Guide · Admissions

What to ask a Belgrade school, and why

The questions this guide could not answer from anything the schools publish — the ones worth asking every school, and the ones specific to each.

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

Every school will show you the building. The useful preparation is knowing what it does not put in writing. Reading all nineteen schools' own sites for this guide left 65 specific questions we could not answer from anything published — all nineteen schools have at least one — and they are listed below, school by school, so you can take yours with you. Ahead of them are the questions worth asking every school, each one chosen because the counts show the answer is usually missing: nine of the seventeen fee-paying schools publish a fee schedule, five of nineteen publish how many pupils they have, one publishes an average class size, and one publishes how long an admissions decision takes.

Ask every school these

These eleven apply wherever you are looking. The line beside each one is the reason it is on the list rather than a generic checklist: it is what we found when we counted.

Ask	Why this one
What exactly does the fee cover, and what is billed on top?	Nine of the seventeen fee-paying schools publish a schedule at all, and what sits inside the fee differs between schools far more than the fee itself does.
How many children are in my child's year group, and what is the average class size?	Five of the nineteen schools publish a roll and one publishes an average class size. A school-wide figure does not tell you what your child's classroom looks like.
Will my child be tested, in what, and does the result decide admission or only placement?	Fourteen schools publish that they test. Almost none publish what a result actually does, which is the part that matters.
Which documents do you need, and will you start the process on scans?	Ten schools publish a document list. Starting on scans while the originals are translated can save a fortnight, and several schools will.
How long from a complete application to a decision?	One school in this guide publishes a timescale. Everyone else leaves it open, so ask for it in weeks and get it in writing.
What English support is included, for how long, and at what point does it stop?	Most schools take a child with no English. What almost none publish is how much support comes with the fee and when it ends.
What special educational needs support exists, and where are its limits?	Four schools publish anything at all about provision. A school that cannot support your child is better found now than in November.
Does the bus cover my street this year?	Eight schools say a service exists. Routes are usually planned from the applications already in hand, so the honest question is about this year, not in principle.
What were last year's examination results and leaver destinations?	Published rarely, and where published often years out of date. Ask for last year by name.
How many teachers in my child's year group were also here last year?	No school published staff turnover on any page we read. It is the question that most often changes how a family feels about a school, and the one least likely to be in a brochure.
On what basis would you move a child up a year, rather than down?	No school in this guide publishes criteria for moving a child up. Moving a child down is common and usually about language; moving up is decided case by case, so ask how.

The counts come from the school records behind this guide and are recalculated every time the site is built, so they cannot drift away from the pages they describe.

And ask this school this

And these are specific. Each is a question we put to the school's own published material and could not answer — a figure it does not give, a claim its own pages contradict, or a process it never sets out. Take the row for the school you are visiting.

School	What it does not answer in public
BIS	Whether the University of Nebraska route leads to an awarded American high school diploma — the Upper Secondary page and the homepage description word it differently Whether Advanced Placement is offered Fee schedule
Brook Hill	Fee schedule Whether examination fees are charged separately The school's FAQ describes the Cambridge curriculum as covering ages 1-18; Cambridge's own pathway begins at 3
Chartwell	Founding year — the school's history page was unreachable across six attempts Whether a 2024/25, 2025/26 or 2026/27 fee schedule exists The pre-school and Lower Secondary addresses — the contact page was unreachable across four attempts Whether ESL carries an extra charge
Crnjanski	Any published tuition figure Cambridge centre number
Deseta gimnazija	Whether the IB Diploma stream carries any charge for students How many places the IB stream has each year
DSB	Whether any transport service exists Whether examination fees are charged separately
EDUCA	Which external examinations pupils sit — the fees page includes external examination fees while the academic page names no board Whether the fees page figures are current, and for which academic year Founding year
EFB	Student count: 520 (school) vs 506 (AEFE) What PARLE stands for — the acronym is never expanded on the site
Green School	Fees Admissions process Which accreditations the Cambridge, COBIS and ECIS logos in the site footer represent
International School	The IB World School number 062142 claimed on the school's own site, which does not resolve on the IB register Founding year Cambridge centre number Whether examination fees are charged separately The two different prices the school's own site gives for after-class care — the fees page and the activities page disagree
IPS	The 1948 founding date, which the school's own principal's message appears to contradict Whether the Cambridge accreditation is current, and for which programmes and year groups Fees Admissions process Student numbers and class sizes The age conflicts between the homepage and the stage pages
ISB	Whether the returning-student capital fee already reflects the 50% loyalty discount or is reduced further The homepage gives 47 nationalities and the FAQ gives 54. We publish 54, from the FAQ. Recent IB results and university destinations; the most recent results the school publishes are from 2016
London Gates	Admissions process Whether the school is a registered Cambridge International centre, and its centre number When the Belgrade school opened Whether it is entered in the Serbian Ministry of Education register
PRIMA	Street number and postcode of the campus Founding year Student numbers EAL and SEN provision Whether uniform is required
Ruska škola	What the school charges, and what an interview covers The full grade range the school covers — its own site names fourth grade and "upper grades" but no range The year the school opened Whether leavers receive a Russian state certificate, a Serbian one, or both
Russian Embassy school	How a family without diplomatic status applies in practice, and how often such places are given Whether anything is charged for meals, trips or materials Whether the leaving certificate is recognised in Serbia without nostrification Current licence and accreditation status — the documents cited date from 2015
Ruđer Bošković	Founding year — the homepage carries an undated “twenty years” banner, which does not sit easily with the claim to be the first private primary and high school in Serbia Whether uniform is required, or simply included in the fee
Westbridge	Founding year — the Serbian business registry would settle it What the unlabelled figure in the site banner refers to; it appears identically on four pages with no period, currency word or year group attached
Young Sparrows	The contradiction between "12-15 pupils" and "a maximum of 14 students" on the school's own homepage Admissions process — the site offers only a booking form The Cambridge centre number behind the Cambridge Primary certification The Ministry of Education decision number behind the accreditation claim The year the school opened Whether the optional Russian, robotics and pottery lessons cost extra — the fee page lists them without a price

How to ask so that you get an answer

Three things make the difference between an answer you can use and one you cannot.

Ask in writing, after the visit. A tour is a conversation and nobody remembers it the same way a fortnight later. Send the list by email and keep the reply — it is also the only form in which you can compare two schools honestly.
Name the year. "What is the class size" gets a number from some year; "what is the average class size in Year 5 this year" gets one you can act on.
If you are given a figure this guide does not carry, ask where it is published. Not to catch anyone out: a school that publishes it has committed to it, and one that does not may be quoting a good year.

Questions families ask

What should I ask on a school tour in Belgrade?

Start with what the school does not publish, because the rest you can read at home. Across the nineteen schools in this guide, nine of the seventeen fee-paying ones publish a fee schedule, five publish a roll, one publishes an average class size and one publishes how long a decision takes. Those four, plus what the fee covers, what English support is included and what the bus covers this year, are the questions worth the visit.

Why does this page not simply give the schools' answers?

Because they are not published anywhere we could find, and this guide does not print a fact it cannot source. Where a school answers a question in public we carry the answer on its profile with the date we read it. This page is the remainder — and the remainder is the useful part to take with you.

Is it reasonable to ask a school for something it has chosen not to publish?

Yes, and most will answer. Not publishing a class size is usually an omission rather than a policy, and a question in writing gets a written answer. Where a school declines to answer, that is information too.