International schools in Basel: curricula, fees and how to apply

All eleven are on the lists of approved private schools published by Basel-Stadt (as of 5 August 2026) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026) and Basel-Landschaft (as of 31 August 2026) (data.bl.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Nine are in Basel-Stadt; Baselland International School (Oberwil) and International School Basel (Aesch and Reinach) are in Basel-Landschaft. Lists and tables are in alphabetical order.

International schools

• Academia International School: lower secondary (Years 7–8) on Lehrplan 21 and the Pearson Key Stage 3 curriculum, then IGCSEs (Years 9–10) and International A Levels (Years 11–12), taught in English. In Basel, some lower-secondary subjects and projects are in German (Academia International, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Academia International, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• École française de Bâle: French curriculum from the maternelle to the 6e class, on two sites. The canton lists it as preparing pupils for both the French and the Swiss school systems (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026) (EFDB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• ELA Basel, The Swiss British School of Basel: Cambridge International Curriculum. The canton lists its primary school, including an Advanced stream that also leads into the Swiss system (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026); its fee page adds a secondary school for Years 8 and 9 from 2026–27 (ELA Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• International School Basel (ISB): IB World School with the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes for ages 3–18, taught in English, on three campuses in Aesch and Reinach (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026) (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026). An English–German dual language programme runs in the junior school and is planned for the middle school from 2027–28 (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Way Up: small school for teenagers whose phases lead to IGCSEs and International A Levels, in collaboration with Wolsey Hall Oxford (Way Up, checked 21 Oct 2026). The canton approves its Explora and Responsia phases (school years 7–11) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Bilingual schools

• Academia Bilingual School: kindergarten and primary (Years 1–6), taught in German for half the week and in English for the other half, on Lehrplan 21 and the Cambridge International Curriculum. It shares the Hochstrasse campus next to Basel SBB station with Academia International School (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Baselland International School (BLIS): bilingual English and German kindergarten, primary and lower secondary (to Grade 9) in Oberwil, following Lehrplan 21 supplemented with the UK curriculum. It also runs a daycare from age three months (BLIS, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• BKA International School (Bilingual Kids Academy): English and German, with French from Grade 3. The IB Primary Years Programme with Lehrplan 21 runs to Grade 6, a dual IB and Lehrplan 21 programme in Grades 7–9, and A levels in Grades 10–12 (BKA, checked 21 Oct 2026) (BKA, checked 21 Oct 2026) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Freies Gymnasium Basel: German-language school from kindergarten to the Matura, with a bilingual pathway from lower secondary. Subjects such as history, biology and physics are taught in English, and the pathway ends with an officially recognised bilingual Matura (FG Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Montessori-Brigitte-Kindergarten: canton-approved Montessori kindergarten for ages 3–7 with German- and English-speaking teachers (Montessori-Brigitte, checked 21 Oct 2026) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• SIS Swiss International School Basel: bilingual day school from kindergarten (age three) to the SIS Bilingual College, with English and German used half of the time each. Students take the bilingual Matura and can add the IB Diploma (SIS, checked 21 Oct 2026) (SIS, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Other options

Two more canton-approved schools are bilingual in other languages: Ecole «Les Coquelicots» (French and German) and Il Girasole (Italian and German), both kindergarten and primary (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Academia Primar & Sek in Reinach is a German-language school whose secondary classes have an English stream (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026) (data.bl.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Five public Gymnasien in Basel-Stadt offer a bilingual German and English Matura, and the Gymnasium am Münsterplatz offers the IB Diploma (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). English-language playgroups and daycare centres that are not on the cantonal lists are not in these tables, and schools across the border in Lörrach (Germany) or Saint-Louis (France) follow German or French rules.

Every figure is tuition only, from the school’s own fee page, checked on 21 October 2026. Fees change each year, so the current schedule is the one that counts:

• Academia Bilingual School: 2026–27, CHF 21,760 for kindergarten and CHF 23,950 for Years 1–6; registration CHF 600. Lunch (CHF 1,135 a semester) and the school bus are extra (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Academia International School: 2026–27, CHF 27,900 for every year group, or CHF 30,900 with the daily German Booster in Years 9–12; registration CHF 600 (Academia International, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Baselland International School: no fees on its website (BLIS, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• BKA International School: CHF 11,850 (kindergarten) to CHF 16,000 (Grades 10–12) per semester, so CHF 23,700–32,000 a year; the page states no school year (BKA, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• École française de Bâle: 2026–27, CHF 9,300 for the élémentaire, CHF 11,600 for the 6e class and CHF 11,700–13,200 for the maternelle; a corporate rate of CHF 17,900–22,300 includes after-school activities; registration CHF 500 (EFDB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• ELA Basel: 2026–27, CHF 23,800 for Reception and Year 1, CHF 26,800 for Years 2–7 and CHF 28,800 for Years 8–9; registration CHF 2,500. The school’s site was unreachable on 21 October 2026, so these figures come from an archived copy of its fee page dated 21 April 2026 (ELA Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Freies Gymnasium Basel: 2026–27, CHF 22,400 (kindergarten to Primar 2) to CHF 31,250 (Gymnasium 4–7); admission CHF 500, security deposit CHF 2,000, Matura exam fees CHF 1,450 (FG Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• International School Basel: 2026–27, CHF 23,980 (Early Childhood 1–2) to CHF 38,000 (Grades 11–12), with part-time Early Childhood 1 places from CHF 14,390; development fee CHF 4,500 (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Montessori-Brigitte-Kindergarten: 2026–27, CHF 8,400 a year for the kindergarten mornings; lunch and afternoon programmes are booked separately (Montessori-Brigitte, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• SIS Swiss International School Basel: 2026–27, billed per semester, CHF 11,640 (Kindergarten 1) to CHF 17,350 (Gymnasium 11–12), so CHF 23,280–34,700 a year; the IB Diploma track is CHF 14,980 a semester; enrolment fee CHF 600 (SIS, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Way Up: no fees on its website (Way Up, checked 21 Oct 2026).

All published fees for Basel, Geneva, Zug and Zurich in one table, with a CSV download: international school fees 2026–27.

What do the fees leave out?

Each school publishes its own list. ISB excludes external IB exams, field trips, camps and meals (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026). Academia excludes lunch, the school bus, clubs, trips and camps, and at the international school also external exams (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Academia International, checked 21 Oct 2026). ELA excludes textbooks on the book list, lunch, after-school care, trips and camps (ELA Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026). SIS bills the IB’s exam fees to parents (SIS, checked 21 Oct 2026). Freies Gymnasium includes excursions but bills camps of about CHF 300–1,750 each (FG Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026). Academia, BKA, École française de Bâle, ELA, Freies Gymnasium, ISB and SIS publish sibling or family discounts on tuition.

Does the canton pay towards private school fees?

Basel-Landschaft residents can apply for a yearly contribution of up to CHF 2,500 towards private school fees, graded by income and assets, if the school holds an operating permit from its canton (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026). Basel-Stadt states that parents bear the cost of a private school (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Whether fees reduce your tax bill is covered in our guide to international schools in Switzerland.

None of the private schools in this guide publishes a fixed application deadline. What they do state:

• Academia Bilingual School admits pupils at any time if places are free, based on an interview, a recommendation from the current school, the last report and, where possible, trial days (Academia Bilingual, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Academia International School accepts mid-year entries and sets no entrance exam; it uses an interview, insight days and, if needed, short placement tests. IGCSE entrants need English at B1+ level, or support to reach it (Academia International, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• BKA asks families to enquire or book a tour, apply through its online portal and, in some cases, attend trial days before an offer is made (BKA, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• École française de Bâle confirms a place only once the first half of the fees is paid, by 20 July at the latest (EFDB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• ELA Basel says it welcomes new families all year, and a place is guaranteed once the registration fee is paid (ELA Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026) (ELA Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Freies Gymnasium Basel admits pupils at any time if a class has space, with limits for the final classes, after a trial week with orientation tests in German, French, English and maths (FG Basel, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• International School Basel has no application deadline but says its classes fill up; applicants for Grade 6 and above take an online English test, and there is no formal entrance exam (ISB, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• Montessori-Brigitte-Kindergarten starts its year in August and takes children during the year only in exceptional cases (Montessori-Brigitte, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• SIS Basel enrols all year; most children are enrolled between February and April for an August start, and full classes keep waiting lists (SIS, checked 21 Oct 2026).
• BLIS and Way Up publish no admissions timing (BLIS, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Way Up, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Public upper secondary has fixed dates: Basel-Stadt’s Gymnasien take registrations online from 4 to 29 January 2027 for August 2027 (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Pupils coming from a private school without a transfer agreement sit an entrance exam (see the next section).

Basel-Stadt

A private school that offers compulsory schooling needs a permit from the Education Department under §§ 130–134 of the School Act (Schulgesetz BS, checked 21 Oct 2026). Among the conditions: children start primary school in the same year as in state schools, and a school with a foreign or international curriculum must also teach German to an extent set by the cantonal school administration. Permits are reviewed after four years (Schulgesetz BS, checked 21 Oct 2026). The canton supervises approved schools, and parents bear the cost (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). The current list is the Basel-Stadt list of approved private schools (PDF) (opens in a new tab) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Moving back into the state system matters if your plans may change. Pupils who switch from a private school to state secondary school or to a state upper secondary school must pass an entrance exam in the 8th or 11th school year, counting kindergarten, unless their school has a transfer agreement with the Education Department (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). On the August 2026 list, Academia Bilingual School, BKA (Gellert), École française de Bâle, ELA Basel (Advanced stream), Freies Gymnasium Basel and SIS Basel have one (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Private schools in Basel-Stadt must provide or arrange special-needs teaching, German as a second language and gifted support themselves and may charge parents for it; speech therapy and psychomotor therapy are provided by the state school service on request (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Basel-Landschaft

Running a private school from kindergarten to upper secondary needs a permit from the Education, Culture and Sports Directorate, granted when the school meets the requirements set for public schools; the Directorate supervises private schools during compulsory schooling (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026). The canton publishes its list of approved private schools (opens in a new tab) as open data (data.bl.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). The same law provides the income-based contribution of up to CHF 2,500 a year towards private school fees (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Free basic education is a right under the Federal Constitution (BV Art. 19, checked 21 Oct 2026). Places are allocated by home address, so the school depends on where you live (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Basel-Stadt (Basel, Riehen, Bettingen)

Compulsory school lasts eleven years: two years of kindergarten, six of primary and three of secondary school, and the year starts in mid-August (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Children born between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023 start kindergarten in August 2027 (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). Children with little or no German must attend a playgroup or other German-speaking setting for at least three half-days a week in the year before kindergarten, free of charge (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). At school, support includes German as a second language (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Families arriving from abroad register children for kindergarten or primary school with the cantonal school administration (Volksschulen, Kohlenberg 27) using a form, copies of ID and recent school reports; in Riehen and Bettingen the commune schools handle it (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). The canton publishes an overview of the Basel school system in English (PDF) (opens in a new tab) (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Basel-Landschaft (Allschwil, Binningen, Reinach, Liestal and others)

Compulsory school also lasts eleven years and begins with kindergarten; children who are four by 31 July start that August, normally in the commune where they live (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026). Support for children who do not speak German includes German as a second language or, where needed, an integration class for foreign-language pupils (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026). Kindergarten and primary school are run by the communes, and secondary schools and Gymnasien by the canton, so younger children are registered through the commune (Bildungsgesetz BL, checked 21 Oct 2026). Our guide to registering at your commune covers the first steps.

Bilingual Matura and IB in public schools

Five Basel-Stadt Gymnasien (Bäumlihof, Kirschgarten, Leonhard, Münsterplatz and the Wirtschaftsgymnasium) offer a bilingual German and English Matura, and the Gymnasium am Münsterplatz offers the IB Diploma (bs.ch, checked 21 Oct 2026). For daily life in the city, see our Basel city page; for German lessons outside school, see language schools in Basel.

Browse international schools in Basel and bilingual schools in Basel. For other cities, see the guides to international schools in Zurich, Geneva and Zug; the national guide compares the IB, British, American and Swiss curricula. For the rest of the move, see your first 90 days in Switzerland.