Best boarding schools accepting IB in the UK

Where IB boarding sits in the UK

Most United Kingdom boarding schools follow GCSE and A level, so the schools that offer the IB Diploma with boarding form a distinct group. Several are international schools that have offered the diploma for decades, while others are British schools that added it alongside A level. Full boarding at a UK school sits well above the fees of most other markets once tuition and boarding are combined, so this is not a budget list, it is a shortlist for families who specifically want the IB within the British system. Fees rise into the sixth form, where the diploma is taught, and vary by school and by boarding pattern. Our own city fee pages show published tuition ranges for London, and boarding is charged on top, so treat any headline figure as a starting point and confirm the exact combined fee for the diploma years in writing.

The IB Diploma suits a student who wants breadth across six subjects, the core of theory of knowledge, the extended essay and creativity, activity and service, rather than the depth of three or four A levels. If that profile fits your child, the schools below are the established places to start. Read this alongside our overview of the IB curriculum and the relevant international school fees pages so the figures below sit in context.

How we chose these schools

We have drawn this shortlist from established United Kingdom schools that offer the IB Diploma and provide boarding, whether full, weekly or flexible. Every school named offers both the diploma and boarding and has a full profile on this site. We do not attach a fixed figure to any single school, because fees change each year, differ between year groups and rise into the diploma years, and printing a stale number would be worse than none. Instead we tell you what each school offers and what to confirm. Read each note as a prompt to ask, not as a quoted price.

Schools to shortlist

Each school below offers the IB Diploma with boarding and has a full profile on this site. The notes tell you what to confirm rather than quote a price, because tuition and boarding move each year and by year group.

• ACS Cobham International School, an international school in Surrey offering the IB Diploma with boarding. Confirm the current combined tuition and boarding fee for the diploma years, and whether full or weekly boarding suits your family.
• ACS Hillingdon International School, offers the IB Diploma near London with boarding available. Ask the admissions team for the combined fee schedule and the boarding options for the sixth form.
• Sevenoaks School, a long established IB school in Kent that teaches the diploma to all sixth formers, with boarding. Confirm the current combined band for the diploma years, since sixth form sits above the lower school.
• Marymount International School London, an IB continuum school in south west London with boarding for girls. Ask for the current combined fee by year group in writing and the boarding pattern.
• TASIS The American School in England, an international school in Surrey offering the IB Diploma with boarding. Confirm which boarding pattern fits and what the combined fee is for the diploma years.
• Hampstead Fine Arts College, a London school offering the IB alongside a creative focus, with boarding available. Ask the admissions office for the combined schedule and the boarding options.

How to check a fee properly

A published headline fee is only the start. Ask each school for the full fee schedule by year group, because a school that sits under your ceiling in primary can rise above it by the senior years. Ask what is charged on top of tuition, since registration, capital or building levies, transport, meals and exam entry are often billed separately and can add a fifth or more to the real cost. Ask whether the fee is set in US dollars or in the local currency, because a figure pegged to a local currency moves with the exchange rate and the number you were quoted may not hold. Finally, ask about sibling discounts and payment plans, which can change what is affordable for a family with more than one child. A school that answers all of this clearly and in writing is showing you the true cost of attendance rather than a marketing number.

It also helps to visit, and to weigh full boarding against weekly or flexible boarding, since the pattern changes both the cost and the experience. Use the city guide below to plan those visits alongside the rest of your research.

Markets and fees by city

Most of the schools above sit in or around London and the home counties. The city guide sets out the local landscape, and the fees page shows the published tuition bands so you can sense check any figure a school gives you, remembering that boarding is charged on top.

• London international schools
• London secondary fees
• IB curriculum explained
• More guides on the GlobalSchoolGuide blog

Frequently asked questions