← Back to the rankingSmiling International School
Ferrara, Italy · est. 1998 · Private
Illustration · Ferrara
Smiling International School is a private bilingual school in Ferrara for children aged 2 to 18; since 1998 it has described itself as the first accredited international school in Emilia-Romagna. It now has 450 students of 18 nationalities on two campuses in the historic centre. English is the main language of instruction, and the school gives equal weight to Italian, with Italian as a second language for foreign students; all students also learn Spanish and Chinese. The early years, primary and lower secondary schools follow the Italian national curriculum with paritaria status; high school has two tracks - a four-year linguistic liceo (since the 2018-2019 school year) ending with the esame di Stato, and a four-year IB track: two preparatory years, for which the school is an MYP candidate, and the two-year Diploma Programme, for which the school is authorised. In high school all non-language subjects are taught in English, with an average of 15 students per class. International high school students from age 14 can live in the boarding residence on the top floor of Palazzo Gulinelli.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Italian
Languages taught
Spanish, Chinese
Class size
an average of 15 students per class in high school
About the fees The school does not publish its tuition fees on the website: international families are asked to contact the admissions office, and fees depend on nationality and school stage. For international students the semester programme costs 5000 euros tuition and 3000 euros boarding, 8000 euros per session in total.
Admissions Enrolment is open all year to students of all nationalities, and students are admitted at any point in the school year. Steps: an enquiry form, a school tour and interview with the family (online if needed), an application form by email, and the school's decision based on places available in the class and complete documents; enrolment is completed on payment of the enrolment fee. No minimum level of English is required: summer language courses are offered for students entering lower and upper secondary and the Diploma Programme, and Italian as a second language for foreign students. International students can also join semester and gap year programmes starting in the fall or spring.
Stages and year groups Early Years from age 2 (groups for ages 2, 3, 4 and 5) on the Italian national curriculum in two languages; primaria grades 1-5 with computing and Chinese; scuola secondaria di primo grado grades 6-8 (paritaria) with Productive Thinking and Applied Sciences courses; high school grades 9-12: Liceo Linguistico quadriennale (paritaria, since 2018-2019, ending with the esame di Stato and diploma di Maturità in 4 years) or the IB track - two stages: the two-year MYP (the school is an MYP candidate) and the two-year IB Diploma Programme (the school is authorised). According to the website the IB Diploma can be recognised in Italy as a diploma di Maturità depending on the subjects chosen. In high school all non-language subjects are taught in English. IB subjects from the staff list: English A Language and Literature, Italian A Literature, Italian B, Italian ab initio, English B, Spanish B, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, theory of knowledge, computer science and design, economics and business. Optional language exams: Cambridge English (target C1 by the end of school, some graduates reach C2), DELE for Spanish, HSK for Chinese.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. For the Middle Years Programme the school is a candidate. The core is the Italian paritaria curriculum with a four-year liceo linguistico, alongside the IB Diploma, and upper-school subjects taught in English.
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: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local 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: University of Bologna · Bocconi University · LUISS · Durham University · Imperial College London · University of Amsterdam · Complutense University of Madrid · University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) · University College Dublin
Every year the school holds an orientation week with representatives of Italian and foreign universities for grades 10-12, takes students to university fairs, and helps with entrance tests, cover letters and references.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Also on site: Playground
Clubs and activities: Afterschool Clubs · Cambridge English courses · Che Storia! (history story competition) · smiling_science · House Point System
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The website names the head, deputy and teachers of all stages with the year they joined: they include native English speakers, teachers of Italian as a second language, Spanish and Chinese, the Diploma Programme coordinator, a special needs coordinator and a pedagogical coordinator. The head since 2025 is James Heanley. The school does not publish teacher qualifications.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The lower and upper secondary regulations describe prevention of and response to cyberbullying under Law 71/2017, with the head as contact person; the school has a whistleblowing procedure and a school-family co-responsibility agreement. In the boarding residence access to the building, rooms and shared areas is by personal key or magnetic card, and a supervisor looks after the residents.
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%)82 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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data73 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