← Back to the rankingPolo Liceale Statale Saffo
Roseto Degli Abruzzi, Italy · est. 1994 · State
Illustration · Roseto Degli Abruzzi
Polo Liceale Statale Saffo is a state upper secondary school (scuola statale) in the seaside town of Roseto degli Abruzzi in the province of Teramo. It was created in the 1994-1995 school year by merging the local teacher-training institute and classical liceo; it now offers liceo classico, liceo scientifico and its applied sciences option, liceo linguistico (including an EsaBac line with a dual Italian-French diploma), liceo delle scienze umane and its economic and social option, and the new liceo del Made in Italy. Since the 2017-2018 school year it has been a Cambridge International centre: in Cambridge classes some subjects are taught in English to IGCSE syllabuses with Cambridge exams, and other lessons are in Italian. The school has long prepared students for Cambridge English exams and also hosts Spanish DELE and Chinese YCT exams. The site gives 1155 students in 62 classes; students come from Roseto and nearby towns within about 20 kilometres.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, German, Latin
About the fees The school is state-run and tuition is free. On confirming enrolment families pay a school contribution set by the school council: 50 EUR per student (40 EUR if a brother or sister attends); it covers insurance, the electronic register, internet, technical support, the counselling service and outings. Payments go only through the national Pago In Rete system.
Admissions A state school: enrolment in the first year follows the national Iscrizioni online procedure, then by 10 July families confirm enrolment at the office (form, middle school diploma, competence certificate, parents' and student's documents, receipt for the school contribution). The Cambridge course is chosen by ticking Opzione Cambridge on the form, valid for liceo classico, liceo scientifico and liceo linguistico; the school describes the course as intended for particularly able students ready for an international programme, but names no selection or test on its pages. Foreign students attend: according to the school, students without Italian citizenship make up 5% of the student body and receive Italian language support, and the PTOF includes an Italian as a second language project for foreign students.
Stages and year groups 62 classes. Five-year programmes ending with the esame di Stato: liceo classico, liceo scientifico, liceo scientifico opzione scienze applicate, liceo linguistico (English, Spanish, German; an EsaBac line with French language and literature 4 hours a week and history in French 2 hours a week in years 3-5, dual esame di Stato and baccalauréat diploma), liceo delle scienze umane, liceo delle scienze umane opzione economico sociale, liceo del Made in Italy. Cambridge (IGCSE) is a separate Cambridge option chosen by families at enrolment. According to the timetable on the course page, in liceo classico and liceo scientifico Cambridge: English IGCSE in years 1-4 (+2 hours a week on top of regular English), Geography IGCSE in years 1-2, Mathematics IGCSE in years 1-3 (+1 hour), Biology IGCSE in years 2-4 (+1 hour in year 4). The PTOF 2025-2028 describes the course differently: Geography and Mathematics in liceo classico and liceo scientifico, English as a Second Language in liceo linguistico. IGCSE exams are taken in June: in 2023, 68 course students received certificates in Geography, Mathematics, Biology and English as a Second Language. Course students have IGCSE study trips abroad and a geography summer camp in year two.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. Families opt into the Cambridge track at enrolment: classico and scientifico students take IGCSE Geography, Mathematics and Biology in English plus English as a Second Language, sitting exams in June.
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
Where leavers go: Sapienza University of Rome · University of Padua · Parsons School of Design
The school says almost all graduates go on to university; the Cambridge alumni page names the medical faculties of Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Padua and a business programme at Parsons in the USA. The school keeps no full list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Campus: Two sites in Roseto degli Abruzzi: Centrale on Via Silvio Pellico with four buildings and Milli on Via G. Milli. Each building has classrooms for the Cambridge course. All 65 classrooms have interactive monitors; there are a chemistry lab, three computer labs, a language lab, STEAM and Data Science labs (both funded by PNRR), mobile computer and science labs, three multimedia rooms, an updated library, an assembly hall, a gym, five-a-side and full-size football pitches, and an outdoor basketball and volleyball court.
Clubs and activities: Saffo Sport (school sports) · Championships, Certamen and Olympiads · School Musical · Cinema and Philosophy · Murals Project · AutoCAD Course · Technovation girls · Economic@mente (financial literacy) · School of Legality · BLSD Course (basic life support and defibrillation)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
✓Number of teachers78
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
According to the PTOF 2025-2028 the school has 78 teachers and 24 technical and administrative staff; the share of teachers on permanent contracts, the school says, is well above the provincial, regional and national average. In liceo linguistico 33 hours a year of English are taught by a native-speaker teacher.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
A school counselling service (sportello psicologico) operates and is funded from the school contribution. The site has an anti-bullying and cyberbullying section with an anonymous reporting form and the results of school surveys. Student athletes of high level get an individual study plan.
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 data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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