Kolegium Europejskie is a private international education centre in Kraków founded in 2004: the bilingual Step by Step kindergarten (since 2021), a primary school (szkoła podstawowa, grades 1-8) and a high school (liceum ogólnokształcące). The school calls itself the oldest IB school in Lesser Poland and one of the largest in Poland: over the years about 500 graduates have passed the international matura. The high school has two tracks: Pre-IB1 and Pre-IB2 followed by the two-year IB Diploma Programme (IB1 and IB2) in English, and since September 2024 two classes following the Polish curriculum towards the Polish matura (psychology and management profiles), whose first graduates sit the exam in May 2028. There are two primary schools: a bilingual one following the Polish curriculum with a large share of lessons in English, and a Cambridge school for children who speak only English. Students of more than 25 nationalities attend, including from the USA, Canada, the UK, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam. Since 2020 the whole school has been in one building in Zabłocie. In 2024 the school was named School of the Year in the Gazeta Krakowska poll.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · Cambridge · Primary · National programme
Admits from
2.5 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Polish
Languages taught
German, Spanish, French, Russian
Admissions Any student may apply to Pre-IB1, whether educated in Poland or abroad. The procedure is the same for all high school classes: first documents in one PDF to admission@ke.edu.pl (reports for the last 3 years, and the egzamin ósmoklasisty result for Polish students), then an internal English test and a mathematics test, then an interview with a presentation of the IB programme. Recommended English level: Pre-IB1 B1-B1+, Pre-IB2 B1+-B2, IB1 B2+, Polish matura class A2+-B1; students from English-medium schools and holders of a Cambridge certificate at the required level are exempt from the test. IB1 is open to those who have completed grade 2 of a Polish secondary school or 10 years of education in another system; those choosing English literature or sciences have additional meetings with the subject teacher and write an essay. IB2 accepts only transfers from another IB school with matching subjects and SL and HL levels, and applying 3-6 months ahead is advised. If there are no places after full assessment, candidates go on a reserve list. The primary school admits children from Poland and from abroad with equivalent education after an interview and review of results, including during the year if places are free; English-speaking foreign students get extra lessons of Polish as a second language. The kindergarten admits children from 2.5 years; kindergarten graduates are guaranteed a place in grade 1, and primary pupils have priority for the IB high school.
Stages and year groups Grades kindergarten, grades 1-8, Pre-IB1, Pre-IB2, IB1, IB2; high school grades 1-4 with the Polish matura. High school: Pre-IB1 and Pre-IB2 (first two years), then the IB Diploma Programme (IB1 and IB2), six subjects plus TOK, CAS and the Extended Essay; all taught in English except foreign languages and native literature. Since 2024 there are classes following the Polish podstawa programowa towards the Polish matura (first session in May 2028), with a psychology profile (extended Polish, English, biology) and a management profile (extended Polish, English, mathematics). Primary: a bilingual school following the Polish curriculum with CLIL, the in-house PIE programme and elements of the Finnish model, English up to 6-8 hours a week with a native speaker; and a Cambridge school with the Cambridge Assessment programme from grade 1 for children learning fully in English. The school reports three Cambridge certificates: Cambridge Early Years Centre, Cambridge Primary School, Cambridge International School. The Step by Step kindergarten is bilingual, uses the Dalton Plan, with more than half of activities in English. The high school also prepares for IELTS, SAT and Cambridge English exams.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCambridge · Primary · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. The Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge Primary. Cambridge Primary courses run in Kolegium's primary school; the liceum offers the IB Diploma with preparatory Pre-IB years and, since 2024, Polish classes leading to the matura.
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 →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: Primary (ages 5-11). Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge.
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.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school reports that this year the top IB Diploma score was 43 points out of 45 and that its students score well above the world average; it does not publish an average score or pass rate.
Where leavers go: Jagiellonian University · Harvard University · Yale University · Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · University of Cambridge · University of Oxford
The school says its graduates have been admitted to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cambridge and Oxford, and study in Poland and at universities in London, New York and Shanghai; this year one student received 31 offers, including from Oxford, Cambridge and Stanford. The career counsellor works with students from Pre-IB2 until graduation.
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
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: Since 2020 the school has occupied a building in Zabłocie of about 4000 m² adapted for education: its own gym, fitness room and weights room, a large assembly hall, a chemistry laboratory, multimedia classrooms, a library with books in Polish, English and Ukrainian, a student chill room, an after-school room (świetlica) and parking. All classrooms are air-conditioned and the building has mechanical ventilation with an ozonation module. The Step by Step kindergarten is at the same address and provides full meals. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: The Great Improvisation · Rhetoric Club · Philosophy Club · Latin Club · ScienceCLUB · Debate Club · CaseStudy Psychology Club · Student Council
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 sizenot stated
What the listings show: Many high school teachers hold doctorates; in the primary school all teachers are bilingual and many also teach at universities.
The high school staff page names the IB and Pre-IB subject teachers, the IB coordinator and the career counsellor; some English lessons are taught by native speakers from the USA and Canada. The school has taught IB Psychology since 2004; psychology profile sessions are run by staff of the Institute of Psychology of the Jagiellonian University, and management profile sessions by lecturers of the Kraków University of Economics.
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
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Psychologists and pedagogues work with students and parents, there is a psychological and pedagogical centre and an intercultural assistant for students from Ukraine. The kindergarten publishes child protection standards (Standardy Ochrony Małoletnich) with a policy on protecting children from harm.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median78 "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 7 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
Krakow, Poland · est. 2004 · Private