Our School

Mission Statement

“The British International School Budapest is an environment of respect, intercultural understanding and integrity. It is a community where everyone feels involved, valued and successful. Our school is a place where individuals make a difference.”

The British International School Budapest offers the English National Curriculum and IGCSE courses followed by the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, respected worldwide as an academically rigorous qualification and excellent preparation for success at university. These curricula all provide a coherent and structured framework from which our talented and highly professional staff can create a student-centred learning experience which supports critical and compassionate thinking, as well as independent creativity. Parents appreciate the thorough and transparent assessment which allows detailed tracking and analysis of pupil progress, and pupils thrive on the level of involvement they are expected to have in their learning, beginning at the earliest stages. Students moving to other schools in the UK or other countries experience a smooth transition and often excel in comparison to their peers in terms of academic achievement and personal confidence and poise. Students staying with us to complete the IB have been accepted to the world’s top universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

The school is characterised by its vibrant, warm and friendly atmosphere, which ensures that members of the community feel involved and valued. Students greatly appreciate the relationships they have with their teachers and the care and enthusiasm they put into their work, or as one Year 10 student commented, “The teachers here know us all very well – too well at times!” Parents regularly enhance the life and curriculum of the school in many ways, from supporting children in the early stages of reading to offering challenging discussion sessions with our IB Business students. Great emphasis is placed on students taking responsibility and applying their learning in authentic situations – they regularly speak and debate at Model United Nations conferences internationally, participate in service initiatives both local and global and are expected to take an active role in the life of the school. From Primary through to IB, students are continually offered new challenges and experiences through extra-curricular opportunities in many areas including sport, music and arts of all kinds, from martial to culinary.

Admission to the school is open to all, but students applying for secondary places are asked to complete some formal tests and a basic level of English proficiency is required. Our admissions team is renowned for its helpfulness and is well prepared to support parents through the challenging process of finding the right school for their children and settling down in new environments. We warmly welcome families to visit us!

For more information about schools and education in Budapest please visit the site of the British International School, Budapest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: After graduating from London University in English and Drama, against all advice from her parents, both teachers, Jane Thompson gained a PGCE in Southampton and taught in a variety of schools in England and Scotland before moving to Hungary. She completed the UK Head Teacher training program in 2000 and became Principal of BISB in 2001. Outside of school Jane was interested in theatre, the arts, climbing, skiing and world travel. However, since the arrival of her two children, this has been reduced to the pleasures of finding ten minutes for a quiet cup of tea.