International School of Paris vs Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
🇫🇷 Paris · Side-by-side comparison on verifiable public data.
Neither International School of Paris nor Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye sits in a market with a public inspectorate, so both are assessed on verifiable accreditation, curriculum authorisation, and published data rather than an official quality rating. Curriculum is the core differentiator: International School of Paris offers IB while Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye offers National, British, American — the choice should follow the family's target qualification system. On cost, Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye has the noticeably lower entry fee — a material difference for budget-conscious families. See the table below for the figures, and verify against each school's own published fees.
Key Facts
| International School of Paris | Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye | |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | IB | National / British / American |
| Ages | 3-18 | 3-18 |
| Languages of instruction | English, French | French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian |
| Annual fees | EUR 25,500-39,000/year (2026-27) | Free French state tuition; international-section association fees approx. EUR 2,000-9,300/year (varies by section, grade and payer) |
| Enrollment | 700 | — |
| Boarding | Day only | Day only |
| Accreditations | Council of International Schools (CIS), New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) | French Ministry of Education (Éducation nationale, Académie de Versailles), Baccalauréat Français International (BFI / formerly OIB) |
Strengths
- ✓Only full IB continuum (PYP/MYP/DP) school in central Paris, giving an unbroken age-3-to-18 pathway in one institution
- ✓Triple international accreditation and authorisation: CIS, NEASC and IBO across all three programmes
- ✓Highly international, language-diverse community of 700+ students from 60+ nationalities with no single nationality dominating
- ✓Dedicated English as an Additional Language and learning support for newly arrived and non-native English speakers
- ✓Consistent IB Diploma outcomes with a high bilingual-diploma rate (51 percent for the Class of 2025), reflecting genuine English-French biliteracy
- ✓Free state-funded core tuition — by far the lowest-cost route to a recognised international/bilingual education in the Paris area
- ✓Fourteen national sections delivering genuine native-language, native-culture instruction toward the Baccalauréat Français International
- ✓Outstanding documented results — baccalauréat pass rates of 99-100% and a 'mention' (honours) rate above 90%
- ✓Structured one-year immersion ('Français Spécial') that absorbs non-French-speaking newcomers into the French system
- ✓Graduates routinely leave trilingual or quadrilingual, with a strong Concours Général and university-placement track record
Trade-offs
- !Premium fees up to EUR 39,000/year put it out of reach for many families
- !Day-only with no boarding, limiting it to families resident in or relocating to Paris
- !IB averages (around 32) are solid but not elite, below the most selective international schools
- !Split across three separate central-Paris campuses rather than a single unified site
- !No boarding — it is a day school across several sites, so it cannot serve families needing residential places
- !Selective, language-dependent admission means it is not the open-access school its 'free public' label implies
- !The 'double enseignement' workload (full French curriculum plus the section programme) is heavy and not for every child
- !Section association fees and one-off entrance charges still apply, and vary confusingly by section, grade and whether an employer pays
Best Fit For
- • Internationally mobile families wanting a single IB pathway from early years to graduation
- • English-speaking expatriate families relocating to central Paris
- • Families valuing English-French bilingual development within the IB framework
- • Students arriving mid-schooling who need structured EAL support
- • Bilingual or expatriate families wanting a recognised international section without private-international fees
- • Academically strong, self-motivated children who can carry a dual-curriculum workload
- • Families targeting the Baccalauréat Français International and multilingual fluency
- • Households already settled in the Saint-Germain-en-Laye / western-Paris area able to commute daily
University Placement
School-reported · not independently verified
School-reported, unverified: ISP states its IB Diploma scores are consistently above world averages and that its bilingual-diploma rate is well above the world average; specific university destinations are not independently verified here.
School-reported, unverified: graduates are described as progressing to leading French and international universities, with a strong record in the Concours Général; no independently audited destination breakdown is published.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose International School of Paris or Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye?
International School of Paris is best for: Internationally mobile families wanting a single IB pathway from early years to graduation. Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is best for: Bilingual or expatriate families wanting a recognised international section without private-international fees. The right choice depends on target curriculum, budget, and family priorities — the two are not linearly comparable.
How do fees compare between International School of Paris and Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye?
International School of Paris: EUR 25,500-39,000/year (2026-27). Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye: Free French state tuition; international-section association fees approx. EUR 2,000-9,300/year (varies by section, grade and payer). Verify against each school's own published fees; some figures are sourced from third-party aggregators.
What curricula do International School of Paris and Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye offer?
International School of Paris: IB. Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye: National, British, American.
Do International School of Paris or Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye offer boarding?
International School of Paris: day school only. Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye: day school only.
Questions parents ask
This comparison is BrightKey's independent assessment using verifiable public data only. University-placement figures are school-reported and not independently verified. BrightKey takes no payments from schools. Our method →