← Back to homeInternational School of Estonia
Tallinn, Estonia · Private
Illustration · Tallinn
The International School of Estonia has been running in Tallinn for more than thirty years and calls itself the country's first international school and its first authorised IB World School: it teaches the full IB continuum - the PYP from the primary stage, the MYP in middle school, and its own ISE Diploma alongside the IB Diploma Programme in the senior grades. Teaching is in English, children are admitted from the age of three - first into Early Years and kindergarten - and by grade twelve leavers finish the school at nineteen. The school building stands in central Tallinn, was built in the late 1800s, and is a ten-minute walk from the Old Town and a five-minute drive from the airport; the school has nineteen classrooms, including specialised rooms for science, art, music, technology and languages. The Learning Commons library holds ten thousand titles and calls itself the largest English-language school library collection in Estonia. About a hundred and fifty students currently attend, and the teachers come from eleven different countries; among them are holders of doctoral degrees. The school has a tradition of its own: a specially trained reading dog named Rumi visits reading lessons. Aftercare runs until half past five in the evening for the younger grades, and after-school clubs run on a programme the school changes every January.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $9 707–31 092 a year
8 356–26 764 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Registration fee
≈ $697
600 EUR
About the fees Fees depend on the stage and rise year on year: preschool (ages three to four) costs 8356 euros, Reception (age five) 9192 euros, PYP primary school (grades 1-5) 23988 euros, MYP middle school (grades 6-10) 25812 euros, and the senior diploma stage (grades 11-12) 26764 euros a year; the figures are for the 2026-2027 school year, with a breakdown into four payments a year. On top of the fee the school charges a one-off registration fee of 600 euros and a one-off capital levy of 3000 euros for pupils entering from Reception onward (the Preschool stage does not pay the capital levy); neither fee is refundable. More than half of ISE's students receive some form of tuition discount, and Estonian residents can access municipal subsidies for the Early Years stage and an education tax deduction of up to 1200 euros a year.
Admissions The school runs no formal entrance exam: the admissions committee looks at reference forms from previous teachers, progress reports for the previous two years, health and data forms, and weighs whether the school can meet the child's educational needs. All documents must be submitted in English, since that is the language of instruction. The school states plainly that it is open to all regardless of race, gender, religion, physical ability, sexual orientation, gender expression, or national or ethnic origin; for children with special educational needs a separate support and inclusion policy applies.
Stages and year groups Grades kindergarten from age 3 (Early Years) to grade 12 (DP), up to age 19. The stages run without a break: Early Years and kindergarten from age 3, the PYP - grades 1-5, the MYP - grades 6-10, and the diploma stage (the IB Diploma Programme and the school's own ISE Diploma) - grades 11-12. Aftercare after lessons runs until 17:30 for the stages from Pre-K to grade 2.
Address Juhkentali 18, 10132 Tallinn
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationNEASC · accreditationCEESA · part of the associationschool 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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. 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 →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 →NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
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 →CEESACentral and Eastern European Schools Association
About thirty international schools in the region. It runs conferences, teacher development and competitions between schools: robotics, football, volleyball, debating. An accreditation from CIS, NEASC, MSA, WASC or Cognia is a condition of entry here, not an outcome.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to the association. CEESA runs no inspection of its own, but a school is not admitted without somebody else's accreditation - so the school holds one, and that is what to look at. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University College London · University of Aberdeen · University of Southampton · Oxford Brookes University · University of Connecticut · Whitman College · Polk State College · Universite Jean Moulin Lyon 3 · Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne · University of Warsaw · Istituto Europeo di Design, Spain and others, 13 universities in the school's list in all
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 transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Campus: A historic building from the late 1800s in central Tallinn, a ten-minute walk from the Old Town and a five-minute drive from the airport. Nineteen classrooms, including specialised rooms for science, art, music, technology and languages. The Learning Commons library holds ten thousand titles - the largest English-language school library collection in Estonia. Its own gymnasium plus access to the city's Tallinna Spordihall and Tallinna Kalevi Tennis Club a few steps from the school. A cafeteria with free breakfast and reasonably priced lunch, basketball and football courts, swings and recreation areas for different age groups.
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 sizenot stated
The school's teachers come from eleven countries, and its students represent thirty-one nationalities. Among the teaching staff are holders of PhD degrees and certified IB programme coordinators. The school does not state the exact number of teachers, class sizes, or the pupil-teacher ratio.
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 roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a separate published document, the ISE Safeguarding Policy, updated in August 2026; the school puts it this way: safeguarding is not just a policy but a core commitment to the safety, dignity and welfare of every child in its care. Specific measures - security staff, CCTV, access control, medical staff or a psychological service - are not named on the publicly readable pages; they may be set out in the policy document itself, which was not read separately.
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%)95 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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