Guide · Curricula
IB, Cambridge, French or German: choosing a curriculum in Belgrade
What each system actually commits your child to, which Belgrade schools teach it, and the one curriculum claim in this city that is not quite what it sounds like.
Schools' own pages read 24 August to 23 September 2026
The schools in this guide teach seven curriculum families, and three of them run the Serbian national programme alongside an international one. The International Baccalaureate is taught at the International School of Belgrade, Ruđer Bošković, Gimnazija Crnjanski and – as a state school – Deseta gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“. Cambridge and British is the largest group: Chartwell, PRIMA, the British International School, Brook Hill, Westbridge, International School, Crnjanski, Green School, IPS, London Gates and Young Sparrows. French is the École française de Belgrade alone, and German the Deutsche Schule Belgrad alone. The two Russian schools follow the Russian federal standards. EDUCA teaches a programme built on Finnish pedagogy but stops at 14, and Intellectum Academy teaches the Serbian national programme on its own, to Grade 8. The question that decides between them is not which is better – it is where your child sits their final exams, and whether you might move again before then.
The curriculum families, and where they are taught
| System | Where in Belgrade | Language | What it commits you to |
|---|---|---|---|
| IB (PYP, MYP, Diploma) | ISB · Ruđer Bošković · Crnjanski (Diploma only) · Deseta gimnazija (state) | English | Highly portable. Recognised by universities worldwide. The Diploma is broad – six subjects plus theory of knowledge, an extended essay and service – which suits an undecided student and punishes a narrow one. |
| Cambridge / British (Checkpoint, IGCSE, A Level) | Chartwell · PRIMA · British International School · Brook Hill · Westbridge · International School · Crnjanski · Green School (to Year 9) · IPS (to age 14) · London Gates (to 11) · Young Sparrows (to 11) | English | Portable across the Commonwealth and widely accepted elsewhere. A Levels specialise early – typically three subjects – which suits a student who already knows their direction. Check the subject list before committing: at least one school in this guide offers no science A Levels. |
| French (baccalauréat, BFI) | École française de Belgrade | French | Fully homologated by the French Ministry, which means a pupil can transfer into any French or AEFE school anywhere in the world without an entrance exam. That is the strongest portability guarantee available in Belgrade – but only inside the French network. |
| German (Abitur, MSA) | Deutsche Schule Belgrad | German | The Deutsches Internationales Abitur is treated as a domestic German qualification for university admission in Germany. Entry conditions are built around German language competence, not nationality. |
| Finnish pedagogy | EDUCA (ages 3–14 only) | English | No upper secondary provision. Students transfer elsewhere at 14, so this is a choice about primary years, not about a final qualification. |
| Russian (FGOS) | Russian Embassy school · Ruska škola „Valentina Tereškova“ | Russian | The eleven-year Russian ladder to a Russian state certificate. A child can move back into a school in Russia, or to the next Russian school abroad, without a change of system; anywhere else it is a foreign certificate. |
| Serbian national programme | Intellectum Academy (Grades 1–8) · alongside an international programme at Ruđer Bošković, Crnjanski and Deseta gimnazija | Serbian (at Intellectum also Russian and English) | Leads to a Serbian certificate, which needs no recognition in Serbia. On its own, at Intellectum, it stops at Grade 8, so the gimnazija years are a separate choice. |
The three questions that actually decide it
Most guides compare curricula in the abstract. The useful question in Belgrade is narrower, and it has three parts.
Where will your child sit their final exams?
If the answer is "probably not Belgrade", portability outranks everything else. The IB and the French baccalauréat travel best; A Levels travel well within the Commonwealth. If the answer is "here, and then a Serbian university", you need to read the section on recognition below before you choose anything.
How likely is another move?
A family that expects to move again inside three years is choosing a network as much as a school. The École française's AEFE homologation means a transfer into any French school worldwide with no entrance exam. The IB continuum works similarly in practice, if less formally. A Cambridge school in Belgrade and a Cambridge school in Singapore are not administratively linked in the same way, though the qualifications are the same.
Does your child specialise early or late?
This is the real difference between the IB Diploma and A Levels, and it is a fact about your child rather than about the schools. The Diploma keeps six subjects going and adds an extended essay – broad, demanding, and unkind to a student who wants to drop everything but physics. A Levels do the opposite. Belgrade offers both, within a few kilometres of each other, which is genuinely unusual for a city this size.
One claim worth reading carefully
One curriculum claim in Belgrade needs reading carefully. We are not suggesting anyone is being dishonest – the school's own wording is accurate. But the wording is easy to misread, and the misreading is expensive.
- Chartwell is Cambridge, not IB. Chartwell's own wording is that its approach is "similar to the International Baccalaureate approach". That is a description of teaching style, not an IB authorisation. Chartwell students sit IGCSE, AS and A Level.
The list of IB World Schools in Serbia is published by the IB itself and is the only authority worth using. It returns six: in Belgrade, the International School of Belgrade, Ruđer Bošković and Gimnazija Crnjanski, plus the state Deseta gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“. The other two – Gimnazija Svetozar Marković in Niš and Gimnazija Jovan Jovanović Zmaj in Novi Sad – are outside the city and are sometimes listed alongside Belgrade schools in error.
The trap on the way out
This one only bites on the way out, which is why families rarely hear about it until it matters.
A foreign school qualification is not automatically valid in Serbia. Recognition – what Serbian families call nostrifikacija – is handled by the Qualifications Agency, acting as the ENIC/NARIC centre, and the statutory deadline is 30 days from a complete submission. A primary school certificate must be recognised before a child enrols in a Serbian secondary school; a secondary certificate must be recognised before moving on.
Families arriving in Belgrade and going straight into an international school rarely encounter this. Families who later move a child out of the international system – into a Serbian state school, or to a Serbian university – encounter it at the worst possible moment. If there is any chance of that, ask the school now what documentation it issues and in what form, and start the recognition process before the school year, not during it.
Two schools sidestep the problem by design. Ruđer Bošković runs the Serbian national programme alongside the IB Diploma – and charges noticeably less for the national track – so a family can switch routes inside one school without changing school. Crnjanski runs the Serbian national programme alongside both Cambridge and the IB Diploma. For a family who might stay in Serbia, that optionality is worth more than it looks.
Questions families ask
Which international schools in Belgrade offer the IB?
Four appear on the IB's own register: the International School of Belgrade (all three programmes – PYP, MYP and Diploma), Ruđer Bošković (all three, plus a Serbian national track at Diploma level), Gimnazija Crnjanski (Diploma only, authorised 2006) and Deseta gimnazija Mihajlo Pupin, a state school in Novi Beograd.
Is the IB better than A Levels?
Neither is better; they suit different students. The IB Diploma keeps six subjects running plus an extended essay and theory of knowledge, which suits a student who has not narrowed down. A Levels usually mean three subjects in depth, which suits one who has. Both are accepted by universities worldwide. In Belgrade both are available at comparable cost.
Can my child transfer between these schools mid-year?
Between Cambridge schools, usually yes – most of them admit on a rolling basis and the qualifications are the same. Between systems it is harder the older the child: moving into the IB Diploma or into A Levels after the two-year course has started is rarely practical. The École française is the exception in the other direction: AEFE homologation means transfer into any French school worldwide without an entrance exam.
Do I need to speak French or German to use those schools?
For the Deutsche Schule, German competence is the entry condition rather than nationality: non-native speakers need at least one 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. Neither has a nationality requirement.