Guide · Language
Your child doesn't speak Serbian. What are your Belgrade school options?
What language each school actually teaches in, what English-language support exists and where its limits sit, and what Serbian law requires of a state school.
Schools' own pages read 24 August to 23 September 2026
A child does not need Serbian to attend an international school in Belgrade. Most teach entirely in English and take children who arrive with none of it. Whether Serbian is taught as a subject is a question to ask: only Deutsche Schule Belgrad publishes that it is, from Grade 1. And if your child is going into a Serbian state school instead, the law is on your side: under Article 23 of the Law on the Foundations of the Education System, foreign nationals enrol on the same terms as citizens and the institution must arrange Serbian-language instruction for children who do not know the language. The harder question is the opposite one – what happens when a child arrives without English, at an English-medium school – and that is where the schools differ most, and publish least.
What each school teaches in
| School | Language of instruction | Language conditions or testing |
|---|---|---|
| BIS | English | None stated |
| Brook Hill | English | A short English assessment “when necessary” – conditional, not universal. Optional trial day. |
| Chartwell | English | All Secondary students take an oral English placement test. Placement is by age and school history. Primary and Foundation testing not described. |
| Deseta gimnazija | Serbian, with the IB Diploma taught in English | None stated |
| DSB | German | Vorschule requires non-native German speakers to have completed at least one year of kindergarten. Grade 1 requires at least two years of preschool (one kindergarten plus one Vorschule). Transfer students take a language test. |
| EDUCA | English | None stated |
| Green School | English | None stated |
| Intellectum | Serbian, Russian and English | None stated |
| IPS | English | None stated |
| International School | English | None stated |
| London Gates | English and Russian | None stated |
| Crnjanski | Serbian for the national programme, English for IBDP and Cambridge Upper Secondary | None stated |
| PRIMA | English | None stated |
| Ruđer Bošković | English and Serbian | An English-language placement test is mandatory for all applicants. A trial day at school forms part of the process. |
| Ruska škola | Russian | None stated |
| ISB | English | None stated |
| Westbridge | English | None stated |
| Young Sparrows | English | None stated |
| EFB | French | None stated |
| Russian Embassy school | Russian | None stated |
English support, and where it stops
Most English-medium schools mention support for children who arrive without English. The useful question is how much, and what happens when a child needs more than that. Only three schools in this guide publish anything at all, and only one of those publishes where its support stops.
- ISB includes up to 150 minutes a week of additional support – its own wording is “in either EAL or LS”, and it does not say whether that means 150 minutes of each or 150 minutes across both. Beyond that, an offer of a place may depend on additional support the family funds, with the school employing the teacher and passing on the cost. There is also a separate one-time EAL charge. Notably, ISB sets no English proficiency requirement at all from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5 – the support question only really begins in secondary.
- The British International School states that ESL is provided at no extra charge.
- Chartwell describes an English-language course on its own pages. It does not state how many hours are included or whether it carries an additional charge.
- Every other school either mentions support without describing it, or does not address it. That is not evidence they provide nothing – it is a reason to ask.
Three questions worth asking in writing
- How many hours a week of English support are included, and is that budget shared with learning support?
- Who delivers it – a specialist, a teaching assistant, or a class teacher with extra time?
- What happens if my child needs more than the included amount: do you fund it, do we, or does the place come under review?
The French and German schools
Two Belgrade schools have language conditions rather than nationality conditions, which makes them more open than families assume – and more structured.
Deutsche Schule Belgrad teaches in German and gates entry on German competence. A non-native German speaker needs at least one year of kindergarten before Vorschule, and at least two years of preschool – one kindergarten plus one Vorschule – before Grade 1, together with an aptitude test and a separate language assessment. Transfer students take a language test. There is no nationality requirement: the gate is the language, not the passport. In practice this means a family arriving with a young child can enter the German system by starting early, and a family arriving with a twelve-year-old with no German generally cannot.
École française de Belgrade teaches in French and tests children arriving from a non-French system; children transferring within the French or AEFE network do not sit a test at all. It also runs a track with reinforced English alongside the standard one. Full homologation for all fifteen levels means a pupil can move into any French or AEFE school worldwide without an entrance examination – which for a family expecting another posting is worth more than it first appears.
What Serbian law requires of a state school
If your child is going into a Serbian state school, the law is more helpful than most families expect.
- Access is equal. Article 23 of the Law on the Foundations of the Education System provides that foreign nationals, stateless persons and people applying for citizenship enrol and are educated under the same conditions as Serbian citizens.
- Language support is required, not optional. The same article obliges institutions to organise Serbian-language instruction for pupils who do not know the language. The Law on Primary Education adds an individual Serbian-language programme for such pupils, and allows Serbian to be taught as a foreign language.
- It is free, and primary education is compulsory and eight years long.
How well this works in practice varies by school and by how many other non-Serbian-speaking children are in the building. But it is a legal entitlement, and a school that shrugs at it is not applying the law.
How fast do children pick up Serbian?
We are not going to give you a number, because nobody who does is measuring anything. What we can say from the experience of students at these schools is that children in a Serbian-medium environment generally reach conversational Serbian within a year, faster than their parents, and that a child at an English-medium international school who is only taught Serbian as a subject usually does not – the exposure is not there. If your family expects to stay in Serbia, that difference is worth thinking about before you choose.
Questions families ask
Does my child need to speak Serbian to go to school in Belgrade?
Not to attend an international school – most teach entirely in English and take children with no Serbian; whether Serbian is taught as a subject is worth asking. Not even for a Serbian state school: under Article 23 of the Law on the Foundations of the Education System, foreign nationals enrol on the same terms as citizens and the school must organise Serbian-language instruction for children who do not speak the language.
What if my child does not speak English at an English-medium school in Belgrade?
Most schools accept children with no English and provide support, but the amount differs and almost none of them publish it. ISB includes up to 150 minutes a week of additional English-language or learning support – its wording does not say whether that is 150 minutes of each or across both – with a separate one-time charge and the possibility that more support must be funded by the family. The British International School provides ESL at no extra charge. Ask every school how many hours are included and what happens beyond that.
Can we choose the French or German school if we are not French or German?
Yes. Neither has a nationality requirement; both have language requirements instead. Deutsche Schule requires non-native German speakers to have completed a year of kindergarten before Vorschule and two years of preschool before Grade 1, plus a language assessment. The École française tests children arriving from a non-French system.
Will my child learn Serbian at an international school in Belgrade?
Only Deutsche Schule Belgrad publishes that it teaches Serbian as a subject, from Grade 1; the others do not say, so ask. Being taught a language as a subject is in any case not the same as acquiring it. Children in Serbian-medium environments generally reach conversational Serbian within a year; children at English-medium schools with Serbian as one subject among many usually do not. If your family expects to stay in Serbia, that is worth weighing when you choose.