The Liceo Scientifico Paolo Ruffini is a state scientific liceo in central Viterbo on two sites: Piazza Dante Alighieri and Via della Verità. It has 825 students in 43 classes, 19 per class on average. Tracks: the traditional liceo scientifico, a sports track and the scienze applicate option. Since 2020-2021 the liceo has been accredited as a Cambridge International School and runs a Cambridge class in the traditional track: IGCSE courses in Mathematics, English as a Second Language and Chemistry are added to the Italian curriculum, with an extra hour a week per subject and lessons with a native-speaker teacher; IGCSE exams are optional, taken at the end of grades 2, 3 and 4 and marked by Cambridge. Lessons are taught in Italian; in the Cambridge class part of the mathematics, English and chemistry lessons is taught in English. The liceo is also a Cambridge English exam preparation centre and runs PET, FCE and IELTS courses.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
About the fees The liceo is a state school and charges no tuition. For the Cambridge class families pay about 400 euros a year (the Cambridge International fee and native-speaker lessons; the amount depends on the number of students), each IGCSE exam costs 120 euros, and exam preparation textbooks are bought separately; the year for these amounts is not given.
Admissions The number of first-year Cambridge classes is set after the state enrolment period in January-February according to the number of applications; for now the Cambridge class exists only in the traditional track. If applications exceed places, a ranking is drawn up using the school council's criteria and language certificates held. IGCSE exams are not compulsory and do not affect promotion to the next grade or the esame di Stato. The pages read say nothing about admitting foreign students or children without Italian.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-5 scuola secondaria di secondo grado (liceo scientifico). Five-year liceo scientifico on the Italian curriculum with the esame di Stato. Tracks: Liceo Scientifico (traditional, with a Cambridge class), Liceo Scientifico - Indirizzo Sportivo, Scienze Applicate option. Cambridge class (school accredited in 2020-2021): IGCSE Mathematics (0580) in grades 1-2, exam at the end of grade 2; IGCSE English as a Second Language (0511) in grades 1-3, exam at the end of grade 3; IGCSE Chemistry (0620) from grade 3, exam at the end of grade 4; one extra hour a week per subject, with two lessons a week taught by a native-speaker teacher (one co-taught with the subject teacher, one alone). Exams take place at the school in the June series, are optional and can be retaken.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. The Cambridge class of the science lyceum takes IGCSE Mathematics (years 1-2), English (1-3) and Chemistry (from year 3) with extra hours and a native speaker; exams are optional.
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: IGCSE (ages 14-16). 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 →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
The school website is closed to automated reading: some sections (history, presentation, Cambridge class admission criteria) are not accessible.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓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
Clubs and activities: PET, FCE, IELTS Courses · Robotics Workshop
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
In the Cambridge class, two lessons a week in each IGCSE subject are taught by a native English-speaking teacher: one together with the subject teacher, one alone. The pages read give no number or qualifications of teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school website is closed to automated reading: some sections (history, presentation, Cambridge class admission criteria) are not accessible.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data64 "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
Viterbo, Italy · State