← Back to homeSt. Catherine's British School
Kifissia, Greece · est. 1956 · Private
Illustration · Kifissia
St. Catherine's British School was established in 1956 in the grounds of the British Embassy in Athens, originally for children from Britain and the Commonwealth. According to the school, it now teaches over 1300 pupils aged 3 to 18 from 54 nationalities. It is a not-for-profit organisation registered as a charity in the UK. The school motto is "Excellence and Happiness". The Lower School (Nursery to Year 6) is in Lykovrissi and the Upper School (Years 7-13) is in a new building across the road, with a Kifissia address. Up to the age of 16 the curriculum follows the National Curriculum of England and Wales; in Years 10-11 students take nine or ten IGCSEs/GCSEs, and the final two years follow the IB Diploma. The school is an Executive Member of COBIS and a member of HMC and is inspected by ISI every three years. The language of instruction is English: it is a British school, all pages for parents, the admission guidelines and the entry tests are in English, and English Language and Literature are compulsory; Greek and French are taught as separate subjects.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $11 241–19 567 a year
9 950–17 320 EUR
Programmes
IB · DP · Cambridge · IGCSE · Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
French, Greek
Registration fee
≈ $226
200 EUR
About the fees Annual tuition for new families for the 2026-2027 school year: Nursery 9950 euros, Reception and Year 1 13630, Year 2 14670, Years 3-6 14830, Years 7-9 15390, Years 10-11 16620, Years 12-13 17320 euros; fees are invoiced twice, in September and January. Tuition fees are non-refundable.
Admissions The school describes itself as an inclusive, non-selective school that "welcomes applications for enrolment from students of all nationalities", all year round according to availability. Because of high demand there are priority criteria: British, Australian, Canadian or other Commonwealth nationality, dual nationality, suitable English language capability, sufficient academic ability and good behaviour, a sibling in the school or a sibling or parent who studied there, and timely application. For Nursery and Reception the family sends the child's drawing and a short video of the child speaking English, followed by an observed group play session. Upper School candidates (Years 7-13) sit entry tests in English, Mathematics and Non-Verbal Reasoning; entry into the first IB year requires at least seven IGCSE passes at grade C or better, including Maths and English, three of them at grade B. Entry into Year 11 or the second IB year is generally considered only for students who have completed the first year of IGCSE or IB at another international school. All offers are at the school's discretion; there is no unconditional entry.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery, Reception, Years 1-13. Foundation Stage: Nursery and Reception; Key Stage 1 (Years 1-2), Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6), Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9, with Classical Civilisation in addition to the National Curriculum), Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11, an IGCSE/GCSE programme of 20 subjects with a compulsory core of Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, one foreign language, all three sciences and one humanity), International Baccalaureate (Years 12-13, IB Diploma; according to the school, over 95% of students take the full diploma). The school runs SAT preparation courses. There is no Greek Apolytirio or separate Greek lyceum stream on the website: the final two years follow one programme, the IB Diploma.
Address B. Antonopoulou 9, 145 61, Kifissia, Athens (Upper School); Sofokli Venizelou 77, 141 23 Lykovrissi, Athens (Lower School)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmePearson · authorised programmeBSO · accreditationCOBIS · accreditationThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school. The Cambridge and Pearson registers name it as an exam centre. It holds a British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection, the latest in March 2023, and is an accredited member of COBIS.
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 →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 →PearsonPearson Edexcel, a British exam board
It gives a school approved centre status: that means Pearson exams can be sat in the school itself. What is checked is the premises, the equipment, the secure storage of papers and the presence of trained invigilators.
What the badge means for this school. The school can run Pearson exams on its own premises. The status says nothing about teaching, about results or about the school itself: any school able to run an exam securely holds it. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which Pearson qualifications this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 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 →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
36.2 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma, May 2026 session: 98% of full Diploma candidates passed (IBO World 2025: 81%), the average Diploma total was 36.2 points (IBO World 2025: 30.5), 33% of the cohort achieved 40 points or higher, and 3 students secured the maximum 45 points. The school reports a consistent annual average of 35 points or above.
Where leavers go: Harvard University · Yale University · Columbia University · University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) · Brown University · University of Chicago · Northwestern University · New York University (NYU) · Georgetown University · McGill University · University of Toronto · Stanford University
and others, 24 universities in the school's list in allGraduates of the Class of 2025 received and met offers from universities including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, the University of Chicago, LSE, UCL, King's College London and Bocconi; destinations for the Class of 2026 include Stanford, Imperial College London, Georgetown and McGill. According to the school, 80% of students consistently gain acceptance at their first-choice university, and alumni study in 16 countries.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio
Clubs and activities: Debate Club · Drama · Dance · Music · LAMDA Speech and Drama · The International Award (Duke of Edinburgh) · School Council
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 sizenot stated
In Nursery children are looked after by an early years' practitioner; in Reception they are taught by a Reception teacher and an early years' practitioner. In Key Stages 1-2 the class teacher teaches English, mathematics, science, art, design and technology, humanities and PSHCE, while specialist teachers take physical education, music, French and Greek. The Upper School has four university and careers counsellors with degrees from BA to PhD and experience in US and UK admissions. The school does not publish the number of teachers or class sizes.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
According to the ISI inspection report published on the school's website, the school has a suitable safeguarding policy, all staff receive regular safeguarding training, the upper and lower schools each have designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), and governors regularly review safeguarding arrangements. The school says updated policies are coming soon to its website.
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%)84 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)100 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 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