← Back to the rankingInternational School of Oradea
Oradea, Romania · est. 2017 · Private
Illustration · Oradea
The International School of Oradea (ISO) is a private not-for-profit British international school in Oradea from nursery to Year 11. According to the director, the school was founded nine years ago with humble beginnings; according to the home page it now has more than 220 students of 27 nationalities and 50 staff. There are two lines: the international line (the National Curriculum of England, in secondary with Cambridge Lower Secondary and IGCSE, taught in English) and the Romanian line (the national curriculum with enhanced English, five English lessons a week in primary). The school reports British School Overseas status (Penta International inspections in 2019 and 2022), Cambridge school status since June 2018 and ARACIP registration as a school with a foreign curriculum; it calls itself the only international school in Bihor County teaching the British curriculum. It is run by the ISO Association, founded by the Lumina Foundation, Lumina Educational Institutions and Oradea City Hall. The Executive Director is Serdar Sakman.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 540–14 120 a year
4 904–12 499 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · Lower Secondary, IGCSE · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Romanian
Class size
1 adult per 5 children in nursery, 1 per 13 in kindergarten, 1 per 20 in primary and on the Romanian line; up to 20 children in every class
Registration fee
≈ $1 130
1 000 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 per year, under three payment options (full payment by 10 February, full payment by 15 April, or 5 instalments of 20%): nursery and Early Years from 7374 to 10038 euro depending on the length of the day; Romanian-line primary from 4904 to 5573 euro; international-line primary from 9632 to 10946 euro; Key Stage 3 from 10280 to 11682 euro; Key Stage 4 from 10999 to 12499 euro. Internal clubs and educational trips are included. Sibling discounts: 5% for two children, 10% for three or more.
Admissions Applications are accepted throughout the school year if places are available; the school says it welcomes boys and girls of all races, religions and cultures and serves Oradea's international community and Romanian families. Steps: a tour, a meeting with Admissions or the director, an assessment day in class (a morning in kindergarten, a day in school) and the CAT4 test for a non-refundable fee; children still living abroad can be assessed online from the third year of school. The year group is set strictly by age on 1 September, nursery from age 2. English is the language of instruction and children are admitted at any level of English; exam groups (IGCSE) require a minimum level of English, checked by the English Department and the PTE test. Previous school reports in English or translated are required. The child must live with parents or a guardian within commuting distance; at least one parent must communicate comfortably in English or Romanian.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery, FS1-FS2, 0-5, Year 1-11. Early Years Foundation Stage: Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Reception (FS1-FS2), following the British Early Years Framework. International line: the National Curriculum of England in Year 1-6, in Key Stage 3 (Year 7-9) with Cambridge Lower Secondary in English, Mathematics and Science, in Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) Cambridge IGCSE: First Language English (0500), International Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, Spanish, ICT, Art. Romanian line: the national curriculum in grades 0-4 with five English lessons a week; from the 2026-2027 school year a lower secondary school opens from grade 5. Romanian is taught on the international line from Year 1.
Address Strada Ceyrat 4C, Oradea
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Lower Secondary, IGCSE · authorised programmeBSO · accreditationLumina · school is part of the networkThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre, and it is inspected under the British Schools Overseas scheme. The international line leads to Cambridge IGCSE, with a Romanian national line alongside. It is run by the ISO Association, founded by the Lumina Foundation, Lumina Educational Institutions and Oradea City Hall.
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
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: Lower Secondary (ages 11-14), IGCSE (ages 14-16). Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end. 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 →BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
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 →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.
Luminaschool network
Lumina is a Romanian not-for-profit group of educational institutions: the Lumina Foundation (Fundația Lumina Instituții de Învățământ) and the Lumina Educational Institutions linked to it. Skolbera lists two of its schools. The International School of Bucharest is registered as a subsidiary of the foundation, which manages its finances. The International School of Oradea was set up by the ISO Association, whose founders, according to the school, are the Lumina Foundation, Lumina Educational Institutions and Oradea City Hall.
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 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 · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school was building a new campus for 580 students: 29 classrooms, a library, a gym, a kitchen and dining room, a conference room, a sports field, a counselling and psychology office, 2 medical offices, playgrounds for each stage, and art, science and computer labs; according to the website construction was to be completed in 2025. Classrooms have a computer and projector. There is no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Arts and Crafts · Clay Club · Let's Read Together · Cooking Club · Robotics · First Lego League · Romanian Spelling Club · Higher Level Maths Club · Science club · Debate Club · Destination Imagination · Spanish Club · Chinese Club · German Language & Culture · Theatre Club · Calligraphy · Judo · Piano · ISO Stars Football Academy
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: teachers are trained to support children who are not native English speakers
According to the home page the school has 50 staff; the website lists primary teachers on both lines, secondary subject teachers, teachers of Music, PE, Religion and Romanian, Student Support Programme assistants, a school counsellor, a medical assistant and security staff. The Executive Director is Serdar Sakman, with a Deputy Headteacher and a Romanian Line Director.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has its own Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy for 2026-2027, an anti-bullying policy, e-safety and safer recruitment policies. The secondary school counsellor is also the designated safeguarding lead (DSL). The school employs a medical assistant who is also the health and safety coordinator, and security staff. The Student Support Programme helps children with academic, emotional and social difficulties.
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%)90 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