Yes, in most grades a child with little English can join IAS during the school year. We welcome new students all year round, so your child can start now, in January, or in February when Term 2 begins, as long as their grade has a place.
Lessons are in English. Our EAL programme (English as an Additional Language) is there for children who are still building theirs. This guide sets out how much English the school asks for, how EAL works, and what to ask admissions before your child's first day.
How much English does my child need?
It depends on the grade.
| Joining | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Grades 2 to 5 | Children with little or no English are welcome. A child still learning English can join EAL. |
| Grades 6 to 10 | Students who enter below level B1 may be required to join EAL. |
| High School (Grades 9 to 12) | The school also reviews a student's English before they enter. Requirements depend on the year group, particularly for the senior years, so ask admissions what your child's grade needs. |
Joining below Grade 2? Ask admissions how support works at that age.
B1 and B2 are levels on CEFR, the European scale of language levels, where A1 is a beginner and B2 is the level at which a student can take the whole IAS curriculum without support.
Grades 11 and 12 need their own conversation, because the IB Diploma runs through both years and students usually begin it at the start of Grade 11, though a student who joins later can sometimes continue a Diploma begun at another IB school or work towards the American High School Diploma. Admissions will talk through the right route with you.
What happens before the first day
Start with one message: your child's grade and the date you have in mind. You can send it from abroad, before you have a Polish address or a confirmed moving date.
The application then needs school reports from the last two years, in whatever language you have them, and a recommendation letter from a principal or teacher. Admissions will tell you which translations it needs.
Entrance exams are not automatic. After reading the reports, the school decides whether they are necessary, most often in English, mathematics or both.
Admissions talks with your family, online if you are still abroad. Tell us about your child's previous school, their languages and any support they receive, because teachers use that when they plan your child's start, and the EAL Programme Coordinator will also interview and assess your child individually.
Which grade will it be? IAS goes by your child's age on 1 September of the school year, and a mid-year start follows the same rule. If your child is at a school now, admissions checks the last certificate from that school and confirms the grade after talking with you, and a child arriving from another system is not automatically put back a year.
How EAL works
A student joins a group at their own level, from A1 to B1+. Lessons sit inside the normal timetable, and the number depends on that level.
The teaching is academic English. Students practise reading, writing, listening and speaking for their school subjects, including following a teacher's explanation and taking part in a discussion, and grammar and vocabulary are taught directly, alongside cultural references that students meet in lessons.
EAL teachers also share tools and advice with subject teachers, which means a science teacher knows what your child can and cannot yet read. In the early phases, students receive narrative feedback in place of formal grades, so they can build confidence and fluency first.
Because the support is intensive, students in EAL step back from other language classes while they build their English, so ask admissions which language classes your child would attend.
Students leave the programme once they no longer need it.
The first days
During admissions we talk through your child's previous programme, the support they need and their first days in class, so please ask how those days will run for your child and who you should call if the first week is hard.
Each class has two homeroom teachers. They help new students settle in.
Starting at IAS covers the school day, food and getting here. Lunch and the bus are worth arranging early.
- Lessons. 08:30 to 15:10 in both buildings.
- Lunch. Every student up to Grade 8 eats at school, and students at Dembego 18 stay at school through the lunch break, so order in iKuchnia before the first day or pack food from home. Creating an account alone does not order lunch.
- Getting there. Metro Kabaty is five minutes' walk. Want the Little Monsters school bus? Ask early. Routes are built around where families live.
- After lessons. Clubs run every day.
At home
Keep speaking your own language. You do not need to switch the family to English. The school actively encourages students to maintain and develop the language they speak at home.
Reports and parent-teacher meetings come at mid-semester and at the end of each semester. If something worries you before then, tell the homeroom teacher.
What it costs
EAL is a paid programme, charged per term on top of tuition, and it helps a student reach the English they need for the full curriculum sooner. The fees page has the amounts by grade. For a start partway through the year, ask the office for your exact figure.
When to start
You do not have to wait for September, or for February. Tell admissions when you would like your child to start.
Places depend on the grade. The majority of classes fill up, so talk to us early, and if the class is full, ask about the waiting list before you pay anything.
Term 2 of 2026/27 starts in February 2027. Once a place is agreed, admissions confirms your child's first day with you. The Term 2 admissions page sets out the six steps in order.
Still comparing kinds of school? Our guide to how international schools in Warsaw differ puts the curricula side by side.
About IAS
The International American School of Warsaw was founded in 1989 and teaches children from Pre-KG to Grade 12 in English, in Ursynów by the Kabaty forest. Students come from more than 40 nationalities, the student-teacher ratio is 7:1, and older students work towards the IB Diploma, the American High School Diploma or the Polish Matura, with accreditation from the International Baccalaureate Organization, Cognia and the Polish Ministry of Education.
Admissions answers on [email protected] and +48 22 649 14 40, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:00, and replies within one working day.
