← Back to the rankingPrimary Progressive School 3 Sofia
Sofia, Bulgaria · est. 2021 · Private
Illustration · Sofia
Primary Progressive School 3 Sofia is a private, fee-paying primary and lower secondary day school in Slatina, Sofia, on the campus of the Todor Kableshkov University of Transport. It was licensed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science in 2021 and in 2026-2027 admits children from the preparatory class to grade 7. It is wholly owned by the non-profit Foundation for Educational Transformation, which is building a network of progressive schools in Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Burgas. The language of instruction and communication is Bulgarian; English is taught as an additional language. The primary stage follows the IB PYP framework, and the school is a candidate for PYP authorisation; grades 5-7 move to subject teaching with the Let's Think thinking programmes, mentoring and preparation for the national external assessment and the Cambridge English: First exam. The school day runs from 8:30 to 18:00: compulsory lessons until 14:00, inquiry projects and independent study until 16:00, optional activities until 18:00; twice a month there are optional Saturday activities with parents.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 524–7 931 a year
6 660–7 020 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP · National programme
Admits from
5 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Bulgarian
Registration fee
≈ $141
125 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 (paid at once, in three instalments or monthly): tuition 2960, 3040 or 3120 euro; extracurricular and research programme the same; introductory activities in September and closing activities in June 740, 760 or 780 euro; compulsory items in total 6660, 6840 or 7020 euro. The school also recommends a donation to the Foundation for Educational Transformation of 740, 760 or 780 euro, bringing the total to 7400, 7600 or 7800 euro. At least 20% of places in the preparatory group and grade 1 are free for children approved by the committee.
Admissions Admission starts with an expression of interest through the website form; the family then attends information meetings and demo lessons, submits an application and meets the admissions committee: the child spends time in a class, the school carries out a pedagogical assessment of school readiness or academic level, and parents have a 30-minute meeting about values and expectations; after feedback a contract is signed. The general criteria are shared values between school and family and the school's ability to provide the support the child needs. The admission policy states that applicants are considered equally regardless of nationality; the child's mother tongue is checked on application, and students who do not speak Bulgarian receive individual language support under a plan agreed with the parents. The administrative admission fee is 125 euro. By law at least 20% of places in the preparatory group and grade 1 are free of charge for children meeting the school's criteria (financial hardship, special educational needs, giftedness and others).
Stages and year groups Preparatory groups for children aged 5 and 6, primary stage grades 1-4 and lower secondary grades 5-7 under the Bulgarian national curriculum in Bulgarian. The primary stage is built on the transdisciplinary IB PYP framework (the school is a candidate for authorisation); 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 school has no upper secondary stage.
Address ul. Geo Milev 158, korpus 3, kv. Slatina, 1574 Sofia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · candidateThe school appears in the IB register with the Primary Years Programme; on its own website it describes itself as a PYP candidate school. 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 a candidate for the right to run one of this organisation's programmes: the application has been made and accepted for consideration, and authorisation has not been granted yet. This is a status for one particular stage, not for the whole school, and it does not rule out the school already being authorised for other stages. The organisation itself requires candidates to say that candidacy does not guarantee authorisation. The candidacy is confirmed in the organisation's open directory. 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 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
Campus: The school occupies the first and fourth floors of building 3 on the campus of the Todor Kableshkov University of Transport in Slatina. Meals are optional, about 7.5 euro per day; two-way transport is optional, about 200 euro per month. There is no boarding.
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 observes children during admission and, with the class teacher, draws up an adaptation plan for students joining during the year. The school publishes admission, inclusion, language, assessment and academic integrity policies. The primary school runs a relationships and wellbeing programme based on Responsive Classroom: daily morning meetings, quiet time and reflection, shared agreements on behaviour and conflict resolution; grades 3 and 4 have a separate relationships lesson.
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%)65 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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