Good to know
Good to Know
- Plovdiv's international-school scene is much smaller than Sofia's — most families choose between a handful of named schools above, several of which are satellite campuses of Sofia-based school groups (e.g., British School of Plovdiv is part of the British School of Sofia network) rather than fully independent Plovdiv institutions.
- Several of the smaller international/bilingual schools (Plovdiv International School, Anglo-American School of Plovdiv, École Française Victor Hugo, Deutsche Schule Plovdiv) don't publish tuition online — budget for a direct inquiry and expect figures broadly in the same ballpark as the rest of Bulgaria's international schools (roughly €5,000–€15,000/year equivalent).
- If you're staying long-term and want a free option, Plovdiv's public language high schools (like Language HS 'Plovdiv', also called the English Language School) offer strong English or German tracks, but require Bulgarian fluency and passing a competitive entrance exam after 7th grade — not realistic for a short-stay nomad family.
- Some international-school campuses sit on the outskirts of Plovdiv (e.g., toward Markovo) rather than in the historic center, so factor in commute or school-bus arrangements when choosing where to base yourself.
- Plovdiv's international-school scene is small enough that even a single filled grade level can function like a waitlist — contact schools directly rather than trusting generic 'apply a year ahead' rules of thumb, and confirm current-year capacity by phone or email.
- Bulgaria's 'homeschooling' is really a school-supervised 'independent form of education' — your child still has to be enrolled with a licensed school and sit that school's exams, it isn't a fully independent, parent-only curriculum.
- If you're hoping for a homeschooling co-op or in-person peer community specifically in Plovdiv, we could not confirm one exists — homeschooling support in Bulgaria appears to be organized mainly through national-level online groups rather than a local Plovdiv meetup.
Schools And Curricula
- Currency Peg Note
- Bulgarian lev (BGN) is fixed by law to the euro at 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN, so EUR-denominated tuition fees have been converted to BGN at this fixed peg; USD figures use the current floating EUR/USD market rate (~1.143 as of July 2026).
Schools
British School of Plovdiv (BSP)
- Type
- International (not bilingual)
- Age Range
- 2 to 18 years (Kindergarten 2-5, School Grades 1 to IGCSE Year 2, College A-Levels Years 1-2)
- Curriculum
- British National Curriculum framework: International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) in Kindergarten, Cambridge Primary Checkpoint / International Primary Curriculum (IPC) in Primary/Lower Secondary, leading to IGCSE and A-Levels
- Accreditation
- British School Overseas (BSO), accredited Cambridge International School
- Language Of Instruction
- English (school states it does not offer a Bulgarian diploma and is not a bilingual school)
Tuition Per Year
- Low
- BGN 13,691
- High
- BGN 24,448
- Basis
- Figures reflect the British School of Sofia group's published range for its schools, one of which is explicitly listed at the Plovdiv (Markovo) address; a Plovdiv-specific fee schedule was not independently found.
Plovdiv International School (PIS)
- Type
- International
- Age Range
- Preschool to Grade 8
- Curriculum
- International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP); working toward offering the Middle Years Programme (MYP) for older students
- Language Of Instruction
- English
- Tuition Note
- Tuition not published in available sources; contact the school directly for current fees.
Anglo-American School of Plovdiv (AAS Plovdiv)
- Type
- Bilingual/international
- Age Range
- Preschool to Grade 12
- Curriculum
- American-English bilingual program; prepares students for both the Bulgarian secondary diploma and an American high school diploma
- Language Of Instruction
- English and Bulgarian
- Tuition Note
- Tuition not published in available sources; contact the school directly for current fees.
ÉCole Française Victor Hugo / "French School of Plovdiv"
- Type
- Bilingual/international
- Age Range
- Preschool to Grade 12
- Curriculum
- French national curriculum, leading toward the French Baccalaureate
- Language Of Instruction
- French and Bulgarian
- Tuition Note
- Tuition listed as 'inquire at school' in available sources; note this school's identity could not be fully cross-verified as distinct from Sofia's AEFE-network Lycée Français Victor Hugo — treat with some caution and confirm directly with the school before relying on this.
Deutsche Schule Plovdiv (DSP) / German School of Plovdiv
- Type
- Bilingual/international
- Age Range
- Preschool to Grade 12
- Curriculum
- German curriculum supported by the German government, leading to the German Abitur
- Language Of Instruction
- German and Bulgarian
- Tuition Note
- Tuition not published in available sources; only found via a single directory-style source, not independently corroborated.
Public/municipal Bilingual Gymnasium (Not a Private International School)
- Name
- Language High School "Plovdiv" (Езикова гимназия "Пловдив", also known as the English Language School)
- Age Range
- Grades 8-12 (entry after Grade 7 via competitive exam)
- Curriculum
- Bulgarian national curriculum with an intensive foreign-language profile; English and German language tracks, including Cambridge Assessment English and the German Sprachdiplom
- Tuition Per Year
- BGN 0.00
- Language Of Instruction
- Bulgarian, with heavy English or German language specialization
- Tuition Note
- Free — this is a municipally funded state school; admission is highly competitive and requires strong Bulgarian language skills plus passing entrance exams.
Language High School "Ivan Vazov"
- Type
- Public/municipal bilingual gymnasium
- Age Range
- Secondary (post-Grade 7 entry)
- Curriculum
- Bulgarian national curriculum with foreign-language specialization
- Tuition Per Year
- BGN 0.00
- Language Of Instruction
- Bulgarian with foreign-language profile
- Tuition Note
- Free state school; requires Bulgarian fluency and competitive entrance exams — not a realistic short/medium-term option for non-Bulgarian-speaking nomad families.
Edmund Burke Profiled Language High School
- Type
- Private bilingual school
- Age Range
- Primary through secondary (founded as a primary school in 2002, later added high-school levels)
- Curriculum
- Bulgarian curriculum with an intensive foreign-language and business/banking profile; English and Spanish taught intensively
- Language Of Instruction
- Bulgarian, with intensive English and Spanish
- Tuition Note
- Specific current tuition not found in available sources.
Maple Bear Plovdiv
- Type
- Private bilingual early-years school
- Age Range
- Early years / kindergarten level (not a full K-12 pathway)
- Curriculum
- Canadian early-education teaching model combined with Bulgarian state educational standards, allowing transfer into the national system
- Language Of Instruction
- Bulgarian and English (full-day bilingual)
- Tuition Note
- Specific current tuition not found in available sources; this is an early-years program only, not a full K-12 international school.
Enrollment Process General
- Timing And Admission Windows
- The Bulgarian school year runs September to May/June, and international/bilingual schools generally align new-year intakes to September, with admissions offices reviewing applications on a rolling basis for mid-year entry when space allows. Because the local international-school market is small, admissions guidance found for this study focused mainly on the British School of Sofia's Plovdiv campus and did not publish a detailed month-by-month application calendar, so families should contact schools directly for exact current-year deadlines rather than relying on generic listings.
Steps Typically Required
- Initial inquiry/school tour or virtual meeting with admissions office
- Submission of an application form, often with a non-refundable registration/application fee
- Submission of prior school records/transcripts (translated where needed) and a copy of the child's passport/birth certificate
- An age-appropriate assessment: for younger children this is usually just an informal readiness check, while older applicants may sit an English-level or subject placement test and/or a family interview
- Health/immunization records requested by some schools
- Formal offer and a deposit or first-installment tuition payment to confirm the place
Documents Commonly Requested
- Child's passport and, once issued, residence permit copy
- Birth certificate
- Previous school reports/transcripts (translated into English or Bulgarian if from a non-English system)
- Immunization/vaccination record
- Passport-style photos
- Proof of parents' visa/residence basis for enrolling as a foreign family
Waitlist Realistic Expectations
- General Pattern
- Compared with Sofia, where popular international schools can run waitlists a year or more in advance for certain grades, Plovdiv's much smaller number of international/bilingual seats means waitlisting is less about volume of applicants and more about limited total capacity per grade — a single popular class year filling up can effectively create a waitlist even with modest applicant numbers.
Practical Advice
- Apply as early as possible once you have a firm arrival date — ideally 3-6+ months ahead of the intended start term, and earlier still for kindergarten/early-years spots, which tend to fill first
- Because published admissions calendars for Plovdiv-specific international schools are sparse online, direct email/phone contact with the school's admissions office is the most reliable way to learn current-year capacity and real wait times
- Preference is sometimes reported to be given based on nationality or existing sibling enrollment at some international schools in Bulgaria, which can affect wait times for unrelated new families
Homeschooling Legality Bulgaria
- Summary
- Bulgaria does not recognize open-ended, curriculum-free homeschooling. Bulgarian law does not provide for home education independent from government education programs and standards, but parents can choose an 'independent form of education' (индивидуална форма на обучение) for their child. This format still requires the student to be formally affiliated/enrolled with a licensed school and to follow that school's curriculum, and it is subject to testing and oversight by the state school system.
- Practical Mechanics
- Under this independent/individual form, the child remains registered with a public or private school and must sit school-administered exams and periodic testing/home visits; it is not an unsupervised, parent-designed curriculum path. Some sources (e.g. a Ministry-affiliated EU researcher network) describe home schooling as 'not permitted by law' in blanket terms, while home-education advocacy sources describe the same individual/independent form as a legal homeschooling pathway that has existed since around 2016 — the practical reality sits between these two framings: unsupervised homeschooling is not legal, but a school-supervised at-home study arrangement is.
- Foreign Family Relevance
- The law is not explicit about whether foreign residents/expats specifically can use the individual/independent education form, so foreign families pursuing this route in practice register their child with a licensed Bulgarian or accredited international school and use that school's oversight framework, rather than homeschooling entirely outside the system.
- Enforcement And Penalties
- Bulgaria has fines of 50 to 150 BGN for parents who fail to enroll a school-age child or fail to ensure attendance, rising to up to 500 BGN for repeat offenses, and in 2017 the government mobilized social workers, education officials and police to visit homes of children not attending a listed school. No cases of parental-rights revocation specifically targeting homeschooling families in Bulgaria in recent years were found in the sources reviewed.
- Regulatory Framework Status
- illegal
Local Homeschooling Community Plovdiv
- National Level Only
- Homeschooling networks referenced in available sources are described at the national/Bulgaria-wide level (online forums, social media groups, and a general 'Homeschooling Bulgaria'-type resource site) rather than as a documented, dedicated Plovdiv-based co-op or meetup group. No source found confirms an active, named homeschooling co-op physically operating in Plovdiv.
- Confirmed Plovdiv Specific Group
- none found
International Bilingual School Landscape Plovdiv
Plovdiv's pool of international/bilingual schools is much smaller than Sofia's. The main options families cite are the British School of Sofia's Plovdiv campus and the British International School Classic (an IB World School) in Plovdiv, alongside a handful of bilingual/private Bulgarian schools with English-language streams.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
More About Plovdiv
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.