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Belgrade schools for Serbian families: state, private or both

What a private or international school buys a child who is staying in Serbia, the three schools where the Serbian programme stays, the state route to the IB, and every published scholarship and discount.

Updated September 2026 · schools' own pages read 24 August 2026

For a Belgrade family whose child will most likely finish school in Serbia, the real question is not “state or international”. It is what a fee buys a child who is staying, and what it costs them. Three schools in this guide teach the Serbian national programme and an international one under one roof, so the child keeps a Serbian certificate whatever else they add; one state gimnazija teaches the IB Diploma in English for no tuition; and 11 of the 17 fee-paying schools publish a discount or a scholarship — as percentages, which is all this page repeats. The one thing to know before anything else: a child who leaves a Belgrade school with only a foreign certificate and then applies to a Serbian university needs that certificate recognised first. A child who completes the Serbian programme has nothing to recognise.

What a fee buys a child who is staying

The international schools in this guide sell four things, and a Serbian family is usually buying one or two of them: teaching in English (twelve schools teach entirely in it); a foreign leaving certificate — the IB Diploma, Cambridge A Levels, the French Baccalauréat, the German Abitur — that a university abroad reads without translation; a smaller class, where a school publishes one; and a curriculum the child can carry to another country if the family moves. What the certificate does not do is stand in for a Serbian one. Recognition of a foreign school certificate is what a family needs when a child applies to a Serbian university or secondary school from a foreign document; it is done by the ENIC/NARIC Centre of the Qualifications Agency, and the recognition page sets out who does it and the two official routes. It is not needed while the child stays in an international school, and a pupil who completes the Serbian national programme leaves with a Serbian document and has nothing to recognise.

So the first fork is not which school, but which certificate the child should hold at 18 — a Serbian one, a foreign one, or both. Three schools make “both” possible without a change of school.

The three schools where the Serbian programme stays

Ruđer Bošković, Banovo Brdo, runs the full IB continuum alongside the Serbian national programme, in English and Serbian, ages 5 to 18; the school itself says a family can change route without changing school. It publishes a class size of 10 to 20, and lunch, uniform and coursebooks are inside the fee. Discounts: not published.

Obrazovni sistem „Crnjanski“, Banovo Brdo, runs the Serbian programme in Grades 1–8 at Plavi Krug and the gimnazija above it, with Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary in English or in a bilingual Serbian–English form, Cambridge IGCSE, and the IB Diploma in Grades 11–12 in English. It is the one school in this guide that publishes merit scholarships — up to 50% for top students and national competition winners — alongside sibling and early-payment discounts. It does not publish its fees. The International School Crnjanski in Jagodina is a different institution.

Deseta gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“, Novi Beograd, is the state route: the only state school in Belgrade on the IB register, teaching the Serbian gimnazija programme and, in English, the IB Diploma to ages 15 to 19, for no tuition. Entry to the IB stream is by first- and second-year grades plus an entrance examination, and the IB class is capped at 20. For a family that wants the IB without the fee, it is the only door, and it is a competitive one.

One more school teaches Serbian as a subject and says so: Deutsche Schule Belgrad, from Grade 1, inside a German curriculum that leads to the Abitur. Entry there is gated on German, not on passport.

Scholarships and discounts: 11 of 17 fee-paying schools publish something

Everything below is what each school publishes on its own pages, read 24 August 2026, repeated as the school states it — a percentage or a phrase. Amounts are not reproduced here, and a school that publishes nothing about discounts is absent from the table rather than guessed at. Where a discount has a deadline, the deadline is the school's own and belongs to its own year.

School	Published discounts and scholarships
ISB	Discounts. 50% loyalty discount on the annual capital fee for self-paying families after five continuous years.
DSB	Discounts. Sibling: 10% for the second child, 20% for the third and each further child.
EFB	Discounts. 5% for payment of the full annual fee before 29 August 2026.
International School Savremena	Discounts. Additional 5% for paying the full annual fee upfront; Siblings: 10% second child, 30% third, free for the fourth and each subsequent child where enrolments overlap; Additional 5% corporate discount for children of employees of the same company.
Chartwell	Discounts. Sibling: 10% for a second child, 15% for a third; 5% for early payment (the published schedule gives a 30 April deadline for its own year).
BIS	Discounts. Sibling: 10% off for the second child and each additional sibling.
Brook Hill	Discounts. Sibling tuition discount, percentage not stated; Need-based or merit-based support may be available.
Westbridge	Discounts. Unspecified discounts valid until 15 August; A limited number of scholarships for academic performance or talent; no amounts or deadlines published.
EDUCA	Discounts. Full payment discount ranging from 30% for early birds to 5% before 31 August; Family: 5% for the second child, 10% for the third and subsequent.
Crnjanski	Discounts. 10% for payment by 1 January; 5% for payment by 1 September; 10% for a second enrolled child, 15% for a third and beyond; Partial merit scholarships up to 50% for top students and national competition winners; 10% enrolment discount for Cambridge-programme pupils at Plavi Krug.
Young Sparrows	Discounts. 5% for a yearly advance payment; 5% for a sibling; Early-bird reductions of 20% and 10%, both with deadlines that fell in April and May 2026.

Discounts within one school usually cannot be combined; Savremena says so explicitly. Ask every school for the current rule in writing. The fees page has the six lines to ask for.

Moving from a state school: the practical part

A Serbian family is a normal applicant at every school in this guide, and one school's paperwork says so in passing: Brook Hill's document list asks Serbian citizens for parent ID cards in place of passports. Nine of the nineteen schools admit year-round, so a move from a state school can happen in January as easily as in September; the mid-year page has each school's timescale. Placement is by age and prior schooling, and the Serbian year count is one behind the English one — a child in 3. razred is an English Year 5 — so ask which year group the school proposes before assuming; the conversion table lines the systems up.

If the child does not yet have the English for an English-medium school, most schools take them anyway and support them; how much support is inside the fee is the question to put in writing, and the language page lists what each school says. And if the plan is the other way round — a Serbian child coming back from a school abroad — the returning page covers the certificate and the year group.

Questions families ask

Can a Serbian child attend an international school in Belgrade?

Yes, at every school in this guide; none publishes a nationality restriction, and Brook Hill's document list names Serbian citizens explicitly, asking for parent ID cards in place of passports. Nine of the nineteen schools admit year-round.

Which Belgrade private schools publish scholarships?

Obrazovni sistem „Crnjanski“ publishes partial merit scholarships of up to 50% for top students and national competition winners. Westbridge publishes a limited number of scholarships for academic performance or talent, with no amounts or deadlines; Brook Hill says need-based or merit-based support may be available. No other school in this guide publishes a scholarship.

Can my child do the IB Diploma in Belgrade without paying tuition?

Yes. Deseta gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“ in Novi Beograd is a state school and the only state school in Belgrade on the IB register. It teaches the IB Diploma in English to ages 15 to 19; entry to the IB stream is by first- and second-year grades plus an entrance examination, and the class is capped at 20.

Will a Belgrade international school's certificate be accepted by a Serbian university?

A foreign school certificate needs recognition before a child applies to a Serbian university or secondary school from it; the ENIC/NARIC Centre of the Qualifications Agency carries the procedure out. A pupil who completes the Serbian national programme — at Ruđer Bošković, Crnjanski or the state Deseta gimnazija — leaves with a Serbian document and has nothing to recognise.

Which Belgrade schools teach the Serbian national programme alongside an international one?

Ruđer Bošković (IB continuum with the Serbian programme), Obrazovni sistem „Crnjanski“ (Serbian programme, Cambridge in English or bilingual form, IB Diploma) and, as a state school, Deseta gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“ (Serbian gimnazija programme and the IB Diploma in English).