Family guides
How to find an international school
Most families start by collecting school names. It is faster, and far less stressful, to define your requirements first and let them remove the options that were never realistic.
Prepared by InternationalSchools.orgPublished July 2026Last reviewed August 2026
In short
- Define curriculum, entry year, travel radius, budget and start-date range before you look at any school website, and let those decisions narrow the field.
- Research in order: the school's own published information first, then the local regulator, then direct verification with the school.
- Contact admissions teams three to four months before the move to check availability in the exact entry year and arrange a visit.
- Treat parent forums as a source of questions, not as evidence — verify anything that matters directly with the school.
The five decisions that constrain everything else
Answer these before you look at a single school website.
- 1
Curriculum
Decide this first, because it determines which schools are even candidates and how easily a later move would work.
- 2
Age and entry year
Work out the year group or grade your child would enter in the destination system, and whether that year has capacity.
- 3
Location and travel
Fix a realistic daily travel time before you fall in love with a school. This eliminates more options than anything else.
- 4
Fees and total cost
Set a full-year budget, not a tuition figure, and include registration, deposits, transport and everything else.
- 5
Start date
Mid-year entry is possible in many places but narrows the field sharply. Know your earliest and latest workable dates.
If you are unsure about curriculum, start with the curricula library and the comparison table.
A practical sequence
Timings assume a standard August or September start. Adjust them if you are moving mid-year.
Six to twelve months before the move
Settle curriculum direction, confirm the destination and understand how the school year runs there. Learn the local regulator and what it publishes.
Four to six months before
Fix your budget and travel radius. Identify which areas are realistic given where you will live or work, and focus on schools that fit your requirements.
Three to four months before
Contact admissions teams. Ask about availability in the specific entry year, assessment requirements and documents. Arrange visits, in person or online.
Two to three months before
Complete applications, sit any assessments, and compare offers on total cost as well as fit. Check deposit terms before paying anything.
After accepting
Confirm start date, uniform, transport and records transfer, and request the full fee schedule for the year in writing.
How to research a school
- Read the school's own published information first: curriculum, fees, term dates and admissions policy.
- Check what the local regulator or inspectorate publishes, and understand what its framework actually measures.
- Confirm accreditation or programme authorisation directly with the awarding organisation where it matters to you.
- Treat parent forums as a source of questions to ask, not as evidence.
- Visit if you can, in person or online, and ask to see the year group your child would join.
What to verify directly
- Availability in the exact entry year and start date you need.
- The full fee schedule for a year, including everything non-optional.
- Assessment or interview requirements and their dates.
- Language and learning support, and how it is funded.
- Deposit terms and what they commit you to.
The questions guide sets these out stage by stage.
Common mistakes
- Starting with school names instead of requirements, which makes every option look plausible.
- Comparing tuition figures that include different things.
- Assuming a place exists in the specific year group, rather than at the school in general.
- Underestimating daily travel, especially in cities with heavy peak traffic.
- Leaving records and reports behind, then needing them for an assessment or placement decision.
- Changing curriculum in the middle of a two-year examination course when it could have been avoided.
Where InternationalSchools.org fits
We handle the asking step. You describe your requirements once, and relevant you see matched schools with whether they have places for your children, the year group, the fees and the next step. You compare the answers, reply privately to the schools you like, and share your contact details only with the ones you choose — rather than filling in a separate form on each school's website. Everything after that (visits, assessment, offers) happens directly between you and the school.
You can read which schools see your request before you start.
Which schools have places for your children?
A guide explains how something works. Only a school can tell you whether it has a place for your child, in that year group, for the start date you need.
Tell us where you are moving, your children's ages and what you are looking for, and see matched schools with places, fees and next steps for your children and what happens next. Each school answers per child, so two children in one family can get two different answers from the same school.
What you tell us decides which schools your request is relevant to. Your contact details are shared only with the schools you choose to share them with.
US$499 per family · One-time fee · You review the service and the price before you pay.
How do I find the right international school for my child?
Continue reading
How admissions work
The sequence from enquiry to enrolment, and the documents needed at each stage.
Understanding fees
What a school year costs beyond the tuition figure.
Curricula explained
How the British, IB and American systems are built.
International schools in Dubai
How the Dubai market works, and how to search it.
Questions to ask
A staged checklist for conversations with admissions.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Timings describe common practice internationally. Individual countries and schools run to their own calendars.
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