← Back to the rankingPrimary Progressive School 1 Sofia
Sofia, Bulgaria · est. 2017 · Private
Illustration · Sofia
Primary Progressive School 1 Sofia (legally the Private Primary School Progressive Education) is a private, fee-paying primary and lower secondary day school in Strelbishte, Sofia, the first school of the Bulgarian progressive schools network. It was entered in the Ministry of Education and Science register in 2017 and is wholly owned by the non-profit Foundation for Educational Transformation. The school runs a children's centre with an early development group for ages 3-4 and a preparatory class for ages 5-6, followed by the primary stage in grades 1-4 and lower secondary in grades 5-7. The language of instruction and communication is Bulgarian; English is taught as an additional language. The primary stage and the children's centre follow the IB PYP philosophy; in lower secondary the school moves to subject teaching with Let's Think programmes, mentoring and preparation for the national external assessment and Cambridge English: First. The school day runs from 8:30 to 18:00: compulsory lessons until 14:00, projects and independent study until 16:00, optional activities until 18:00.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 982–8 388 a year
7 065–7 425 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Bulgarian
Registration fee
≈ $158
140 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 (paid at once, in three instalments or monthly): tuition 3140, 3220 or 3300 euro; extracurricular and research programme the same; introductory and closing activities in September and June 785, 805 or 825 euro; compulsory items in total 7065, 7245 or 7425 euro, including learning materials. The school also recommends a donation to the Foundation for Educational Transformation of 785, 805 or 825 euro, bringing the total to 7850, 8050 or 8250 euro. Sibling discounts are 5% for the second child and 10% for the third. At least 20% of places in the preparatory group and grade 1 are free for children approved by the committee. Children's centre: the 3-4 group costs 6500 euro paid in advance or 6900 euro monthly, the preparatory class 7100 or 7500 euro; meals are charged in leva; this price list has no year.
Admissions Admission starts with an expression of interest through the website form; the school then invites the family to a familiarisation meeting: the child spends the morning in a current class, the school carries out a pedagogical assessment of school readiness, and parents have a 30-minute meeting with school representatives; a psychologist observes the child in the group. After feedback the family applies and signs a contract. The general criteria are shared values between school and family and the school's ability to provide the support the child needs; for grades 5-7 the school assesses Bulgarian and English, mathematics and science, reading literacy and learning skills. The admission policy states directly that applicants are considered equally regardless of nationality; the mother tongue is checked on application, and students who do not speak Bulgarian receive individual language support. The administrative admission fee is 140 euro for the school and 50 euro for the children's centre. By law at least 20% of places in the preparatory group and grade 1 are free for children meeting the school's criteria.
Stages and year groups Children's centre: an early development group for ages 3-4 and a preparatory class for ages 5-6, mixed-age groups, a programme based on the IB PYP philosophy. Primary stage grades 1-4 and lower secondary grades 5-7 under the Bulgarian national curriculum in Bulgarian; the primary stage follows the PYP framework (the admission, language and assessment policies on the website are PYP policies). Grades 5-7 bring subject teaching, Let's Think programmes and mentoring, and in grade 7 preparation for the national external assessment and Cambridge English: First and the choice of upper secondary school. The network's upper secondary school is a separate school.
Address ul. Nishava 107 (vkhod ot ul. Tvardishki prohod 18), kv. Strelbishte, Sofia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Primary Years Programme at the school (registered as Private Primary School - Progressive Education - Sofia). It is a primary school for grades 1-7 on the Bulgarian national programme. The school is part of the network of progressive schools run by the Education Transformation Foundation.
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: PYP (ages 3-12). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams 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
The school does not describe its premises on its website.
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
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
The school has a psychologist who takes part in admission and in the adaptation of new students. The school publishes admission, inclusion, language, assessment and academic integrity policies and a complaints procedure for parents and students. The primary school runs a relationships and wellbeing programme.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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