← Back to homeTartu International School
Tartu, Estonia · est. 2001 · Private
Illustration · Tartu
Tartu International School is a private non-profit school in Tartu, founded in 2001 by a group of international parents: classes began with seven students in grades 1-6 in a single classroom at Tartu Catholic School. In 2005 the school moved into a renovated hundred-year-old wooden house at Veski 1, and in 2016-2017 into its current building at J. Liivi 2d, a former hotel, the Park Hotel, built in 1943, fully renovated and set in a culturally valuable district near parks, five minutes from Tartu's Town Hall Square. The school is run by a board elected by the members of the non-profit Tartu International School MTÜ. Since 2017 the school has been authorised to offer the IB Primary Years Programme, and it is in the process of implementing the IB Middle Years Programme. Teaching is in English, with Estonian taught from grade 1, both as a native and as a foreign language. The basic school (84 students) has more than 25 teachers and specialists of international background - Estonians, Finns, an Australian, a Latvian; the school also runs a 38-place kindergarten (32 children at the time the site's figures were published) for children aged 1.5 to 6, split into two age groups at a ratio of one teacher to eight children. Students at the school represent 24 nationalities. Personal phones are not used during lessons; grades 5-9 students get personal laptops, grades 1-4 share school laptops. Meals are prepared by Tartu Vocational College, lunch costs 3.70 euros (of which the state covers 1 euro), and a meat-free Vegetarian Tuesday menu has run since January 2020.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $12 198–13 052 a year
10 500–11 235 EUR
Admits from
18 months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
About the fees For Tartu residents (the private tariff for 2026/2027, paid in 10 equal monthly instalments) fees run from 5355 euros a year in the 1.5-3 year nursery group to 7330 euros in grades 7-9. For other families the corporate tariff applies (paid in one payment or two equal instalments): from 10500 euros a year in the 1.5-4 year pre-school group to 11235 euros in grades 4-9, plus a one-off, non-refundable 800 euro registration fee. Fees include textbooks, digital devices, extracurricular activities, winter skiing, excursions and student support; meals, event tickets and personal items are billed separately. A discount scheme based on a family's financial situation is available.
Admissions The school accepts children of any nationality and native language; knowing English is not a condition. Admission runs in five steps: an online registration form, a family interview (in person or online), submitting documents (a copy of the birth certificate or ID, a parent's ID, the child's photo, and a report card from the previous institution), signing an enrolment contract, and enrolment itself. There are no entrance exams; selection looks at whether the family fits the school's values and mission and at the child's motivation. Kindergarten takes children from 1.5 years, grade 1 takes children aged 6-7 by 1 September.
Stages and year groups Primary school (grades 1-6) runs the IB Primary Years Programme with six subject areas and six transdisciplinary themes; basic school (grades 7-9) combines an adapted Estonian national curriculum with the IB Middle Years Programme, which is being implemented. The kindergarten is split into two age groups at a ratio of one teacher to eight children, with a capacity of 38 places.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · authorised programmeschool 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 →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results To receive a basic-school leaving certificate, students sit three exams - Estonian (as a native or foreign language), mathematics, and a subject of their choice - and complete a creative project; the subject for the third exam must be chosen by 1 February. The site does not publish an average score or pass rate.
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 transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The building is a former hotel, the Park Hotel, built in 1943, fully renovated for the school in 2016-2017 and set in a culturally valuable district near parks, five minutes from Tartu's Town Hall Square.
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
The site lists profiles of more than 25 teachers and specialists of international background - Estonians, Finns, an Australian, a Latvian. A teacher-to-child ratio is stated only for the kindergarten, one to eight; the site gives no figure for the school stage.
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 room
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
A school counsellor (social pedagogue) supports wellbeing and social skills, while a special-education coordinator (SENCO) and a special-education specialist support students with special needs. The school nurse holds hours at the Tartu Kesklinna School building, carrying out check-ups and voluntary vaccination with parents' written consent. The school takes part in the national Free of Bullying 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 data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 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