Portugal · São Domingos de Rana

St. Dominic’s International School, a Cascais-line IB continuum in São Domingos de Rana

A Cascais-line IB continuum, not St. Julian’s by the water and not United Lisbon in the city. The fees page prints term dates and a 5% early-pay discount. It does not print annual tuition as text. We will not invent the missing line.

externatmixteRecherché 01/09/2026

Site officiel Lisbonne Portugal guide

Ce portrait est encore en anglais. Les autres langues arrivent école par école.

Programme tel que l’école le publie:IB Primary Years Programme · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme

Langues d’enseignement:English

St. Dominic’s International School is a co-educational English-medium day school at Rua Maria Brown, Outeiro de Polima, 2785-816 São Domingos de Rana. Official site dominics-int.org. Switchboard +351 214 440 434 and +351 214 480 550. Office hours the visit page prints: 08:30–17:30. The enquiry page gives GPS 38.713227 / –9.328923.

It sits on the Cascais line, a little further toward Cascais than St. Julian’s in Carcavelos, and it is not United Lisbon in the city, not CAISL in Linhó, and not OIS in a Barcarena valley. Same comboio. Almost no Monday.

It is a day school. There is no boarding house.

The Principal named on the home page is Stephen Blackburn. The footer prints Alvará No. 2178 of 10 September 1975, Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Since 15 January 2010 the school has been owned and managed by Veritas Educatio, SA, with a Board of Governors. The home page also says it is part of International Schools Partnership (ISP). That is ownership weather, not a ranking.

The useful questions are: Do you want a full IB continuum — PYP, MYP, DP — on the Cascais line, not a British IGCSE week by the water? Can you live with São Domingos de Rana in January? And have you opened this year’s tuition sheet — because the public fees page does not print annual euros, and we will not invent them.

Who it is for

Families who want English from age 3 through 18, an IB continuum the school says it has been registered for since 1997, and a house that still talks about Dominican Veritas. The home page and history page both say the Irish Dominican Sisters brought that philosophy to Portugal in the 1600s; Bom Sucesso in Belém is named as the convent that survived. The present campus is a later English-language school, not a cloister you can tour as if it were 1639.

The school calls itself inclusive and says it has an open admission policy for a “broad range of academic ability and learning needs.” That is the school’s sentence. The same pages say every file is reviewed to see whether the school has the resources to support the child. Open is not automatic.

It will not suit a family hunting a British IGCSE-then-IB week in Carcavelos, an American core in Linhó, or a city campus on Marechal Gomes da Costa. Walk those portraits if that is the climate.

The home page’s May 2026 IB results block rendered as zeros when we opened it — a script, not a table. We will not invent a 2026 average.

The campus you can actually picture

Outeiro de Polima, São Domingos de Rana — between the city and Cascais, not on the Carcavelos sand. The school’s own history notes say construction at the present site began in 1973 and the new school opened in 1975, after an earlier English-language college in the convent outgrew itself. In 1988 it was renamed St. Dominic’s International School; the registered name from 1995 is St. Dominic’s International School, Portugal.

We will not invent a hectare count the public pages do not print. Time Rua Maria Brown at 7:40 in January, then St. Julian’s the same week. The train is the first honest number.

How the years are organised

Ages 3–18. Full IB continuum: PYP, MYP, DP. The MYP page says the school has hosted MYP for nearly 30 years and calls itself one of the older MYP houses. The March 2025 assessment policy: Junior School is PYP; Senior School is MYP Grades 6–10 and DP Grades 11–12.

Age placement, the 2022/23 access policy said, runs 1 January to 31 December. A child may sit a year below or above only for strong reasons. Mid-year entry to Grades 11 and 12 needs a transfer from an IB school with a good subject match. Confirm the live policy; that PDF is older than the fees page.

Portuguese is not printed as a core classroom language on the pages we opened. Ask how much Portuguese a new twelve-year-old actually meets before Christmas. Do not assume a colégio yard.

How a child actually gets in

Expression of interest
Campus visit — the school wants the child in the room. From Grade 6, a placement test may sit during the visit or at the present school. Children who are not fluent in English, or who may have SEN, can be referred to Learning Support.
Offer email — after a review of resources and space. Placement follows availability and the date of the application.
Registration forms plus payment of annual registration and the capital levy
Confirmation when those fees land

The school asks families to be “open and transparent” about health and learning needs. Concealing them is a later problem, not a tactic.

Applications run through the year if the grade has space. We will not invent a waitlist.

Money, as the fees page prints it — and what it does not

The public Tuition and Fees page (URL still named 2025–2026) prints payment dates for 2026/27, not a grade-by-grade euro table we could read as text. We will not invent annual tuition, registration, capital levy, or bus.

What it does print:

Term 1 due 1 July 2026; Term 2 1 December 2026; Term 3 1 March 2027
Pay the year before 1 July 2026: 5% “advanced payment” discount. After 30 June 2026: no discount
Late: 5% at 30–60 days; 10% at 60–90 days; after 90 days, 10% and “possible legal proceedings”
90 days’ (one term) written notice to withdraw, or the next term is still due. The same if the child will not return next year
Capital levy, tuition, registration, and annual bus are not refundable once paid
Tuition includes materials, field trips, and school accident insurance
International trips are extra
IB examinations (Grade 10 and Grade 12) are not included
Outstanding fees can cancel the next year’s place
Fees are “reviewed on an annual basis and subject to change”

Ask admissions for the live sheet in writing. The registration pack includes a “Tuition Fees” form the step-by-step page names. That is the missing line.

What we are not claiming

We are not ranking St. Dominic’s against St. Julian’s, CAISL, OIS, or United Lisbon. We are not inventing 2026–27 tuition. We are not treating ISP or Veritas as a quality medal. We are not reading JavaScript zeros as IB results. We are not calling the 1639 convent the campus you tour on Tuesday.

Stairs questions

Ask for this year’s euro table before you fall in love with the lobby. Ask how Dominican the week still is after 2010 and ISP. Ask what the Grade 6 placement test is actually testing. Ask how much Portuguese the lanche speaks. Time São Domingos de Rana and Carcavelos on the same wet Tuesday.

The Lisbon hub is the short map. The Portugal country page is the wider one — TASIS Portugal in Quinta da Beloura, São João de Brito, CLIP in Porto.