Nord Anglia International School Dublin vs St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin
🇮🇪 Dublin · Side-by-side comparison on verifiable public data.
Neither Nord Anglia International School Dublin nor St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin 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: Nord Anglia International School Dublin offers IB while St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin offers National, Blended — the choice should follow the family's target qualification system. On cost, St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin 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
| Nord Anglia International School Dublin | St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin | |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | IB | National / Blended |
| Ages | 3–18 | 4–18 |
| Languages of instruction | English | English, German |
| Annual fees | EUR 15,312–24,464 | EUR 7,685–8,175 |
| Enrollment | — | 880 |
| Boarding | Day only | Day only |
| Accreditations | German School Abroad (Deutsche Auslandsschule), Recognised by the Irish Department of Education |
Strengths
- ✓Ireland's only IB continuum school, offering an unbroken IB pathway from age 3 to 18 (self-reported on the official site).
- ✓Genuinely international community of 60+ nationalities.
- ✓Part of the global Nord Anglia Education network (80+ schools) with an established performing-arts partnership with The Juilliard School.
- ✓Established track record: opened 2018 with a first IB Diploma graduating cohort in June 2022.
- ✓Genuine bilingual German/Irish immersion, with German taught from the beginning of Kindergarten
- ✓Recognised German School Abroad, giving access to German qualifications alongside the Irish curriculum
- ✓Strong published senior-cycle outcomes: the school reports 98%–100% progression to third-level education and a 2025 average of 515 Leaving Certificate points
- ✓Highly international community — the school reports 47 nationalities (about 56% Irish, 13% German, 31% other)
- ✓Open access at entry points: no prior German required for Kindergarten, Primary or first-year Secondary
Trade-offs
- !No graded public inspection band is published for the school, so external quality is harder to benchmark than in jurisdictions with a graded inspectorate.
- !Premium fee level (top published fees near EUR 24,000/year).
- !English-language-support (EAL) provision is not published on the school's own pages.
- !No dedicated EAL / English-as-an-additional-language support programme is published
- !Entry into 2nd–5th year Secondary requires prior German at the level of those classes, limiting mid-cycle access
- !First-year (7th Class) Secondary admissions for 2026/27 are shown as closed, indicating competitive demand
- !No graded public inspection band is published, so external quality cannot be independently ranked
Best Fit For
- • Expatriate and internationally mobile families in south Dublin wanting IB continuity across all ages.
- • Families prioritising a single-curriculum IB route from early years through the Diploma.
- • Households valuing a strong performing-arts programme (Juilliard partnership).
- • Families seeking a bilingual German/Irish education and German qualifications within Ireland
- • Internationally mobile German-speaking families relocating to Dublin
- • Students entering at Kindergarten, Primary or first-year Secondary who want to build German from scratch
- • Families prioritising strong Leaving Certificate progression to university
University Placement
School-reported · not independently verified
School-reported, unverified: NAIS Dublin reports graduating IB Diploma cohorts from 2022 onward; individual university-placement destinations are not independently published here.
School-reported, unverified: the school states 98%–100% of students progress to third-level education and reports a 2025 average of 515 Leaving Certificate points. Individual university destinations are not published.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose Nord Anglia International School Dublin or St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin?
Nord Anglia International School Dublin is best for: Expatriate and internationally mobile families in south Dublin wanting IB continuity across all ages.. St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin is best for: Families seeking a bilingual German/Irish education and German qualifications within Ireland. The right choice depends on target curriculum, budget, and family priorities — the two are not linearly comparable.
How do fees compare between Nord Anglia International School Dublin and St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin?
Nord Anglia International School Dublin: EUR 15,312–24,464. St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin: EUR 7,685–8,175. Verify against each school's own published fees; some figures are sourced from third-party aggregators.
What curricula do Nord Anglia International School Dublin and St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin offer?
Nord Anglia International School Dublin: IB. St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin: National, Blended.
Do Nord Anglia International School Dublin or St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin offer boarding?
Nord Anglia International School Dublin: day school only. St. Kilian's Deutsche Schule Dublin: 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 →