Czech Republic · Prague 9
This is not ISP in Nebušice, not Nord Anglia’s PBIS, and not Riverside in Prague 6. It is Anglické gymnázium / The English College — a Czech six-year gymnázium that also sits the IB. Fees are in Czech koruna. The 2026/27 table below is the school’s own Finance & Fees page. If a later PDF disagrees, trust the PDF.
Este retrato sigue en inglés. Las demás lenguas llegan colegio a colegio.
Currículo según el colegio:Czech bilingual gymnázium · Foundation Programme · Pre-IB Programme · IB Diploma Programme · Czech Maturita
Lenguas de instrucción:English, Czech
The English College in Prague is Anglické gymnázium, o.p.s. — a selective six-year English grammar school in Prague 9, and part of the Czech school system. The contact page’s legal name is The English College in Prague – Anglické gymnázium, o.p.s. It invoices as a Czech public-benefit company. IČ 257 19 815. RED-IZO 600006140. The 2026/27 admissions pages print CERMAT codes KKOV 79-43-K/61, obor dvojjazyčné gymnázium, IZO 108 001 369.
It is co-ed. It is a day school. Official pages describe students going home to family flats. There is no boarding house and no boarding fee. If the posting has not found a flat, this school will not absorb the child.
You will pay in koruna. Admissions: Stanislava Jirešová, admissions@englishcollege.cz, +420 283 101 206. General: office@englishcollege.cz, +420 283 101 201. Headmaster: Dr Nigel Brown, headmaster@englishcollege.cz. Finance: Aneta Choutková. Board chair on the October 2024 BSO report: Denis Keefe CMG.
The useful questions are local. Can this child pass a Czech gymnázium entrance — CERMAT papers if they sit in a základní škola, plus the College’s own English, maths and non-verbal tests? Do you want the IB and Maturita line in Years 5–6, or IB-only? And do you understand this is not a through-school from nursery? Year 1 here is the Czech eighth grade / UK Year 8. Under-twelves belong somewhere else.
Ages 12–19, FAQ and BSO. Six year-groups. The mission sentence on the why-us page is an English-medium education for young people in Prague, primarily of Czech origin, “second to none academically,” that still prepares them for a globalised society. The 2026/27 admissions pages say the College aims to accept primarily students of Czech origin, “although around a quarter of our students are from international backgrounds.”
It is for families who want a Czech gymnázium that teaches almost everything in English, keeps a serious Czech faculty, and ends with the full IB Diploma — and, if you choose it, the Czech Maturita. There is no Early Years and no primary. You do not join at three.
The why-us page’s figures: 1900+ graduates; 26 Oxbridge offers in 18 years; 100% take the full IB Diploma; 31 years of IB; 89% first-choice university; 180 students over 40 IB points. The October 2024 BSO report printed 406 on roll — 179 boys, 227 girls. The renovation page says 400. Ask for the roll in this child’s year. Dr Nigel Brown is Headmaster. The prospectus places the College under the Czech Ministry of Education, in the UK Heads’ Conference (HMC), and as a COBIS training school. A place depends on exams and on the school deciding the child can work in English in an ordinary lesson.
International School of Prague sits in Nebušice and runs all four IB programmes from age three. The English College does not. There is no PYP and no MYP. Years 1–4 are a Czech bilingual gymnázium foundation and a homegrown pre-IB. The IB arrives in Years 5–6. Every Year 6 student is entered for the full Diploma.
Prague British International School is Nord Anglia, on Kamýk, Libuš and Vlastina, with Early Years, a Czech bilingual primary (ČBZŠ), IGCSE, and an MYP candidate line. The English College is one legal o.p.s. on Sokolovská in Prague 9. It is not a Nord Anglia school.
Riverside is the independent British international o.p.s. in Prague 6, ages 3–18, EYFS through IGCSE and then the IB, plus a NEASC High School Diploma. The English College starts later, sits a Czech gymnázium entrance, and offers the Maturita beside the IB.
If a relocation pack lists “the English school” as if Prague had one, ask which legal name is on the invoice. Anglické gymnázium is this one.
The contact page’s address and billing address is Sokolovská 320, 190 00 Praha 9 – Vysočany, next to Vysočanská metro. The renovation page dates the building to 1889. The prospectus says the freehold was bought in August 2021.
For a stretch the school taught from temporary rooms. The October 2024 BSO report still lists Sousedíkova 1044/8. The renovation news anticipated a return to Sokolovská in or shortly after September 2025, then “all our 400 students under the same roof.” The October 2025 prospectus says they were resuming occupancy “under one roof for the first time in almost two decades.” The live contact page now prints only Sokolovská. Ask which door you use. Do not go to Elektra because an old Open Day PDF still says so.
The extension, as those pages describe it: an auditorium, a drama studio, 11 new classrooms, an atrium with work pods, and a refectory for “reasonably priced, locally cooked healthy meals.” Ask what is actually finished when you walk in. The 2025/26 prospectus: officially open 7:30–16:30 in term time. We did not find a published bus.
Houses on the daily-life page: Aqua, Ignis, Terra, Ventus. Every student has a personal Tutor. The FAQ’s extra-curricular wrap is the :more programme — sports, arts, music, drama, trips, lectures, community service — plus CARITAS volunteering and Duke of Edinburgh.
Think in the school’s own six years, not in British Reception-to-13.
Years 1–2, Foundation — ages the prospectus prints as 13–15; UK Years 8–9; Czech 8th and 9th grade. English, Czech (first or second language), Mathematics, General Science, History, Geography, Computer Science, one of French, German or Spanish, Art, Music, Drama, PE and PSME. “A large number of lessons” go to English. Homework: up to about 30 minutes per subject. Bring a laptop when asked.
Years 3–4, Pre-IB — ages 15–17; UK Years 10–11. The teaching page says this course started in September 2020 and replaced IGCSE in most subjects. External exams stay in Mathematics, English and Modern Foreign Languages. The prospectus adds Cambridge English, a CEFR language exam, and optional LAMDA. Compulsory: English; Czech; a modern language; humanities; the three sciences; Mathematics; PE and PSME; then one elective (arts, Computer Science or Business Studies). Homework: up to about 45 minutes. The 2026/27 fees page still says IB and IGCSE exams sit inside tuition. Ask which papers this Year 4 actually sits.
Years 5–6 — the IB Diploma, ages 16–19. Everyone studies it. Everyone in Year 6 is entered. Six subjects, three Higher and three Standard; Extended Essay; Theory of Knowledge; CAS. Groups the prospectus lists: Language A; Language B or a second A; Individuals and Societies; Sciences; Mathematics Analysis or Applications; Arts or another subject from Groups 1–4. A course may not run below four students. The school does not allow three Group 4 sciences. Self-taught Language A at Standard Level is possible if the native language is neither Czech nor English.
In Years 5–6 you choose IB & Maturita or IB-only. That choice changes the bill.
Instruction is in English, except Czech and the modern languages, which are taught in the target language. The teaching page says most teachers are from a British background and that students use English in all their lessons with native-speaker teachers. The Czech department, the same page says, has six native speakers for language and literature, natives and non-natives. The school calls that faculty “unparalleled in Prague.” Visit a Czech lesson before you take the sentence on trust.
Year 1 candidates sit an English placement. The 2025/26 pathway in the prospectus: Year 3 sets 1 and 2 sit CAE; Year 4 sets 3 and 4 sit CAE, some FCE. Students usually need C1 to continue to IB English A. Canadian and Hong Kong universities, the prospectus says, currently require English A.
Czech-speaking students can take Czech as Language A and leave with a bilingual IB Diploma. Maturita students, as a general rule, should study Czech at Higher or Standard Level.
This is a gymnázium admissions year, not an international rolling file.
Year 1 from a Czech ZŠ: CERMAT Czech and Maths 14–15 April 2026, plus internal Czech, Maths, English and non-verbal reasoning on 21 April 2026. The extra CERMAT form had to be in by 20 February 2026. Year 1 second round, and Years 2–4: internals on 21 April 2026. Year 5 is “only… under exceptional circumstances.”
Expected 2026 intake in the prospectus: Year 1 48, Year 2 14, Year 3 10, Year 4 2. Previous-school reports need satisfactory or better achievement, behaviour and attendance. There is no published waitlist rule. Call and ask whether this year group has a seat.
The official table lives at englishcollege.cz/finance-fees. Fees are in CZK, reviewed annually, and “may be changed due to inflation or for other reasons.” One full term’s notice if the child will leave before the end of Year 6; otherwise one term’s full fees.
2026/27 tuition
| Stage | Per term CZK | Per year CZK |
|---|---|---|
| Years 1–2 | 138,000 | 414,000 |
| Years 3–4 | 146,000 | 438,000 |
| Years 5–6 IB & Maturita | 156,000 | 468,000 |
| Years 5–6 IB-only | 180,000 | 540,000 |
The teaching page says the government subsidises Maturita tuition, which is why that line is cheaper. Tuition includes induction trips in September 2026, end-of-year trips in 2026/27 (accommodation, transport and food on both), and IB and IGCSE exams.
When first joining, same page
| Fee | CZK |
|---|---|
| Refundable deposit for school fee | 50,000 |
| Refundable deposit for books | 15,000 |
The 2025/26 prospectus — not the 2026/27 web table — says the fee deposit is deducted from the final term if the child stays, and is not returned if they do not take up an accepted place. Confirm those rules on the contract you sign.
A first-year Year 1 is not “about 414,000.” It is the two deposits plus the year — 50,000 + 15,000 + 414,000 = 479,000 CZK — before lunch or any trip that is not the included induction week. We did not find 2026/27 prices for lunch, uniform, a bus, or extra trips. The renovation page only promises “reasonably priced” meals. Ask.
Sibling discounts are not on the 2026/27 fees page. They are in the official 2025/26 prospectus: 10% for the second and later siblings while the older one is still there; a third child keeps the 10% after siblings leave; a fourth or later child gets 25% for the whole course. Those discounts, the same PDF says, need 90% attendance and ATL grades A and B. Ask whether that still stands.
Donations, the fees page is blunt, cannot buy a place.
The prospectus’s aim is “selection, as far as possible, by academic ability rather than ability to pay,” and “usually… up to 8% of its fee income” on fee reduction. Deadline printed for 2026/27: 27 March 2026, via the Registrar, then interviews after the exams. Late forms “will not be considered.”
Social bursaries: up to 50% for one year, reapplied every spring. Mid-year hardship: write to the Headmaster.
Named awards on the live scholarships page: Prince of Wales (full fees, six or four years, a Czech child in Year 7 or 9 of a Czech school); Schwarzenberg (final four years); Prague 9 Academic (up to 50%, Year 3 entrants from Prague 9 basic schools); Barta and Václav Havel (up to 100%); English College Foundation (up to 80%). The prospectus says you do not pick a pot; the school allocates after an 800-word letter in English and a May panel. For more: aneta.choutkova@englishcollege.cz.
IB Diploma at 18 or 19. The July 2026 results post: average 36.1, “second best ever,” “no failures,” and a 45 for the fourth year running. The results page’s 2025 table: ECP average 36 (world 31); highest 45; 68 candidates; 37% at 38 or more; pass 99% (world 81%). The why-us page still says “around 70” sit the Diploma each year. Those counts do not all match. Ask which sitting they want you to read.
Czech Maturita sits beside the IB if you chose that line. Awarded, the teaching page says, if the student (a) passes the IB Diploma, (b) passes CERMAT Czech Language and Literature, and (c) has a modern language other than Czech and English at B1 or above. Written CERMAT parts: April and May of Year 5; oral: May of Year 6. Czech and Czech-speaking students are all offered the Maturita. Passing the IB, the school says, exempts the other Maturita papers except Czech. If a later Czech faculty will want a particular maturita-shaped document, ask with this child’s subjects.
The 2025 destinations page: 17% UK, 22% Czech, 26% Dutch, 17% rest of Europe, 10% USA/Canada, 8% Australia or gap year. Of 72 leavers that summer, the prospectus says 64 got their first-choice place. Learning support exists — one-to-one, group, or in class. This is not described as a specialist SEN school. Bring current reports.
British Schools Overseas, 21–23 October 2024, Penta International: the school meets the BSO standards, valid three years. Quality of education “good with some excellent features.” Curriculum “excellent.” Teaching “good.” Behaviour “exemplary.” The inspectors were still in the temporary building. Other badges the school names: IB since 1995 (first in the Czech Republic), HMC, COBIS training school.
The school opened 4 September 1994 with 117 overwhelmingly Czech students, after a 1990 conversation between Václav Havel and William Waldegrave. Founder patrons on the why-us page: Havel and HM King Charles III.
Ask whether you are walking into Sokolovská or still being sent to an old annexe PDF. Ask which year this child can actually enter, and whether 2027 Year 1 still needs CERMAT. Ask IB & Maturita versus IB-only before you budget Years 5–6 — the gap on the 2026/27 table is 72,000 CZK a year. Ask what lunch costs in the new refectory. Ask whether the prospectus sibling discount still applies. Ask whether a bursary is open this year. Ask what happens if the posting ends in March: one full term’s notice.
We are not ranking this school against ISP, PBIS or Riverside. We are not guessing a waitlist.
Read the live fees page before you resign a flat. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Páginas y documentos oficiales que hemos leído. Si una cifra importa para el presupuesto o la solicitud, abrid el enlace y comprobad que sigue vigente.
Orientación cercana, no una solicitud. Fechas, cuotas y programas se mueven. Confirmadlo todo con el colegio.
The useful Prague map is not the castle. It is six official doors, several kinds of leaving paper, and a commute you should time in January, not in June light.
15 minLas letras del título importan. No son el niño entero. Aquí va cómo distinguirlas sin dolor de cabeza, y sin pretender que todas las puertas siguen abiertas.
16 minNo hace falta un algoritmo perfecto. Hacen falta unas cuantas verdades sobre vuestro hijo, una lista aburrida en la nevera y el valor de ignorar un campus hermoso que no encaja.
15 minLa matrícula es el número de la portada. El PDF es el que llega en marzo. Aquí va cómo leer el segundo, sin inventar un euro, una corona ni un plazo.