell Group universities. Among them were the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, LSE, UCL, King's College London, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, the University of Toronto, McGill University, The University of Tokyo, TU Delft, UCLouvain and VUB. These are offers of admission, not where graduates eventually enrolled.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓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 · Art studio · Makerspace
Clubs and activities: Arts & Crafts · Badminton · Ballet · Basketball · Chess · Climbing · Digital Discovery · Drama · Fencing · Fit Kids · Kidding Around Yoga · Kickboxing · Martial Arts · Modern Dance · Move & Explore · Tennis · Textile Design · Body Bar · Comic Book Discovery · Creative Photography · Dungeons & Dragons · Filmmaking · Yoga · Raiders Academy · Special Olympics
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 a teacher-to-student ratio of 1-to-7. Students still developing their English are taught by English Language Development specialists; 36 theatre and music faculty members give private lessons.
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 training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The Board has approved a Code of Conduct and a Child Protection Policy; the Designated Safeguarding Lead coordinates the Safeguarding Committee. Child protection training takes place annually, and all employees are vetted, including a Certificate of Good Standing from the Belgian authorities. The school has qualified nurses, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychological services and counsellors. The campus is secure and visits require an appointment; buses are tracked with the BatOnRoute app, and trained students serve as bus monitors on every route.
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%)87 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 data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)100 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 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