For families
How it works
Describe your family once, open your own school search, and contact up to three admissions teams directly. Here is the whole sequence, step by step.
Prepared by InternationalSchools.orgPublished July 2026Last reviewed July 2026
In short
- Complete one form and open your own school search, starting with a focused shortlist recommended for your family.
- Explore other suitable schools, compare your options and choose up to three admissions teams to contact directly.
- No family account is required, and using InternationalSchools.org costs families nothing.
- Your details reach a school only when you select it.
Most families relocating with school-age children run the same process by hand. They search, open twenty tabs, discover halfway through that half of those schools do not teach the curriculum their child is continuing, submit twenty separate enquiry forms, and then try to keep track of who replied and what each one said. The information that actually decides the outcome, whether there is a place in that year group at that start date, usually arrives last.
We turn that around. You describe the situation once, you see the schools that can realistically take your child, and you decide who hears from you.
The sequence, from form to reply
Seven steps. You control the point at which anything leaves your search.
You describe your family's situation once
Where you are moving to, each child and the year group they are likely to enter, when you need them to start, the curriculum you are continuing from or moving to, the budget range you are working with, and the area you expect to live or work in.
The form is a single pass. No account, no password, and you can reopen your results whenever you want them.
Each answer is used for a specific purpose
Age and intended entry year decide whether a school can admit your child at all. Curriculum decides whether the programme continues what your child has already done. Budget and area narrow the practical options. Start date decides whether the timing is possible.
Every question in the form changes which schools can be considered, so the form stays short.
You start with a focused shortlist
Your search opens with a shortlist of up to five schools recommended for what you described, each with why it may suit your circumstances and a consideration to weigh against it. Other suitable schools remain available to explore, so the shortlist is where you start rather than the limit of what you can see.
Your search is private to you and kept out of search engines.
You compare, then decide who to contact
You can explore your options, close the page, talk it over and come back. You can add, remove and swap schools until your shortlist reflects what you actually want to consider. Your details stay with you until you choose to share them, and only the schools you choose ever see them.
You choose up to three admissions teams
Three is a deliberate limit. It is enough to compare real answers on availability, fees and timing, and few enough that you can hold a proper conversation with each one rather than manage a dozen threads at once.
You write one message and it is checked before release
You give your details once instead of retyping them into a separate form on every school website. Before the message is released it is reviewed for completeness, so an admissions team receives a request it can actually act on rather than a one-line enquiry it has to chase.
The school replies to you directly
From that point the conversation belongs to you and the school. Admissions teams are asked to respond promptly and clearly on availability, fees and timing, so you can compare real answers.
Why the process stops at three schools
The limit is there to make the next stage manageable, not to restrict you.
Contacting every plausible school looks thorough and rarely is. Admissions teams respond in the order they can, so a scattered set of enquiries produces a scattered set of half-answers, and a family ends up comparing a fee schedule from one school with an assessment date from another and a waiting-list position from a third.
Three admissions teams is the point at which you can ask each one the same questions, get comparable answers, and still have a real conversation. If none of the three works out, your search is still yours: refine your shortlist from the other suitable schools and choose again.
Worked example
A family moving in March with two children
A family relocating mid-year has a child finishing Year 6 and a child entering Year 2. The older child's transition point matters more than the younger one's, because moving in the final year of a primary stage is harder than moving in the middle of one.
Their search reflects both children. They contact three admissions teams and ask each the same three questions: is there a place in both year groups, what is assessed before an offer, and what the total first-year cost is including registration and deposits. Two reply within a week; one has space in only one of the two year groups. That is a decision they can actually make.
What we handle, and what the school handles
We handle
- Compare what you tell us against the school information we maintain for that location.
- Recommend a focused shortlist to start from, and keep other suitable schools available to explore.
- Keep your results private to you until you choose to contact a school.
- Check your message for completeness so admissions teams receive something they can answer.
The school handles
- Confirming current availability in the year group you need.
- Setting assessment, entry and documentation requirements.
- Arranging visits, tours and meetings with your family.
- Making the admissions decision and issuing an offer.
What a match tells you
Why these schools appear
Every school in your search is there because it fits the circumstances you described.
Families relocating are rarely looking for a school in the abstract. They are looking for one that will take a nine-year-old moving from a British curriculum in November, within a budget, within reach of where they will live, and without losing a year of schooling in the transition.
That is the question your search answers. Each school shown admits children of that age into that year group, teaches the programme you need, sits within the range you gave and works with your intended start. The schools we recommend are a focused place to start rather than the limit of what you can see: other suitable schools stay available, so you can explore them and refine your shortlist as you go.
The two stages behind that, and which factors decide each one, are set out in how matching works.
Where school information comes from
Matches are only as good as the records behind them, so records are sourced, checked, dated and corrected.
Identify the campus
Each campus is recorded separately, with its own curriculum, age range, entry years and location, so a group operating several campuses is never collapsed into one entry.
Source from the primary record
Curriculum, stages, age range, entry years, published tuition and campus location are taken from the school's own published material and the relevant regulator or curriculum authority.
Verify with the school
Schools can review the record we hold for them and correct it. Participating schools maintain it directly from an admissions login.
Date it, then review it
Every decision-critical field carries the date it was confirmed. Records are re-checked on a cycle and whenever a school publishes a change, such as new fees or a new entry year.
Verified and dated before it is used
Each campus is held as its own record, so a group operating several campuses under one name is never collapsed into a single entry. If something we hold looks wrong, tell us and we will check it against a source.
What it costs a family
InternationalSchools.org is free for families, with no account required.
Continue reading
How matching works
The two stages behind your matches, and what each one decides.
International schools in Dubai
Curricula, areas, fees and intake timing in the city we cover first.
How to find an international school
The requirements framework to work through before you contact anyone.
Understanding curricula
British, IB and American systems compared, and what transfers between them.
Last reviewed: July 2026
This page describes our own process. It contains no third-party data and makes no claim about any individual school.
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