Portugal · Lisbon

United Lisbon International School, an English-medium city campus to the IB

A city-proper English-medium day campus, not a Cascais-line school. The policy prints application and enrolment euros. The yearly tuition overview is a separate sheet. 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:International Primary Curriculum · International Middle Years Curriculum · IB Diploma Programme · United Graduate Award

Langues d’enseignement:English

United Lisbon International School is a co-educational English-medium day school at Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa 9, 1800-255 Lisbon. Official site unitedlisbon.school. Switchboard +351 211 161 110. Admissions admissions@unitedlisbon.school. The contact page says the campus is open 07:00–18:00.

It is a city campus, not a Cascais-line house. That is the whole first question. Families who fall in love with St. Julian’s in Carcavelos, CAISL in Linhó, or OIS in Barcarena are buying a western commute. ULIS is the door the school itself puts “in the heart of Lisbon.” Time this avenue at 7:40 in January before you treat “city” as a kindness.

It is a day school. The enrolment policy says students must live with a parent, guardian, or a close relative named as legal guardian. There is no boarding house.

The about page says the founders partnered with Dukes Education in 2022, and that United Lisbon was Dukes’ first international-school partner outside the United Kingdom. That is ownership weather, not a ranking.

The useful questions are: Is the life actually Lisbon proper? Do you want IPC and IMYC, then a choice between the full IB Diploma and the school’s own United Graduate Award? Can you live with a six-week probation? And have you opened this year’s tuition overview — because the public policy does not print annual tuition, and we will not invent it.

Who it is for

Families who want English from age 3 through Grade 12, inside the city, and who can accept a day school that ends in the IB Diploma or a NEASC-accredited school diploma the high-school page also says is authorised by the Portuguese ministry as ensino secundário.

Portuguese starts in Grade 1, “tailored” to what the child already has. EAL exists for children whose first language is not English. That is the primary page’s sentence. Ask what “tailored” means in October for this child.

It will not suit a family who needs a British IGCSE week by the water, an American core in Linhó, or a full IB continuum in a Barcarena valley. Walk those portraits if that is the climate. It will not suit a child who cannot live with a parent or named guardian.

A June 2026 news note on the home page says the school celebrated 58 IB graduates that spring. Treat it as one ceremony the school published, not a league table.

The campus you can actually picture

One urban address. The home page talks about “state-of-the-art facilities” and an “urban campus.” That is atmosphere. The primary page is more useful: each floor has a learning hub for experiments, library time, and project work. Ask to see this child’s floor, not only the lobby film.

We will not invent a hectare count the public pages do not print. Walk the pavement. Ask where a shy eleven-year-old eats when the canteen is loud.

How the years are organised

Ages 3–18. The apply page calls the programme a “broad and balanced international curriculum taught in English,” culminating in the IB Diploma Programme.

Primary is the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), Fieldwork Education, taught in English. The primary page also names IEYC among the “seven foundations” it shares with IPC. IPC itself is printed as ages 5 to 11. Do not call this a PYP school. It is not.

Grades 9–10 follow a bespoke programme the high-school page says bridges IMYC and the IB Diploma: English, mathematics, sciences, individuals and societies, language acquisition (Portuguese or Spanish), arts, computing, music, PE.

Grades 11–12 sit in IB classrooms. There are no separate easier courses. Every student is on the United Graduate Award — the school’s NEASC-accredited high-school diploma, also authorised by the Portuguese ministry. From there a family may add IB Certificates or the full IB Diploma (six subjects, TOK, Extended Essay, CAS). IB exam costs, the policy says, are the parent’s responsibility.

Elective IB subjects run only if demand meets the school’s minimum. Ask which groups exist this year.

The school year the policy describes: early September, about 36 weeks, two semesters, winter / spring / summer breaks. Confirm the live calendar.

How a child actually gets in

Applications are accepted through the year, “depending on availability.” The apply page is a form, not a promise.

The policy is stricter than the marketing:

Official previous qualifications and year-completion papers go in with the form.
The school “will only accept those students who can benefit” from what it offers.
The first six weeks are probationary. The school may cancel the contract if it cannot offer what the child needs, and may extend the probation.
Extra support beyond the general programme is charged on top of tuition.
Placement is sequential from the last completed year. Classes on the contract are provisional.
Mid-year joiners are expected within three working days of confirmed enrolment.

A refused file cannot be reopened for six months, and a new application fee is due. Health and personal-accident cover is required. The school’s own accident insurance, the policy says, covers emergency treatment at the time of injury, with a yearly claim limit — ask the office for the live wording.

We will not invent an entrance exam, a CAT4, or a waitlist the pages do not print.

Money, as the policy prints it — and what it does not

The Enrolment and Tuition Policy (last revised date on the PDF we opened: May 2023) sends families to a separate Enrolment Tuition Fees Overview “published on our website for each academic year.” That overview is the missing line. We will not invent annual tuition.

What the policy does print:

Fee	Amount	Notes
Application	€255	Once, mandatory, not refundable, Pre-K3–Grade 12. Due even if the school says no.
Enrolment, Pre-K3–Kindergarten	€2,000	Within 10 working days of an offer. Not refundable. Deductible from tuition.
Enrolment, Grades 1–12	€2,000	Same deadline. Not refundable. Not deductible from tuition.
Re-enrolment, Pre-K3–Kindergarten	€2,000	Annual. Deductible from that year’s tuition.
Re-enrolment, Grades 1–12	€2,000	Annual. Not deductible.

Tuition is a full-year commitment. Pay in full by 1 June for a 2% discount, or in four instalments (the policy names 1 June, 1 November, 1 January, 1 March, with re-enrolment also on 1 April — confirm the live overview). An IEL (intensive English) fee exists by semester; the amount sits on the yearly overview, not in this policy. We will not invent it.

Application and enrolment fees stay fixed for a mid-year start. Withdrawal does not refund tuition already paid.

What we are not claiming

We are not ranking United Lisbon against St. Julian’s, CAISL, or OIS. We are not inventing 2026–27 tuition, lunch, or bus. We are not calling this a PYP/MYP continuum. We are not treating 58 IB graduates as a league score. We are not calling Dukes a quality medal.

Stairs questions

Ask for this year’s tuition overview in writing before you fall in love with the lobby. Ask how much Portuguese a new Grade 6 actually meets before Christmas. Ask what the six-week probation has meant for families like yours. Ask whether this child is being placed on the full Diploma or the United Graduate Award, and what universities you care about do with each paper.

Time Marechal Gomes da Costa on a wet Tuesday. Then walk a colégio in the same week. The lanche is still the honest tour.

The Lisbon hub is the short map. The Portugal country page is the wider one — St. Dominic’s, TASIS Portugal, São João de Brito, CLIP in Porto.