Bogotá

Bogotá’s international schools are Colombian schools with international doors. The flagship institutions were founded for the city’s own elite and diplomatic corps — CNG in 1938, the Anglo in 1956 — and their classrooms today are majority Colombian: CNG’s 2025-26 profile counts 44 per cent Colombian students plus another 31 per cent dual-nationals, with 51 nationalities in total. For children, Spanish fluency and Colombian friends are the default outcome; English-medium instruction holds the international door open. ↗

The calendar question comes first. Colombia runs two school years: calendario A (late January to November — the public system and most local private schools) and calendario B (August to June — the bilingual and international layer). Bogotá’s official 2026 calendar ran 26 January to 29 November under the Secretaría de Educación del Distrito’s Resolución 2433; every school on this page runs calendario B on its own independent schedule. A family arriving from the northern hemisphere slots straight into calendario B; mixing the two costs or gains half a year. ↗

Oversight is real but quiet. The Ministerio de Educación Nacional recognises schools and approves annual pensión increases, and Bogotá’s Secretaría de Educación (SED) sets the tariff rules under the régimen de libertad regulada — school handbooks cite the SED resolution that fixes each year’s matrícula and pensión. There are no published inspection ratings; the signals that matter are Cognia/CIS accreditation, IB authorisation, Round Square membership, and ICFES classifications for the local track. It is an accreditation market like São Paulo, not a ratings market like Dubai. ↗

Colegio Nueva Granada (CNG) (founded 1938, Cra 2 Este at Calle 70, against the eastern hills) is the American school: US college-prep on Common Core lines, 32 Advanced Placement courses, Cognia accreditation, and a dual exit — every graduate earns the US High School diploma, and about 80 per cent of the Class of 2025 also took the Colombian Bachillerato. Its own 2025-26 profile reports 1,671 students, an average high-school class of 11 (maximum 23 by policy), and 99 per cent of graduates on to university. ↗

CNG does not publish a current fee schedule. A 2024-25 aggregator compilation lists annual tuition of US$13,485-14,918, and expat guides cite an all-in annual matrícula around COP 53.6-60 million — treat both as indicative until the school confirms; a 2023-24 report put monthly pensiones at COP 5.2-5.5 million (kinder to grade 7). What is verifiable: the school is a non-profit, bills in pesos, and runs the calendar that matters — August to June. ↗

Colegio Gran Bretaña (CGB) is the British school — the one the diplomatic community means when it says “the British School”: about 535 pupils of more than 50 nationalities, English curriculum to IGCSE with the IB Diploma, on a far-north campus at Carrera 51 #215. It does not publish fees; the John Catt directory lists day fees around US$16,000 (undated) and expat guides put upper secondary above COP 55 million. Its 2025-26 handbook confirms the mechanics: monthly invoices August through June, and only a 50 per cent refund of the enrolment fee if a paid-up student never starts. ↗

Diplomatic post reports are blunt about the trade: CNG is central and American, CGB is smaller, British and far away — parents report an hour each way to CGB, two in rain, and compulsory lunch charges. Most embassy families apply to both and let the waitlist decide. ↗

Colegio Anglo Colombiano (founded 1956 with British embassy support, 29.5-acre campus in the north) is the city’s IB institution: full PYP-MYP-DP continuum, CIS-accredited since 1998, Round Square member, houses named after British admirals, about 1,800 students. Colombia’s first IB World School was authorised in 1977, and the Anglo describes itself as a pioneer of the programme in the country — the heritage is real even where the superlatives are hedged. ↗

The Anglo is also the transparency outlier: its published 2024-25 PEI fee annex lists the annual payment (matrícula plus pensiones) at COP 40,548,600 for grades 5-6, COP 40,304,700 for grade 7, COP 39,965,400 for grades 8-9, COP 39,776,500 for grade 10 and COP 39,604,500 for grade 11 — roughly US$9,500-10,000. The same document offers a prepayment scheme that discounts future Ministry-approved increases for grades 5-7 entrants, and charges late interest at the maximum legal rate. ↗

Rochester School (Chía, Autopista Norte km 15) is Nord Anglia’s Bogotá asset — day and boarding, bilingual English-Spanish on US Common Core plus the national curriculum with AP courses, maximum enrolment about 1,026, listed fees from US$10,300 a year, on a LEED Platinum campus. Directory data puts its monthly pensión around COP 2.4-2.9 million. ↗ Knightsbridge Schools International (KSI) Bogotá (Guaymaral, Calle 221) is the smaller bilingual IB option; an expat guide cites COP 22-38 million a year — confirm with the school.

Lycée Français Louis Pasteur (Calle 87 #7-77) is the AEFE-network lycée for ages 3-18, French curriculum to the Baccalauréat; an expat guide cites standard annual costs around COP 34.3 million — typically the best value-for-results ratio among the foreign-curriculum schools, as in most Latin American capitals. ↗

Colegio Andino — Deutsche Schule Bogotá (founded 1922) is the German pillar: about 1,850 students, roughly 90 per cent Colombian-origin, kindergarten to the German International Abitur with a double German-Colombian diploma, certified an Excellent German School Abroad in 2008, 2014 and 2022, on a 16-plus hectare campus in the north. ↗ Colegio Helvetia (founded 1949) serves the Swiss community with a multilingual track to the Swiss Matura.

The local-elite wildcard. Gimnasio Moderno (founded 1914, Chicó) is a national-monument school built on Montessori and Decroly active schooling — historically boys-only, now in a gradual co-educational transition — with pensión around COP 2.7 million a month and an ICFES A+ classification. ↗ Colegio Colombo Americano (CAS), second in the 2025 Sapiens Research national ranking, charges about COP 3-3.3 million a month including food, with a Canadian dual-diploma option. ↗ For families staying in Colombia long-term, these schools deliver the city’s strongest local networks at a third of flagship money — the trade-offs are Spanish-dominant classrooms and a Colombian university track.

Billing is layered and in COP. Expect a one-time matrícula (enrolment), then pensión in 10-11 monthly instalments through the school year — CGB invoices August to June, the Victoria School’s handbook shows the standard ten-month August-to-May pattern. Transport adds COP 500-650,000 a month and cafeteria COP 400-600,000 at the schools that publish them. Late payment accrues interest at the maximum rate the Financial Superintendence certifies. ↗

Fee increases are regulated, not negotiated. Under the Secretaría de Educación’s libertad regulada regime, each year’s matrícula and pensión are fixed at enrolment under the applicable SED resolution — mid-year surprises are rare, but annual increases compound. The Anglo’s prepayment scheme is the sophisticated counter: prepay pensiones at grades 5-7 entry and future Ministry-approved increases apply to your discounted rate. Ask every school whether it offers an equivalent. ↗

The peso is the silent variable. Fees are COP-denominated, so a dollar-earning family’s effective cost swings with the exchange rate — at 4,000-4,300 COP/USD, a COP 40 million year is US$9,300-10,000. Bogotá’s flagship tier runs roughly half the cost of São Paulo and a third of the Gulf; parents arriving from Asia report pleasant surprise, and parents paid in pesos report the opposite. Budget in COP, earn in USD if you can.

Bogotá sorts into two family zones. Chicó, Rosales and Parque 93 (estrato 5-6) hold the diplomatic and corporate cluster — apartments with portería, walkable restaurants, Rosales hillier and closer to CNG. The far north — Usaquén, Cedritos, Niza and on to La Calleja, Chía and Guaymaral — is where the campuses are: CGB, the Anglo, Rochester, KSI and most of the bilingual belt. Diplomatic housing reports put commutes at 30-90 minutes depending on traffic and rain; the universal advice is to secure the school place first and rent inside its bus zone. ↗

On security, the honest summary from expat publishers: the northern belt (Zona T, Chicó Norte, Rosales, Parque 93, Usaquén) is the city’s safest; the historic centre requires vigilance; the far south is generally advised against. Daily family life runs on app-based transport, guarded buildings and door-to-door school buses. And remember the altitude — at 2,640 metres, the first month is the adjustment; schools build it into their sports calendars. ↗

Forum material is texture, not evidence — attributed as reported experience from diplomatic post reports, expat forums and relocation advisers:

• Apply early, apply twice. Post reports warn that even embassy families are not guaranteed places at CNG or CGB; the working pattern is to apply to both flagships plus one backup, in the autumn before an August start. ↗
• The CGB commute is the city’s most-repeated warning. An hour each way is normal; rain can double the return. Families who choose CGB tend to move north within a year — or move schools.
• Read the compulsory extras. Parents report mandatory lunch programmes (one report priced US$400 for three children), transport contracts billed separately from pensión, and no packed-lunch options at some schools. Ask what is compulsory before comparing headline fees.
• Spanish is the gift and the gap. Children pick up Spanish fast in majority-Colombian classrooms; parents report struggling with school communications in Spanish. Ask each school what it sends home in English.
• Bilingual is not international. Colombia has hundreds of “bilingüe” schools on the national curriculum at COP 8-18 million a year; the international layer (IB, American, British, AEFE, Abitur) costs two to four times more. The choice tracks how long you are staying and which university system comes next.

Every fee figure and policy claim above traces to our research dossier. Primary sources: the Anglo Colombiano 2024-25 fee annex, the CNG school profile 2025-26, the CGB parent handbook 2025-26, Nord Anglia’s Rochester listing and the PASCH profile of Colegio Andino. CNG and CGB do not publish current fee schedules — figures cited for them come from aggregator and expat-guide compilations and are marked as indicative. Aggregator figures should always be confirmed against each school before you budget.

Fees and policies expire. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard for how claims are graded, our guides for the admissions timeline, and corrections if you spot something stale.