Moving to Warsaw with school-age children adds a hard decision on top of an already full plate. You are weighing curricula you may not have grown up with, a city you are still learning, a commute you cannot yet picture, and a child who mostly wants to know whether they will make a friend by Friday. This guide lays out the questions that actually matter, in the order most families find useful, so you can compare schools on substance instead of brochures.
We run one of those schools, the International American School of Warsaw, founded in 1989. We wrote this to be useful even if you choose somewhere else. Where our own approach is relevant we say so plainly, and we have kept the sales talk out of it. It covers the whole range, from a three year old starting kindergarten to a teenager choosing a diploma, because the same handful of questions decide it at every age.
Start with the diploma, not the building
The decision that shapes every other one is the qualification your child will graduate with, because it sets which universities are simple to apply to later. Beautiful campuses are easy to fall for on a tour. The leaving certificate is what your child carries out the door.
In Warsaw you will mainly meet three:
- The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. Recognised by universities worldwide, broad rather than narrow, and a sensible choice for families who may move again.
- An American High School Diploma, often with Advanced Placement courses. Familiar to families heading toward, or arriving from, the United States.
- The Polish Matura. This matters if your child may continue in the Polish system or apply to Polish universities.
Most international schools offer one of these. A few offer more. We offer all three, and a single student can hold the IB Diploma, an American Diploma and the Polish Matura together, which keeps doors open across three systems at once. Whichever path you favour, ask the school to show you, in writing, where its recent graduates applied and enrolled. A confident school will have that ready.
If you are choosing for a young child, judge the early years on their own terms
A four year old is not a small teenager, and the diploma is a decade away. For the early years what matters is whether your child is safe, settled and gently stretched, and whether the adults in the room have time for them.
The questions change at this age. Ask how many children are in the youngest classes and how many adults. Ask whether the early years have their own space, away from the rush of older students. Ask what a normal morning looks like, how much of it is play and discovery, and how the school handles a child who cries at drop-off in September.
At IAS the Early Years programme runs from age three and a half to six, in a separate building on ul. Dembego with its own purpose-built playground, kept deliberately small at an average of five children to one teacher. The days are built around hands-on learning, and children develop English and Polish side by side rather than one at the cost of the other. From there the Elementary School takes children from six to twelve in two stages, lower and upper, before middle and high school on the same campus. The advantage of a school that runs from kindergarten to Grade 12 is plain: your child can arrive at four and leave at eighteen without ever starting over as the new student somewhere else.
What if your child’s English is not strong enough yet?
This is the worry we hear most, from Polish families and international families alike. A parent looks at an English-language school and assumes their child needs fluent English to walk in the door. They do not.
A serious international school plans for children who arrive with little or no English, because most of its students were once exactly that child. What you are looking for is a real, named programme, not a vague promise that the child will pick it up in time.
At IAS that programme is English as an Additional Language. It welcomes children at any level, including complete beginners. A new student starts with an interview and a short assessment, then joins a small group, generally no larger than eight, of children at a similar stage, working from the early CEFR levels up toward the B2 that opens the full curriculum. The groups meet five to six times a week and cover the four skills a child needs in every other class, reading, writing, listening and speaking, with grammar taught clearly rather than left to chance. While they build their English, EAL students ease off other language classes so the effort goes where it counts, and their EAL teacher works alongside their subject teachers as the child’s advocate.
For a Polish child this does not mean leaving Polish behind. In the early years children develop English and Polish together, and the Polish Matura pathway and Polish Ministry recognition stay open the whole way through. The simplest reassurance is this: in a school of more than forty nationalities, a child who is still learning English is in ordinary company. They will not be the only one, and the school has done this many times before.
Ask the same of every school you visit. How does a child who arrives at A1 reach the level the curriculum needs? Who teaches that, how often, and in what size group? A clear answer is a good sign. A shrug is also an answer.
Look hard at class size and how well teachers know your child
Class size is the number that quietly decides how seen your child feels. A teacher with thirty students manages a room. A teacher with eighteen can read it.
Ask for the real figures, not the averages. Average class size can hide a few very large classes. Ask the maximum the school allows, and ask the student to teacher ratio across the whole school.
For reference, IAS caps classes at eighteen students and runs a ratio of seven students to one teacher. We are a boutique school by choice, not by accident, and the relationships that come from that are the point. When you tour, ask the head teacher to name three things about a child in the class you are standing in. The answer, or the pause, will tell you a lot.
Check the accreditation, and check who grants it
Accreditation is the difference between a school that says it is good and a school that has been examined by an outside body and told to fix things. Two layers are worth confirming.
First, the curriculum authority. An IB school is authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organization. That authorisation is not automatic and not permanent.
Second, an independent quality accreditation, and recognition by the host country. IAS holds three: the International Baccalaureate Organization, Cognia (the American accreditation body), and the Polish Ministry of Education. Recognition by the Polish Ministry matters more than families expect, because it is what makes a diploma valid inside Poland.
Ask each school which bodies accredit it, and when it was last reviewed. Then spend two minutes confirming it on the accreditor’s own website.
Picture the actual commute, on a real morning
A school that looks close on a map can be forty minutes away at 7:45. In Warsaw, traffic and the school run change the answer completely.
- Drive or ride the route at the real time you would do it, not at midday.
- If you will use the metro, check the walk at both ends.
- Ask whether the school runs a bus, which districts it covers, and what time the first pick-up is.
IAS sits on ul. Dembego in Ursynów, next to the Kabaty forest, a short walk from the Kabaty metro station, with bus routes serving Wilanów, Mokotów, the centre and further out. We mention it because location is not a detail to a family doing this twice a day for years. Wherever you land, treat the commute as part of the school, because your child will.
Ask whether your child will belong
A strong international school is not only academically sound. It is a place where a child who arrived three weeks ago does not eat lunch alone.
Worth asking:
- How many nationalities are in the school, and is any single one so dominant that others sit at the edges?
- How are new students paired up or welcomed in their first week?
- What happens after the bell: clubs, sport, music, the things that turn classmates into friends.
IAS brings together more than forty nationalities, which means no child is the only one who is new to the country. Ask to speak with a current parent who arrived in the last year. Most schools can arrange it, and the honest ones are glad to.
Understand the real cost, and plan for it
International schooling in Warsaw is a significant family expense, and fees vary by grade and by school. Rather than chase a single number, get the full picture from each school you shortlist.
Ask what the published fee covers and what sits on top of it: registration, materials, lunch, transport, trips, examination fees. Ask about sibling arrangements if you have more than one child, and about how fees are scheduled across the year. You can see the IAS fee structure on our tuition and fees page. Compare like with like, and ask each school to put the total in writing so there are no surprises in October.
Time your application, and know that mid-year is normal
Expat moves rarely line up with the school calendar. A job starts in January. A posting ends in March. Good international schools expect this and admit students through the year where they have space.
Ask each school:
- When the main intake is, and whether places remain for your child’s grade.
- Whether mid-year entry is possible, and how they settle a child who joins in week twenty.
- What the steps are: application, records, any assessment, a family visit.
IAS runs rolling admissions and welcomes mid-year families. You can begin on our admissions page, and the simplest next step at any school is to visit.
Visit properly, on an ordinary day
Open days are designed to impress. An ordinary Tuesday tells the truth. If you can, ask to visit on a normal school day, walk the corridors, and sit at the back of a lesson for ten minutes. Watch how the adults speak to the children, and how the children speak to each other. That ten minutes is worth more than the whole prospectus.
A short checklist for your shortlist
For each school, write down:
- Which diploma or diplomas it offers, and where its graduates go.
- The ages it teaches, and, if your child is young, the ratio in the early years.
- Its maximum class size and student to teacher ratio.
- Its named programme for a child who arrives with little or no English, including the group size and lessons a week.
- Who accredits it, and when it was last reviewed.
- The real commute at real times, and whether a bus serves your district.
- The number of nationalities, and how new students are welcomed.
- The full cost in writing, including everything beyond tuition.
- Whether your child’s grade has a place now, including mid-year.
If a school answers these clearly and lets you see a normal day, you are dealing with a serious one.
Frequently asked questions
What curricula do international schools in Warsaw offer? Mainly the International Baccalaureate, an American High School Diploma with Advanced Placement, British curricula, and the Polish Matura. Some schools offer one path, a few offer several. IAS offers the IB Diploma, the American Diploma and the Polish Matura together.
My child does not speak English yet. Can they still enrol? Yes, at schools with a real English as an Additional Language programme. IAS welcomes children at any level, including complete beginners. After an interview and assessment, a student joins a small group, generally no larger than eight, at a similar stage, with five to six lessons a week, and works from the early CEFR levels up toward B2. Ask any school you visit who teaches its EAL, how often, and in what size group.
From what age can my child start? It varies by school. At IAS the Early Years programme begins at age three and a half, the Elementary School runs from six to twelve, and a child can continue on the same campus through to Grade 12 at eighteen. A school that runs the full range means your child never has to start over somewhere new.
Will my Polish child lose their Polish at an international school? Not at a school that keeps Polish in the programme. In the IAS early years children develop English and Polish together, and the Polish Matura pathway and recognition by the Polish Ministry of Education remain open the whole way through, so a Polish child can hold an international education and their Polish qualifications at once.
What is a good class size for an international school? Smaller classes let teachers notice each child rather than manage a crowd. Ask for the maximum a school allows, not just the average. IAS caps classes at eighteen students with a seven to one student to teacher ratio.
Which accreditations should I look for? The curriculum authority for the diploma, such as the International Baccalaureate Organization, an independent quality accreditation such as Cognia, and recognition by the Polish Ministry of Education so the qualification is valid in Poland. IAS holds all three.
When should we apply, and can we start mid-year? Apply as early as you can once you know your move dates, then confirm a place is open for your child’s grade. Many international schools, IAS included, admit students through the year when space allows.
Which Warsaw districts work well for international schools? Families across Ursynów, Wilanów, Mokotów, the centre and the southern suburbs commute to international schools. What matters is the real travel time at school-run hours and whether a school bus covers your district. IAS is in Ursynów by the Kabaty metro and forest, with bus routes across the city.
How much does an international school in Warsaw cost? Fees vary by grade and school, and the headline number rarely tells the whole story. Ask each school for the full cost in writing, including registration, materials, lunch, transport and trips. The IAS fee structure is on our tuition page.
A last word
Choosing a school is really choosing the place your child will spend most of their waking hours for years. Trust what you see on a normal day over what you read on a glossy page, ask the direct questions above, and pick the school where your child will be known.
If you would like to see how IAS measures up against your own checklist, you are welcome to book a visit or contact our admissions team. Come on a school day. We would rather you see the real thing.
