Good to know
Good to Know
- The Overseas School of Colombo (OSC) is the only IB World School in Sri Lanka offering the full continuum from Pre-K through Grade 12, and uniquely among Colombo's international schools, its fees are billed in US Dollars rather than Sri Lankan Rupees.
- Elizabeth Moir School, The British School in Colombo, and Colombo International School all trace back to educator Elizabeth Moir, who founded CIS in 1982 and later founded the British School in Colombo in 1994 — useful context if comparing their British-curriculum approaches.
- Popular Colombo international schools run waiting lists, so families relocating mid-year should apply well ahead — ideally a term or two before the intended start date.
- Tuition at most Colombo international schools is quoted per grade/year-group band, with secondary and exam years (IGCSE/A Level/IBDP) typically costing noticeably more than primary years — always request the current year's full fee schedule directly from the school rather than relying on older published figures.
- OSC's academic year runs in two semesters (August–December and January–June); if you want your child in for the start of a semester, get documents in a few months ahead rather than assuming a same-week enrollment given class-size caps.
- Application fees at international schools are commonly quoted and billed in USD directly (OSC charges US$250, non-refundable, per application) rather than in Sri Lankan Rupees, which is worth budgeting for separately.
- Homeschooling is legal in the sense that no law bans it, but it is not officially recognized or regulated by the Ministry of Education — there's no formal registration process, so parents are on their own for structuring a curriculum and keeping records.
- Don't expect an organized, established homeschool co-op scene in Colombo the way you might find in bigger nomad hubs — connections tend to happen through informal expat forums and social media rather than a standing local organization.
Schools And Curricula
The Overseas School of Colombo (OSC)
- Levels
- Early Years (age 3) through Grade 12
- Location
- Pelawatte, Battaramulla (eastern Colombo suburbs)
- Tuition Middle Annual
- LKR 7,673,820
- Tuition Elementary Annual
- LKR 6,191,000
- Tuition High School Annual
- LKR 8,830,480
- One Time Registration Fee Grades 1 12
- LKR 4,530,000
- Description
- Founded more than 65 years ago, the Overseas School of Colombo is a non-profit, co-educational English-medium day school serving ages 3 to 18. It offers the International Baccalaureate continuum—PYP for Early Years to Grade 5, MYP for Grades 6–10, and the Diploma Programme for Grades 11–12. OSC is the only IB World School in Sri Lanka.
- Tuition Notes
- Fees are officially set and billed in US Dollars (not LKR), a distinguishing feature vs. other Colombo international schools. Most recent published figures (school-reported, current as of December 2024): Elementary, Middle, and High School tiers; PreK tuition not published.
- Additional Fees Note
- A separate operational levy (roughly $1,250 per semester in earlier fee schedules) and a re-enrolment fee of $250/child also apply; a refundable deposit is required on admission.
Curricula
- IB Primary Years Programme (PYP)
- IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)
- IB Diploma Programme (DP)
Elizabeth Moir School
- Levels
- Age 2 to 18
- Location
- Thalakotuwa Gardens, Colombo 5
- Tuition Annual Low
- LKR 456,000
- Tuition Annual High
- LKR 990,000
- One Time Admission Fee
- LKR 50,000
- School Development Fund Kg1 To Form5
- LKR 350,000
- School Development Fund Lower6 Upper6
- LKR 250,000
- Description
- Elizabeth Moir School is an independent English-medium co-educational day school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, serving children from age 2 to 18. It follows a British-curriculum framework with Pearson Edexcel IGCSE in Forms 4 and 5 and Edexcel A Levels in 6th Form.
- Tuition Notes
- 2025/2026 fee schedule includes a one-off Admission Fee and a School Development Fund donation on entry, plus term fees; published average annual tuition sits in a broad band.
Curricula
- British curriculum
- Pearson Edexcel IGCSE (Forms 4–5)
- Edexcel A Levels (6th Form)
The British School in Colombo (BSC)
- Levels
- Nursery/Reception through Sixth Form
- Location
- Elvitigala Mawatha, Borella
- Tuition Primary Annual Low
- LKR 600,000
- Tuition Primary Annual High
- LKR 950,000
- Tuition Secondary IGCSE Alevel Annual High
- LKR 1,400,000
- Description
- The British School in Colombo is a private international school in Borella, a suburb of Colombo, founded by British educator Elizabeth Moir in 1994 (twelve years after she founded Colombo International School).
- Tuition Notes
- Exact published per-grade fee tables were not publicly available; independent Colombo school-fee guides place BSC in the mid-tier band alongside CIS and Oberoi International School.
Curricula
- British curriculum
- IGCSE
- A Levels
Colombo International School (CIS)
- Levels
- Age 2 to 18 (Pre-K to Year 13)
- Location
- R.G. Senanayake Mawatha, Cinnamon Gardens (Colombo 7)
- Tuition Primary Annual Low
- LKR 1,200,000
- Tuition Primary Annual High
- LKR 1,700,000
- Tuition Secondary IBDP Annual Low
- LKR 1,500,000
- Tuition Secondary IBDP Annual High Plus
- LKR 2,200,000
- Description
- Colombo International School (CIS) delivers the British Curriculum through Pearson Edexcel IGCSE to students aged 2–18. In Sixth Form, Year 12 offers four AS subjects, followed by three or four A2 subjects; many students achieve A or A* grades. CIS operates from Cinnamon Gardens on purpose-built campuses, with a sister campus in Kandy.
- Tuition Notes
- Independent Colombo fee guides place CIS's full programme at the premium end of the market.
Curricula
- British curriculum
- Pearson Edexcel IGCSE
- International Advanced Level (A Level)
Gateway College (Colombo Campuses)
- Levels
- Primary through A Level
- Location
- Rajagiriya Road, Rajagiriya (and other Colombo-area campuses)
- Tuition Primary Annual Low
- LKR 250,000
- Tuition Primary Annual High
- LKR 450,000
- Description
- Gateway College is a network of Sri Lankan international schools; certain Colombo-area campuses sit at the more affordable end of the local international-school market compared with premium single-campus schools.
- Tuition Notes
- Gateway does not publish a full public fee table; independent guides estimate primary-level annual tuition.
Curricula
- Cambridge / British curriculum
- IGCSE
- A Levels
Royal Institute International School
- Levels
- Lower Nursery to Advanced Level
- Location
- Stanley Tilakaratne Mawatha, Nugegoda
- Description
- Royal Institute International School, located in Nugegoda, serves learners from Lower Nursery to Advanced Level and offers IMYC alongside the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and IB Middle Years Programme (MYP).
- Tuition Notes
- No reliable public fee schedule was found during this research; omitted rather than estimated.
Curricula
- IB Primary Years Programme (PYP)
- IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)
- IMYC
Alethea International School
- Levels
- Not independently confirmed
- Location
- Sri Mahabodhi Road, Dehiwala
- Description
- Alethea International School is listed among Colombo-area international schools serving expat and local families in the Dehiwala area.
- Tuition Notes
- No reliable public fee schedule was found during this research; omitted rather than estimated.
Curricula
- International/British-style curriculum (specific exam board not independently confirmed)
Enrollment And Homeschooling
Homeschooling
- Legal Basis
- Sri Lanka's Education Ordinance (as amended, raising the compulsory education age to 16) requires every child to receive an education, but includes a provision exempting a child whose parent has otherwise made 'adequate and suitable provisions for the education of such child' — this clause, confirmed by attorney-at-law Milani Salpitikorala (founder of the Child Protection Force) in reporting on the Ordinance, is the recognized legal basis local advisors point to for homeschooling, rather than any dedicated homeschooling statute.
- Legal Status
- Decriminalized or tolerated
- Local Community
- There is no large, formally organized homeschool co-op documented in Colombo comparable to what exists in some Western nomad hubs. What exists is informal: expat parent forums (e.g., threads on Expat.com's Sri Lanka forum) where individual families in Colombo have sought out or offered to connect with other homeschoolers, plus scattered social-media groups; one Sri Lanka-based organization, Kinder Republic, publishes its own legal-basis page explaining the 'adequate and suitable provision' exemption it relies on for home-based education, suggesting at least one organized alternative-education initiative operating on this legal footing, though we could not confirm the scale or current activity level of any dedicated Colombo homeschool co-op.
- Official Recognition
- Homeschooling is not separately regulated, licensed, or officially recognized as a schooling category by Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education — there is no dedicated registration process, curriculum mandate, or inspection regime specific to homeschoolers.
- Practical Notes
- Homeschooling parents are generally advised to keep their own curriculum and progress records, both because there's no official framework to fall back on and because a homeschooled child who later wants to sit national exams (e.g., G.C.E. O/L or A/L) or re-enter the mainstream/international school system will need to demonstrate equivalent prior learning.
- Foreigner Specific Note
- Foreign nationals residing in Sri Lanka are subject to the same compulsory-education framework as citizens for school-age children; expat-forum accounts describe foreign families homeschooling in Colombo without issue in practice, though this is anecdotal rather than a government-confirmed policy.
International School Enrollment
- Overview
- Colombo's main international/bilingual schools (The Overseas School of Colombo, Colombo International School, The British School in Colombo, Gateway College and others) generally run rolling, year-round admissions rather than a single high-pressure annual cycle, but individual grade levels can still fill up because most schools cap class sizes.
- Typical Timeline
- The Overseas School of Colombo (OSC) explicitly states that applications for admission are accepted throughout the year, and the process (inquiry, online application, document submission, Principal review, family meeting) can move in weeks rather than months if a seat is open in the target grade.
- Waitlist Reality
- Unlike ultra-competitive markets (Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai) where top schools can carry multi-year waitlists, Colombo's international schools do not publicly describe waitlists of that scale — OSC's own materials frame admissions as open year-round. The realistic risk for a nomad/expat family here is less 'multi-year waitlist' and more 'the specific grade you need is already at its class-size cap for that semester,' so early inquiry (ideally before the August or January semester start) is the practical safeguard rather than applying a year or more in advance.
- Capacity Constraints
- OSC targets around 15 students per class in Early Years (up to 20 at the Head of School's discretion) and around 20 students per class from Kindergarten through Grade 12 (up to 24 at discretion), which means popular entry grades (especially Kindergarten/Grade 1 and common transfer years) can reach capacity even though there is no fixed application 'season' — applying a full academic term or more ahead of a desired August or January start is a realistic safety margin.
Process Notes By School
The Overseas School of Colombo (OSC)
- Notes
- Process is: contact Admissions to discuss availability, submit the online application with all required documents uploaded, pay the application fee, then the relevant Principal reviews the file and meets the family before a decision is made.
- Application Fee Note
- LKR 76,250
OSC bills this non-refundable application fee directly in USD per application; the LKR figure is an approximate equivalent for reference, not the school's actual billing currency.
Colombo International School (CIS)
- Notes
- Application forms and details are requested by phone or email from the school's admissions contact rather than a fully self-serve online portal; the school is located at 28 Gregory's Road, Colombo 7.
The British School in Colombo
- Notes
- Admissions process is application form plus an interview with the Head of School or Principal; students transferring from another school must supply their most recent school report. The school does not publicly disclose live waitlist/availability data, so direct inquiry with the admissions office is necessary to get a real read on space in a specific grade.
Typical Required Documents
- Completed online/paper application form
- Copies of the last two school reports
- A completed medical form (OSC specifically requires this)
- A general recommendation from the previous school (OSC requires this only for Grade 1–5 applicants)
- Confidential recommendations from the child's English and Mathematics teachers (OSC)
- Most recent school report for any student transferring schools (The British School in Colombo)
- Passport/identification copies (standard across schools)
AI-generated estimateData refreshed September 2026
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Data last updated September 2026 · Verify anything important.