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What changes for military families
The first thing that changes for a military family school abroad is that the planning horizon is not the child's full school career, it is the current posting. The decision needs to work for the 24 or 36 months in front of you and to leave the child positioned for whatever comes next. Three patterns repeat across the families we hear from. The first is choosing curricula that travel well. The second is choosing schools whose admissions teams understand military mobility. The third is keeping a fallback open at home.
The second thing that changes is the cost picture. For US service members, DoDEA covers the cost where DoDEA is available. For British, Australian, Canadian and other allied serving families, allowances such as the UK Continuity of Education Allowance or its equivalents partly offset boarding fees, but only against approved schools. International school fees in major postings can run well above the allowance, and the gap is paid in family income. Our broader piece on hidden fees at international schools applies in full.
The third thing that changes is the social architecture around the school. Military families tend to know each other across postings and the cohort effect on the school can be strong. Two or three sponsoring families inside a school tend to make the next family's transition easier, and most serving parents work that network actively from the moment the orders arrive.
DoDEA schools and where they sit
DoDEA, the Department of Defense Education Activity, operates around 160 schools across the US, Europe, the Asia Pacific and the Middle East for the children of US military and eligible civilian DoD personnel. Curriculum is aligned to US college entry expectations, with strong AP provision at the larger overseas schools. The system is tuition free for eligible families, the standards are consistent and the school's calendar tracks the US academic year, which helps when the family rotates back home.
Where DoDEA is available, most US serving families use it. The strongest DoDEA schools sit at the larger overseas bases in Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the UK. Smaller installations operate either a DoDEA school of more modest scale or rely on host nation international schools where a DoDEA contract has been arranged. Where the on base option is small and the family has children with specific academic or pastoral needs, an off base international school sometimes works better.
For families weighing DoDEA against the local international school, the decision is rarely about curriculum quality and more often about the breadth of provision: subject choice at high school, SEN support, extracurricular depth and cohort size. A larger international school typically offers more of all four, at the cost of fees that DoDEA does not pay.
Free guidance for serving families
We work with serving British and US families across most major postings. If you have orders in hand and need a short list of schools that have absorbed military families well in the past, the editorial desk can be specific. Start with the school finder or use the contact form. Confidential, no charge to parents.
International schools as the alternative
For non US serving families, and for US families in postings where DoDEA is thin, the international school is the main option. The strongest international schools in major military postings have absorbed serving families for decades, and the admissions teams know the rhythm: mid year arrivals, short notice departures, deployment pastoral support, parents at sea for months. These are not generic family fit issues, and the school's handling of them tells you most of what you need to know.
Schools with a strong British curriculum stream, an IB Diploma cohort or an American curriculum with AP travel well between most postings. National curriculum schools (French Lycée, German Auslandsschule) suit specific situations but reduce options for the next posting unless it is in the same country or the same network. Our companion piece on British families in international postings picks up the British family decision in detail, and our IB curriculum guide sets out the portability case for the Diploma.
Boarding at home while the family deploys
A significant share of British and Commonwealth serving families choose boarding at home for older children while the family rotates through postings. The UK MoD's Continuity of Education Allowance partly funds this for eligible service members, and similar mechanisms exist in the Australian and Canadian forces. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office equivalent applies to diplomatic families, which is why diplomat and military families often appear at the same UK boarding schools.
The decision is rarely either or. Families commonly keep younger children in day school in the host country while older children, particularly from Y9 onwards, board at home. The boarding school choice itself is then a long term decision about academic strength, pastoral structure and the family's wider network. Our UK boarding piece covers the school level question in detail.
Curriculum portability between postings
The single most important question for a military family school abroad is curriculum portability, because the next posting is already on the horizon. Three curricula travel well. The International Baccalaureate, from PYP through MYP to the Diploma, is portable to every major international school market in the world. The British curriculum (IGCSE and A Level) is widely available across the Commonwealth, the Gulf, Asia and most of Europe. American curriculum with AP is widely available too, and dovetails naturally with US re entry.
Between postings, families tend to lock in the curriculum at the start of secondary and stay with it. Switching curricula in mid secondary is possible but costly in disrupted progression and re application of subject choices. For a serving family that expects three more moves before the child finishes school, the curriculum decision is therefore a one off decision made early. Our compare tool lets you put curricula side by side, and the curriculum hub explains each system in plain terms.
Managing the transition
The transition itself is the part that exhausts serving families most. The pattern that works: secure the school place in the first month after orders, send academic records (most schools want the last two academic years), schedule a pastoral handover call between the leaving school and the new one if the child has flags worth carrying forward, and use the summer break for arrival rather than mid year wherever possible.
Mid year arrivals are unavoidable for many military families. Schools that handle them best assign a buddy in the new class within the first week, give the new child a quiet first 10 days to settle and check in pastorally at 30 and 60 days. Schools that do not do these things make the transition longer and harder. Ask the admissions team how mid year arrivals are handled in practice. The answer should not need to be invented on the spot.
FAQ
DoDEA, the Department of Defense Education Activity, runs around 160 schools on US military installations worldwide for the children of US service members and civilian DoD employees. The schools follow a US curriculum aligned to college entry expectations and are tuition free for eligible families.
It depends on the curriculum. US curriculum and the International Baccalaureate transfer most cleanly across postings. British and American schools both port well between major bases and international school markets. National curricula (French, German) are less portable but can suit certain postings.
Yes, and the Ministry of Defence offers Continuity of Education Allowance to support this for eligible families. Many serving British families combine UK boarding for older children with day school in the host country for younger siblings.
The better international schools assign a buddy in the new class within the first week, give the new child time to settle and check in pastorally at 30 and 60 days. Ask the admissions team to describe the process specifically before you accept a place.