← Back to homeInternational Sharing School - Madeira
Funchal, Portugal · est. 1980 · Private
Illustration · Funchal
The school opened in September 1980 as the British School of Madeira, founded by Mrs Susan Farrow for English-speaking families living on the island and for Portuguese children wanting a private British-style education. In 1985 the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Alexandra visited. Between 1990 and 2004 it expanded its premises and gained recognition from the Portuguese, British and Scottish education authorities, and in 2006 it moved to larger premises. In 2013 the Sharing Foundation acquired the school, renamed it Madeira Multilingual School and began the move to the IB curriculum; in 2017 it became an IB World School for the PYP and the MYP, in 2018/2019 it took its present name, and it later moved into the Seminario da Encarnacao building. It now has more than 250 students of more than 35 nationalities and more than 60 staff. The language of lessons is English: the school calls it its official language of instruction, and all pages for parents and students, the admissions procedure and the fee table are written in English, while support for a student is available in Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian, German, French and Spanish. English and Portuguese language and literature are taught as subjects, and the IB Diploma offers Portuguese, German, French and Spanish, including from scratch; two languages are compulsory on the Diploma.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 110–15 265 a year
6 120–13 140 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Portuguese, German, French, Spanish
About the fees Fees for the 2026/2027 school year: Early Years 6120 euros a year or 612 euros a month, Grade 1 7410 euros (741 euros a month), Grade 2 7860 euros (786), Grade 3 8130 euros (813), Grades 4-5 8610 euros (861), Grade 6 9510 euros (951), Grade 7 10050 euros (1005), Grade 8 10200 euros (1020), Grade 9 11220 euros (1122), Grade 10 11490 euros (1149), Grade 11 12780 euros (1278), Grade 12 13140 euros (1314). The fee includes stationery, books, access to digital platforms for students and parents and art materials.
Admissions The school takes students between the ages of 3 and 18 at the time of enrolment, sets no nationality or residency condition, and says its families represent more than 35 nationalities. It was opened for English-speaking families living on the island and for Portuguese children wanting a private British-style education. Admission runs in five steps: an enquiry through the portal, a 60 minute school tour, a final application with the most recent report cards, an interview and, if the school asks for one, an assessment, then confirmation of enrolment once the invoiced fees are paid.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (ages 3-5), PYP Grades 1-5, MYP Grades 6-10, IB Diploma Grades 11-12. Groups are not classes but communities of 24 to 60 students: the older the programme, the larger the community.
Address Rua de Santa Luzia 2, 9050-068 Funchal
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeMSA · candidateschool 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 →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 is a candidate for accreditation by this organisation: the route has been started but not completed. Candidacy speaks of an application made and a file accepted for consideration, not of the outcome of an inspection, and the organisations themselves usually require schools to say that it does not guarantee accreditation. The candidacy 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
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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The campus is in the Seminario da Encarnacao building in central Funchal, where the school moved as it grew. It divides its learning spaces into six kinds for different work: Mountain Top for lectures, Cave for focused individual work, Campfire for group work, Watering Hole for social interaction, Hands-On for making and Movement for physical activity.
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: The school names no degree or qualification requirement for its teachers on the site.
In the 2025/2026 school year the school has more than 60 staff for more than 250 students, about one adult to eight students. The adult-to-student ratio is highest in the younger years and falls in the older ones as students become more independent.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 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