Reading time: 11 min · Published by Phoenix Relocation Group · October 2026
If your family is moving to Milan next summer, the school decision is already on the clock. The main admissions window for September entry at Milan’s international schools runs from roughly October to January, with a smaller round in spring. Some entry points close even earlier: at the British School of Milan, the registration deadline for Year 10 and Year 12 places in September 2027 was 15 September 2026, and the Year 10 entrance exam took place on 1 October.
That is the first thing most relocating parents get wrong. They treat school as something to sort out once the job offer is signed and the apartment is found. In Milan it works the other way round: the school determines the neighbourhood, the neighbourhood determines the lease, and the lease determines when you can register as a resident. This guide covers what the main schools cost for 2026-27, how admissions actually work, what changes when your employer is paying, and the timeline that gets a child into a classroom in September 2027.
The landscape: four systems and a handful of names
Milan has close to thirty international schools that publish their fees, plus bilingual and national schools from other countries. For most English-speaking families the shortlist comes down to a few clusters.
The British curriculum is led by the British School of Milan (BSM), a not-for-profit school on Via Pisani Dossi in the north-east of the city, between the centre and Milano Due, and by St. Louis School, an Inspired group school with three campuses: Archinto in the centre (Via Olmetto), Caviglia in the south-east and Colonna in the west. Both lead from the early years through IGCSE to the IB Diploma.
The American curriculum means the American School of Milan (ASM), founded in 1962, located at Noverasco di Opera on the southern edge of the metropolitan area. It teaches the American curriculum alongside the IB Diploma, which it has offered since 1983, and runs a bus network into the city.
The full IB continuum (Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma) is offered by the International School of Milan (ISM) in Baranzate, north-west of the city, the first IB World School in Milan. ICS Milan International School combines British early years and IGCSE with the IB.
Around these sit smaller options worth knowing: the Canadian School of Milan, the British American Pre-School and Bilingual European School in the north of the city, the International School of Monza, and La Scuola International School, which opened a Milano campus on Via de Predis for the 2026-27 year for children aged 2 to 11. French families have the Lycée Stendhal; German and Swiss families have their own national schools.
What it costs in 2026-27
Published tuition for 2026-27, as compiled by the school-comparison platform doris from each school’s fee schedule, gives a clear picture of the range:
- American School of Milan: about 13,950 to 24,750 euros a year
- British School of Milan: about 14,490 to 24,900 euros a year
- International School of Milan: about 10,500 to 25,960 euros a year
- ICS Milan International School: about 15,560 to 29,280 euros a year
- St. Louis School (Archinto senior campus): about 23,270 to 24,430 euros a year
- Canadian School of Milan (Vivaio campus, ages 11 to 18): about 13,300 to 21,650 euros a year
- British American Pre-School and Bilingual European School: about 12,420 to 17,530 euros a year
- La Scuola International School, Milano campus: about 10,200 to 15,300 euros a year
- Lycée Stendhal (French curriculum): 5,760 to 8,150 euros a year, per the school’s own published rates
Across the Milan schools that publish fees, doris puts the typical figure at around 14,500 euros a year. The range is wide because tuition climbs steeply with age: early years cost far less than the IB Diploma years.
Tuition is not the whole bill, and the extras are where budgets slip. In its published schedule, ASM lists a non-refundable 300 euro application fee, a one-off 5,000 euro admission fee for new students, a building and maintenance fund of 2,500 euros a year for the first four years, and an annual enrolment fee, before transport, which costs 3,350 euros a year for Milan and the suburbs. At BSM, families become members of the school’s not-for-profit association, and the first year costs noticeably more than the following ones because of one-off charges: for a three-year-old, the international-schools-database platform calculates 17,800 euros in the first year against 14,700 euros a year thereafter. School lunch at BSM is billed separately at 8.45 euros a day. Add uniforms, trips, exam fees and, where needed, English as an Additional Language support.
Who pays matters: corporate rates and Italian tax
If your employer is covering tuition, read the fee schedule twice. Several Milan schools publish separate private and corporate rates. At ASM, the corporate rate in the published schedule is about 2,500 euros a year higher than the private rate at every grade level, and sibling discounts apply only to families paying privately. BSM publishes private fees and provides corporate fees through its admissions office. The difference is not a reason to refuse company support, but it should be in the negotiation: a package that “covers tuition” at the corporate rate is worth more to the school than the same package paid privately and reimbursed.
The Italian tax treatment also depends on how the payment is structured. Under Article 51(2)(f-bis) of the Italian income tax code, school fees paid or reimbursed by an employer for an employee’s children are not taxable income, but only when they are offered to all employees or to a defined category of employees under a company policy, regulation or agreement. A one-off arrangement negotiated for a single person usually does not qualify, and is then taxed as salary. Ask HR or payroll which route your package uses before you sign it, because the gross-up cost for a secondary-school IB student is substantial.
How admissions actually work
The process is broadly similar across schools, and it is slower than most families expect.
Enquiry and application. Most schools now run online application portals; ISM, for example, uses OpenApply. An application fee is usually payable at this stage and is non-refundable.
Visit and meeting. Expect a campus tour and a meeting with a principal or admissions lead. Video calls are generally accepted if you are not yet in Milan, but a visit during a scouting trip tells you more about the commute than any brochure.
Documents. Two years of school reports, translated where necessary, a reference from the current school, passport copies and, for non-EU families, the residence permit or the receipt showing it has been applied for. Some schools request educational or psychological evaluations where relevant, and families are expected to disclose any learning support needs up front.
Assessment. BSM describes itself as academically non-selective but bases admission on an interview, school reports and reference, assessments in English and maths, and availability in the year group. ISM may run a formal assessment in maths and language lasting around 90 minutes. Older entrants at most schools sit some form of test.
Offer and acceptance. Offers come by email with a short acceptance window; at BSM it is two weeks. Accepting means paying the registration fees and, often, a first tuition instalment. If the year group is full, you go onto a waiting list, which is decided class by class rather than school-wide.
Vaccinations. This one catches families from the United States and the United Kingdom. Italy’s 2017 vaccination law makes ten childhood vaccinations a condition of admission to nurseries and pre-schools for children up to six, private schools included. Bring your child’s full immunisation record, translated if necessary, and check it against the Italian schedule early: catching up on a missing dose takes appointments, and appointments take weeks.
The timeline that works for September 2027
- October to November 2026: shortlist two or three schools, book visits or video calls, register on the application portals, and request school reports and references from the current school before its own holidays
- November 2026 to January 2027: submit applications, sit assessments, and keep an eye on entry points with earlier deadlines (exam years and the IB Diploma in particular)
- January to March 2027: offers, acceptance and deposit; if a school places you on a waiting list, accept a place elsewhere rather than wait without one
- Spring 2027: secondary admissions round for any remaining places; start the housing search around the school you have confirmed
- Summer 2027: lease signed and registered, residency registration, health enrolment, transport subscription
Mid-year arrivals follow different rules. Most international schools in Milan run rolling admissions and accommodate corporate relocations in January, subject to space. If no international place is available, the Italian state system is a legal fallback: under Article 45 of Presidential Decree 394/1999, foreign children have the right to enrol in a state school at any point in the school year, in the class matching their age, regardless of residence status. Teaching is entirely in Italian.
Choose the school, then the neighbourhood
Milan’s international schools are spread across the city and beyond it, and the commute shapes daily life more than anything else on this list. ASM sits south of the city at Noverasco di Opera; ISM is in Baranzate to the north-west; BSM is in the north-east, towards Città Studi and Lambrate; St. Louis has campuses in the centre, the south-east and the west. A family living in Porta Romana with a child at ISM faces a cross-city run twice a day; the same family with a child at ASM can rely on the school bus.
That is why we always fix the school before we start the home search. The radius around a confirmed school, combined with the parents’ office location and proximity to a metro line, typically narrows Milan to two or three neighbourhoods, and that is where the apartment search happens. Doing it the other way round is the most common, and most expensive, sequencing mistake we see.
English-language support along the way
The schools themselves operate in English, and admissions teams are used to families who do not speak Italian. The friction sits around them: the Italian vaccination records check, translated documents, the residency registration that schools and health services will ask for, and the paediatrician who will see your child if they are ill on a school day. Plan for those Italian-language steps as part of the school move, not after it.
How Phoenix Relocation Group helps
At Phoenix Relocation Group we support international families moving to Milan, Rome and Naples, in English, French and Italian. For school placement, we map the options against your children’s ages, curriculum and the length of your assignment, contact admissions offices, organise visits or video calls, help assemble the application file, and track deadlines and waiting lists. We then run the home search around the school you choose, and handle residency registration, health enrolment and the paediatrician, so that September starts with a confirmed place and a reasonable commute.
→ Planning a move to Milan for September 2027? Get in touch for a free assessment of your school options.
📧 info@phrg.it | 🌐 www.phoenixrelocationgroup.com
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