Next School is a private bilingual school in Ragusa: scuola primaria and scuola secondaria di primo grado, both paritaria. It was founded by parents looking for a child-centred school for their own children; the building was renovated in 2018. The school follows the Italian national curriculum together with Cambridge Primary and Cambridge Lower Secondary; it says it is the only school in Sicily offering Cambridge Primary and the only one in the province of Ragusa offering Cambridge Lower Secondary. English gets as many hours as Italian, up to 14 hours a week with four native-speaking teachers; afternoon lessons are in English. Lessons run Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 16:30, with play activities and projects on Saturday mornings.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Admissions To enrol, families request the enrolment form from the office via the contact page or the enrolment website form; the school can be visited beforehand and holds open days. The school says it is open to all and accepts children transferring from state schools. Grades 1 and 2 open with a minimum of eight children per class. The website names no entrance tests or conditions for foreign pupils.
Stages and year groups Grades scuola primaria 1-5, scuola secondaria di primo grado 1-3. The Italian national curriculum (primary and middle school are paritaria, qualifications have legal value, the middle school ends with the esame di Stato del primo ciclo) together with Cambridge Primary in primary and Cambridge Lower Secondary in middle school. Cambridge: the school is authorised for both programmes; according to the website the Cambridge framework covers 10 subjects, of which Cambridge Primary English as a Second Language and Cambridge Global Perspectives (taught by the Cambridge coordinator) and science, STEAM and mathematics taught by an English-speaking teacher are named; the final Cambridge Checkpoint tests cover English as a Second Language, mathematics, science and Global Perspectives; the strand is for all pupils and included in the retta. In middle school Spanish is the second foreign language.
Address Via Psaumida 15/A, 97100 Ragusa (RG)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge Primary, Cambridge Lower Secondary. The Italian curriculum runs alongside Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary for all pupils, with Checkpoint exams in English, maths, science and Global Perspectives.
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: Primary (ages 5-11), Lower Secondary (ages 11-14). 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. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end.
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 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
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The building was fully renovated in 2018 on modern school architecture principles; there is an outdoor teaching area with a raised vegetable garden tended by pupils. The school has a defibrillator and staff are trained to use it. Each child has their own computer, and lessons use Lego WeDo and Spike kits, Montessori materials and musical instruments. Lunch and two snacks are supplied by a caterer to a nutritionist's menu; children are taken to a gym for PE. A school bus runs from Comiso and Vittoria (with at least 6 children).
Clubs and activities: Coding · Educational Robotics · Yoga/Meditation · Sport · Psychomotor Activities · Reading Workshop
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
In summer the school organises an eight-day language trip to Sherborne in England for pupils of Grade 5 of primary and Grade 1 of middle school.
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: Teachers hold Italian master's degrees and teaching specialisations (Lettere, Scienze motorie, Didattica della Musica, Lingue Moderne); English-speaking staff hold an American Bachelor of Arts in Education, teaching experience at Boston College and Plymouth State University, and Australian training.
The primary and secondary teacher pages present 15 teachers by name with subjects and home town, including native English speakers from the US and Australia and a Cambridge coordinator; there is a consultant psychologist.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school takes part in the CresceRete Sereni bullying and cyberbullying prevention project together with the school psychologist. Entry to the building during lessons requires the coordinator's permission, and children are released only to parents or adults authorised in writing. There is a defibrillator and staff are trained to use it.
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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data76 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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
Ragusa, Italy · Private