← Back to homeLEAF Academy
Bratislava, Slovakia · est. 2016 · Private
Illustration · Bratislava
LEAF Academy is a private international boarding high school in Bratislava, founded in 2016 by the Slovak nonprofit LEAF. Some places are offered to day students from Bratislava and the surrounding area. All classes are taught in English, as the school states directly; additional courses in current affairs and literature are offered in students' native languages. The American-style curriculum includes the school's own Entrepreneurial Leadership, Character Development, STEM and Central European Studies. Graduates receive an accredited U.S. High School Diploma and take AP exams; the school is approved by the College Board for the AP Capstone Diploma. According to the 2025-2026 profile it has 83 students from 8 nationalities, mainly from Central Europe. The school is accredited by NEASC, operates in Slovakia with the consent of the U.S. Embassy and is recognised by the Slovak Ministry of Education.
Key facts
Programmes
AP · National programme
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Slovak, German, French
Class size
the school does not state class size
About the fees The fee table on the Tuition and Scholarships page (no year stated): day programme Year 1 19000 euros and Year 3 21000 euros for Slovak students, 21000 and 23000 euros for EU/world students; residential programme 25000 and 27000 euros for Slovak students, 28000 and 30000 euros for EU/world students. A separate international page marked 2025/2026 lists 24900 euros for boarding, 18900 euros for day students and a 100-euro registration fee.
Admissions Admission is merit-based, to the 4-year programme (entry at Year 1, Grade 9) or the 2-year programme (entry at Year 3, Grade 11); for 2026/27 the school plans to admit around 40 students to the 4-year and around 15 to the 2-year programme, boarding and day combined. Steps: application, a proctored online study readiness and English test, a personality questionnaire and an interview. International Admissions is a separate route for families funding the full study themselves: applications run from November to June, non-Schengen students must allow time for the visa, and families must demonstrate financial means before the visa application. Reduced tuition from the donor fund is for Slovak citizens only (the international page says the Central-European region).
Stages and year groups A high school at ISCED level 3: a 4-year programme (Years 1-4, equal to U.S. grades 9-12) and a 2-year programme (Years 3-4). Years 1-2 follow the school's own curriculum: Entrepreneurial Leadership, Character Seminar, Central European Studies, STEM, national language, Slovak as a foreign language and elective languages. Years 3-4 add AP courses, around 15 (the curriculum page lists 23, some every other year). Graduates receive an accredited U.S. High School Diploma; the school also offers the AP Capstone Diploma and the AP International Diploma. A national school-leaving certificate (Slovak maturita) can be taken externally through a chosen national school; LEAF helps prepare but cannot administer the exams. The school says the 2-year programme for 2026/2027 will open if demand is sufficient.
Address Fraňa Kráľa 6, 811 05 Bratislava
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeThe school has been accredited by NEASC since 2021. It appears in the College Board AP Course Ledger for the 2025-2026 school year with 17 subjects. A boarding high school, grades 9-12.
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
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 →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 →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.
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
AP scores of 3 and above
96%
Exam results AP exams 2019-2025: 1378 exams, 96% scored 3 or higher; of 443 students, 428 scored 3 or higher on at least one exam.
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · UCL · LSE · Imperial College London · King's College London · University of Edinburgh · University of St Andrews · University of Warwick · Harvard University · Dartmouth College · University of Pennsylvania
and others, 25 universities in the school's list in allThe school profile lists universities that admitted graduates of 2018-2023, most often Masaryk University (14), Charles University (11) and the University of Amsterdam (12). Of the 17 graduates of 2025, 82% went to university and 18% took a gap year. The most applied-to destinations are Czechia, Ireland and the USA. The LALA (Life after LEAF Academy) programme and the Start platform support the choice.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Clubs and activities: Photography Club · LEAF MUN Club · Tearoom · Slovak Spectator Club · SE Club · Yearbook Club · PR Content Creators Club · Graphic Design Club · Climbing Club · Cooking Club · Theatre & Drama Club · Digital Club · Debate Club · Yoga · LA Galaxy · Chess Club · Music Club · Mushroom Hunting
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
The school runs the LEAF Academy Summer Camp for ages 13-17 in English, with accommodation in Chorvátsky Grob, a two-day outdoor expedition and project work; the 600-euro fee covers accommodation, meals, equipment and programme, with selection by motivation and English. Dates on the page: 30 June - 5 July, no year stated.
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 team has about 30 people: principal Jaromír Sedlár, a dean of studies, heads of hall, student support staff, a psychologist and a university guidance counselor. Teachers also act as dorm parents, mentors, coaches and run clubs. From the first year every student joins an Advisory Family, a small group with its own staff member.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The academic building is a former embassy with strict access control: the grounds are gated and students and staff enter with an individual key. Other hotel guests cannot access LEAF hallways or rooms. Up to 10 residential staff live in the building, and a nurse and a senior administrator are on call around the clock. Each student has an advisor and a dorm parent; the team includes a psychologist and student support staff.
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%)63 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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median75 "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