← Back to the rankingResearchers Schoolhouse
Cluj Napoca, Romania · est. 2018 · Private
Illustration · Cluj Napoca
Researchers Schoolhouse is a small private British school in Cluj-Napoca with a nursery and kindergarten. It was founded by educators Andra Ciorba and Cristina Bajdechi: they first ran workshops for infants and parents, then opened a kindergarten with 11 children and later a primary school; according to the inspection report the school has operated since 2018. The programme is British: Early Years and the National Curriculum of England; from the first year of school lessons are in English, and Romanian language and literature are studied as the mother tongue in Romanian. The school combines the British curriculum with Waldorf-inspired practice: each week a class immerses itself in one subject (the AGEs model), afternoons bring Think for Life critical thinking sessions, and emotional intelligence is developed through the RULER framework. The school reports British School Overseas status (Penta International inspection, confirmed in December 2024) and COBIS accreditation since May 2026. It welcomes children with Down syndrome and other special needs.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $4 150–6 505 a year
1 942.5–3 045 RON a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Students
101 (according to the BSO inspection report, December 2024)
Registration fee
≈ $508
450 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027, per month: nursery and kindergarten (ages 2-5) 1942.5 lei part-time and 2047.5 lei full-time; Year 1 2940 lei; Year 2-6 3045 lei; Year 7 3045 lei. The school does not say how many payments there are per year. One-time registration fee: 250 euro for kindergarten, 450 euro for primary; annual BSO fee 120 euro.
Admissions Applications are made through the website form: the child's age, the desired stage and start date; the family is invited for a tour and to meet the teachers. The school does not publish admission criteria or entrance tests. It says it is deliberately inclusive and welcomes children with Down syndrome and other special educational needs. The registration fee is 250 euro for kindergarten and 450 euro for primary school.
Stages and year groups Nursery and kindergarten follow the British Early Years Framework (from age 2, part-time and full-time). Primary Year 1-6 follows the National Curriculum of England (Key Stages 1 and 2) plus Romanian language and literature and history as required by the Romanian curriculum. The 2026-2027 fee list includes Key Stage 3 (Year 7); the graduate profile describes a lower secondary stage in Year 7-9 and an upper stage in Year 10-11. Cambridge or IGCSE exams are not mentioned on the website.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
BSO · accreditationCOBIS · membershipIt is inspected under the British Schools Overseas scheme and is a member of COBIS. It follows the National Curriculum in England, from nursery to primary, with Romanian taught as a mother tongue.
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
BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →COBISCouncil of British International Schools
An association of British schools abroad with a quality inspection of its own. It has nine membership categories, and the word "accredited" appears in seven of them, although COBIS does its own inspection in one: in the rest it recognises an accreditation granted by somebody else.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to this organisation but has not been through its accreditation. The difference matters: membership is usually paid for and has no external inspection behind it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The school operates in two buildings in Cluj-Napoca. Since November 2024 the primary school has occupied a new, spacious building on Rene Descartes Street: bright classrooms with ventilation and air conditioning, a gym with a soft floor and a medical room. The nursery and kindergarten are in a former residential house on Antonio Gaudi Street with a large garden with play equipment. Both buildings have kitchens where lunches from an external company are served. There is no lift, and the buildings are not suitable for wheelchair access.
Clubs and activities: INK Society
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 sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: all teachers and teaching assistants are qualified for their age groups; new staff complete assessment days working with children under observation
From the first year of school eight main teachers rotate across all year groups, each leading a subject during its immersion week. Teachers have internal training every week (sometimes twice), and some take online courses from the UK National College. According to the 2024 inspection report there are 5 children per adult; teaching assistants often have additional qualifications, for example in physiotherapy. The primary school is led by Andra Ciorba, the nursery and kindergarten by Cristina Bajdechi.
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 room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
According to the 2024 BSO inspection report, safeguarding is overseen by a trained designated safeguarding lead (DSL), all staff are trained to recognise when a child may be at risk, and kindergarten staff are trained in intimate care. Each building has one entrance and exit, and children are handed over to parents under staff supervision; CCTV at the entrances is only planned. A part-time nurse works at the school, with trained first aiders at other times. Bullying, according to the report, is very rare and well handled; fire safety is managed by an external specialist company.
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%)60 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 data80 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 data61 "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