Good to know
Good to Know
- St. Kitts International Academy (SKI Academy) is effectively the default choice for nomad/expat families in Basseterre wanting a recognizable international curriculum with clear, published tuition — most other named private schools in the capital either follow the national CXC/CSEC curriculum or don't publish detailed curriculum/tuition info online, so it's worth calling ahead.
- Tuition at SKI Academy is charged in two tiers — a lower 'local' rate for St. Kitts and Nevis passport holders and a higher 'expatriate' rate for everyone else, including other CARICOM nationals — so nomads should budget for the expatriate rate.
- If British-curriculum (IGCSE/A-Level) schooling matters more than an American-style curriculum, the country's main option, Nevis Academy, is on the separate island of Nevis and requires a ferry from Basseterre, so it's not a practical daily-commute option from the capital.
- Published school fees are per school year (not per month), and schools generally require full or termly payment in advance rather than monthly billing.
- If you want a September start at SKI Academy, applying well before the summer is the safer bet — PreK and Kindergarten seats are the ones most likely to fill first due to small class sizes.
- Getting a child into the high school program directly (without having come through the school's own middle school) is described by the school itself as harder, so plan for an earlier entry point if possible.
- Homeschooling is fully legal in St. Kitts and Nevis, but it isn't a 'no paperwork' option — you must file an annual education plan with the Chief Education Officer and undergo biannual assessments and portfolio review, so budget time for that admin.
- There's no confirmed local homeschool co-op or regular meetup group in Basseterre — nomad families going the homeschool route should expect to network informally rather than plug into an existing organized group.
Schools And Curricula
- Overview
- Basseterre has one clearly established international/American-curriculum private school (St. Kitts International Academy) plus a small number of other named private schools in the capital area whose curricula lean more local/CXC-based or are not fully documented online. St. Kitts and Nevis' only other frequently-cited international-curriculum school, Nevis Academy (British/IGCSE/A-Level), is located in Charlestown on the separate island of Nevis, not in Basseterre, so it is not listed here despite being the country's other notable option.
Schools
St. Kitts International Academy (SKI Academy)
- Grades
- Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12
- Location
- Morgan Heights, Canada Estates, Basseterre
- Curriculum
- International liberal-arts curriculum modeled on US/Canadian standards; the high school program partners with Canadian schools and allows students to graduate with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma as an alternative to the regional CXC/CSEC track.
Tuition School Year 2024 2025
- Notes
- Fees are per school year, not per month. A 10% sibling discount applies (not for high school). There is also a $200 EC (~$74 USD) annual registration fee and an optional after-school program at roughly $250 EC (~$93 USD) per term per weekday selected. High school fees can vary further for transcript evaluation and partner-school course costs.
Expatriate Non Passport Holders
PreKindergarten to Grade 4
- PreKindergarten To Grade 4
- EC$17,400
Grade 5 to Grade 8
- Grade 5 To Grade 8
- EC$19,750
Grades 9 & 10
- Grades 9 & 10
- EC$23,000
Grades 11 & 12
- Grades 11 & 12
- EC$24,000
Local St Kitts Nevis Passport Holders
PreKindergarten to Grade 4
- PreKindergarten To Grade 4
- EC$14,130
Grade 5 to Grade 8
- Grade 5 To Grade 8
- EC$15,525
Grades 9 & 10
- Grades 9 & 10
- EC$18,000
Grades 11 & 12
- Grades 11 & 12
- EC$19,000
George Moody Stuart School
- Grades
- Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 6
- Tuition
- Not publicly published; contact school directly for current fees.
- Location
- Basseterre (adjacent to St. Kitts International Academy)
- Curriculum
- Private school emphasizing science, literacy and numeracy foundations; specific curriculum framework (e.g. American/British/local) is not clearly documented in available public sources.
St. Christopher's Preparatory School
- Grades
- Not fully specified; small private facility
- Tuition
- Not publicly published; contact school directly for current fees.
- Location
- Basseterre
- Curriculum
- Small, private school describing itself as following home-schooling-style principles with individualized, nurturing instruction; specific curriculum origin (US/UK/local) is not stated on the school's own materials.
Homeschooling
- Legal Basis
- Homeschooling is explicitly legal nationwide (not just Basseterre) under Section 80 of the Education Act (2005), with detailed procedures set out in the Home-based Education Regulations of 2011.
- Legal Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Regulatory Contact
- Approval and oversight run through the Chief Education Officer within the Ministry of Education (Department of Education), St. Kitts and Nevis — the same office that oversees the national school system.
Regulatory Requirements
- Parents must submit an annual written notification of intent and a written education plan to the Chief Education Officer for approval
- The regulations set required teacher/parent qualifications for the home educator
- Biannual academic assessments of the homeschooled child are required
- An annual portfolio of the child's work must be maintained
- Progress reports must be submitted to the education authorities
Local Homeschool Community
- Finding
- No genuinely documented homeschooling co-op, support group, or regular meetup specific to Basseterre or St. Kitts and Nevis was found. A Facebook page called 'Schools Apex Cooperative' in Basseterre turned up in the sources we checked but is a school-supplies/uniforms retail cooperative, not a homeschooling support group, so it is not included as one. An old expat forum thread asking whether homeschooling groups exist in St. Kitts and Nevis received no confirmed answer in the sources we checked.
- Practical Implication
- A nomad family homeschooling in Basseterre should expect to build their own informal support network (e.g. through expat Facebook groups, church communities, or the international school parent network) rather than relying on an established local homeschool co-op, since none could be verified to currently exist.
- Documented Coop Exists
- No
International Bilingual School Enrollment
- Waitlist Reality
- PreK and Kindergarten classes are described as filling up quickly because of deliberately small class sizes, so early application is specifically encouraged at those grade levels.
- How Far In Advance To Apply
- Schools describe entry as most naturally beginning at the start of a term, typically September or February, rather than mid-year. Applying several months ahead of a September start is realistic, and earlier is better.
- Expat School Landscape Caveat
- Basseterre/St. Kitts has a genuinely limited pool of true 'international' schools (SKI Academy is the main English-medium option marketed to expat families; ICCS is a longstanding Catholic private school). There is no evidence of a French-, German-, or dual-language 'bilingual' international school operating in Basseterre itself — most schooling options are English-medium, following a Caribbean/US-influenced curriculum.
- Fees Structure Note
- Tuition is structured with separate rates for local (St. Kitts and Nevis passport holder) and expatriate (non-passport-holder) families, but the school's public materials found in the sources we checked did not list specific current tuition figures, so no pricing is included here to avoid stating unverified numbers.
- Process Source Note
- Based on St. Kitts International Academy's published admissions steps; other Basseterre-area private schools (e.g. ICCS) may follow a broadly similar but not identical process, and families should confirm directly with each school.
- Notes On Older Grades
- Entry into the high school program is described as more difficult for students who did not come up through the school's own middle school, since the high school track is built to prepare students for partner US/Canadian curricula.
Schools Covered
- St. Kitts International Academy (SKI Academy)
- Immaculate Conception Catholic School (ICCS)
Required Documents
- Completed application form
- Copy of the student's birth certificate
- Previous school records/report cards (standard for most Caribbean private-school applications, though not itemized in every source)
- Passport/ID copy for visa and residency-status verification (standard for expatriate families relocating internationally)
Typical Process Steps
- Complete an online application form on the school's website
- Submit required documents (see below)
- Schedule an interview or entrance test, depending on grade level applied for
- Receive an admission decision from the school's admissions team
- Confirm enrollment by paying required fees and completing final paperwork
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.