Good to know
Good to Know
- Private international schools (ISE, IST, Audentes) charge annual tuition that typically rises with grade level — expect roughly €8,000–€12,000/year at primary level and up to €22,000–€25,000+/year at upper-secondary/IB Diploma level, depending on the school.
- If your child qualifies for a state-funded IB pathway (e.g. Tallinn English College), that route carries no tuition — a much cheaper alternative to private international schools for IB-track families who are Estonian residents.
- Tallinn European School offers a genuinely cheaper multilingual/European Baccalaureate route because it runs on a subsidised model, but seats are limited and early application matters.
- Municipalities around Tallinn (Tallinn city, Rae Parish, Viimsi Parish) offer monthly preschool subsidies for registered residents, which can meaningfully offset private preschool/kindergarten costs.
- Fees for some bilingual/French-stream schools (Tallinna Prantsuse Lütseum, Les Petits Francophones) are not consistently published online — always confirm current tuition directly with the school before budgeting.
- Published fee figures for the same school sometimes vary noticeably between the school's own site and third-party directories — treat any figure as indicative and reconfirm with the school before enrolling.
- International-school places in Tallinn fill early — it's genuinely worth applying and securing a seat before finalizing housing or a neighborhood.
- Tallinn English College's foreign-family intake is not open to all nomads: eligibility is limited to specific categories like diplomatic staff, fixed-term contract workers at national defense, public universities, or international organizations, so most remote-working families will not qualify for this particular municipal school.
- Tallinn European School's Category II (general foreign-family) enrollment is explicitly 'subject to availability' with priority given to EU diplomats and to children who already studied in the school's English or French section — a real waitlist risk for families without that background.
- Private IB schools like IST and ISE run rolling, year-round admissions rather than one fixed annual deadline, but because class sizes are small, applying several months ahead of your intended start date is safer than a last-minute application.
- Homeschooling is legal for foreign residents in Estonia, but it requires re-applying every single year at your child's registered school and passing semester assessments — it is not a 'set it and forget it' status.
- We found no confirmed, organized local homeschool co-op or in-person support group specifically in Tallinn; homeschooling expat families appear to rely more on commercial online programs and informal online expat-parent networks rather than a documented local co-op.
Schools And Curricula
- State School Baseline
- State and municipal schools in Tallinn are free of charge for children of compulsory school age who are residents of Estonia, regardless of nationality, and these schools also provide learning materials at no cost. Two municipal gymnasiums (including Tallinn English College) run IB programmes at no tuition cost alongside the national curriculum.
- Currency Note
- All local figures are in EUR (Estonia uses the euro). USD figures calculated at an approximate rate of 1 EUR = 1.14 USD.
Schools
International School of Estonia (ISE)
- Location
- Rocca al Mare, western Tallinn
- Age Range
- Pre-K to Grade 12 (approx. ages 3–18/19)
- Curriculum
- IB — full continuum: Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP)
- Accreditation
- IB World School; accredited by Council of International Schools (CIS) and NEASC
- Language Of Instruction
- English
Tuition
- One Time Fees
- Registration and a one-time capital levy fee apply for new enrollees; exact amounts vary by grade and are set annually
- Preschool Low
- €8,112
- Upper Secondary High
- €25,060
- Note
- Annual tuition, per most recent published figures for 2024–2025
International School of Tallinn (IST)
- Location
- Keevise 2, Tallinn
- Age Range
- Ages 3 to 19
- Curriculum
- IB — offers IB programming across the school
- Language Of Instruction
- English
Tuition
- Low End
- €8,690
- High End
- €11,715
- Note
- Published yearly fee range for the 2025/2026 academic year; fees vary by age/grade and are billed with a separate one-time study-place fee
Tallinn European School (TES)
- Location
- Telliskivi area, Tallinn
- Age Range
- Ages 4 to 18/19
- Curriculum
- European Schools curriculum, leading to the European Baccalaureate; strong multilingual emphasis
- Language Of Instruction
- English and French sections
- Notes
- Accredited European School established by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research; originally designed for families connected to European institutions but open to the wider community. Operates on a subsidised model, so places can be limited and fees are lower than fully private international schools.
Tuition
- Low End
- €3,300
- High End
- €4,725
- Note
- Older published rate; contact school for current figures given the subsidised structure
Tallinn English College
- Location
- Tallinn (municipal school)
- Curriculum
- Estonian national curriculum combined with the IB Diploma Programme
- Language Of Instruction
- Estonian, with IB Diploma coursework in English
Tuition
- Note
- State-funded municipal gymnasium — the IB pathway here carries no tuition fee for eligible students, unlike at private international schools
Audentes (Private School with IB Diploma Programme)
- Location
- Tallinn
- Curriculum
- IB Diploma Programme, operating as a separate IB DP school since 2019; broader school also follows elements of the Estonian curriculum
- Language Of Instruction
- English for the IB Diploma stream
- Notes
- A private school, so its IB pathway carries tuition fees, unlike the state-funded IB options; specific published tuition figures were not publicly available at the time of research.
Tuition
- Note
- Not publicly published — contact school directly for current fees
Tallinna Prantsuse Lütseum (Tallinn French School)
- Location
- Hariduse 3, Tallinn
- Curriculum
- Estonian-French bilingual public school programme; comprehensive basic school (ages 7–16) and secondary school (16–19)
- Language Of Instruction
- Estonian, with French introduced from year one, Russian from year three, and English from year four
Tuition
- Note
- Public school — no general tuition fee; inquire directly for any programme-specific costs
Les Petits Francophones
- Location
- Toom-Kuninga 15, Tallinn
- Curriculum
- French curriculum, recognized by the Ministry of Education of France
- Language Of Instruction
- French
Tuition
- Note
- Not publicly published — inquire directly with the school
International House (Early Years)
- Location
- Tallinn
- Age Range
- Early years / pre-primary
- Curriculum
- International/bilingual early-years programme; commonly used as a stepping stone before transferring into larger IB schools such as ISE
Tuition
- Note
- Not publicly published — inquire directly with the school
Homeschooling
- Prevalence
- Homeschooling is legal in Estonia but not very common, since most Estonian families use the mainstream (well-regarded) state or private school system; however, the number of homeschooling families has been gradually increasing, particularly among expat communities seeking to maintain a home-country curriculum or language.
- Legal Basis
- Homeschooling (kodune õpe / koduõpe) is permitted under Estonia's Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act and the Ministry of Education and Research's Procedures for Home Schooling regulation, and it is legal for foreign residents and expats living in Estonia, not just citizens.
- Legal Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Two Recognized Types
- Estonian regulation distinguishes two types: homeschooling by parental preference, and homeschooling based on medical necessity; in the parental-preference case the process begins with the parent submitting an application, stating reasons, and naming who will do the teaching, at the school where the child is registered.
- Assessment Requirement
- The school gives homeschooled students assessments at least once a semester, and if a student's knowledge does not meet the requirements set out in the national curriculum, the child will be required to return to conventional school.
- Financial Responsibility
- In the parental-preference case, the parent is responsible for managing and financing the homeschooling and for the quality and results of teaching, unlike the medical-necessity case where the school arranges and publicly funds the homeschooling.
- Annual Reapproval Required
- Parents are required to apply to homeschool annually at the school where their child is registered — approval is not a one-time, permanent status but must be renewed each school year.
Local Tallinn Community Or Coop
- Explanation
- We could not find a documented, genuinely local Tallinn-based homeschool co-op or in-person parent support group (e.g., a registered association, regular meetup series, or named local network). What does exist are commercial online homeschool programs (e.g., accredited online schools) that serve homeschooling families located in Estonia, including in Tallinn, and general expat-forum discussion threads — but these are not the same as a verified, organized local co-op community, so we are not asserting one exists.
- Documented Local Coop Found
- No
International Bilingual School Enrollment
- General Pattern
- Tallinn's international/IB-track schools use two different admissions models: fee-paying private international schools (IST, ISE, Audentes International School) run largely rolling, year-round admissions with limited seats, while the municipal citywide-admission English-immersion school (Tallinn English College) and the European-Schools-network Tallinn European School use fixed annual application windows with defined eligibility categories.
European School Example
- School
- Tallinn European School (European Baccalaureate, English or French sections)
- Categories
- The school has two enrolment categories: Category I covers children of EU institutions and agencies, while Category II covers children of foreigners living and working in Estonia whose children cannot study in their mother tongue in a local state or private school, and Category II enrolment is subject to availability.
- Priority Order
- Priority is given to the children of EU diplomats in Tallinn, and within Category II priority is given to children who have previously studied in one of the school's section languages (English or French) — meaning families without prior EU-diplomat status or prior English/French-medium schooling can face a real waitlist risk for this school.
Rolling Admission Schools
- Example
- International School of Tallinn (IST)
- Process
- Admissions to the International School of Tallinn are open year-round; however, the number of available places is limited, and families are encouraged to contact the school early to learn more about the programmes, the admissions process and the school's learning environment.
- Application Steps
- The published process includes submitting an online application along with school reports for grades 3–12 and a copy of the applicant's ID or passport, followed by an admission assessment that may include an interview, trial day, and an admission test in Math and English, then signing the schooling contract upon successful completion of the assessment.
- Required Documents
- Required documents include the completed application form, academic transcripts or school reports from the previous two years, and a copy of the student's passport or ID.
Realistic Waitlist Expectations
- Demand for Tallinn's international schools has grown quickly alongside the country's digital nomad visa programme, and places are limited and often fill early, so it is genuinely wise to secure a spot before committing to a neighborhood or lease.
- For rolling-admission private schools (IST, ISE), there is no single universal deadline, but because capacity per grade is small, applying 4–6+ months before the intended start date is a safer margin than applying just weeks ahead — especially for popular grade levels.
- For the municipal citywide school and the European School's Category II track, expect a defined annual application window (often in the spring for the following school year) plus explicit eligibility gatekeeping, so families should contact the school directly well before that window opens to confirm whether they even qualify.
Fixed Window Municipal School Example
- School
- Tallinn English College (citywide admissions, IB World School)
- Takeaway
- This school's window and eligibility rules can shift year to year, so foreign families should verify the current year's exact dates and Annex criteria directly with the school rather than assuming last year's window repeats.
- Eligibility Caveat
- Eligibility for this municipal school's foreign-national intake is narrow and defined by an official annex: it covers children of foreign nationals whose parent is part of a foreign diplomatic mission or employed under a fixed-term contract in national defense, at a public university, or at an international organization, plus a few other specific listed categories — most ordinary remote-working nomad families will not qualify through this route.
- Recent Timeline Example
- For the most recent cycle, document submission ran over a roughly two-week window in March, with families informed about ten days later whether they could proceed to an in-person learning-readiness assessment held in mid-April; the child must have turned 7 by October 1 of the intake year for first-grade entry.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.