Opened
2012

As BVIS Hanoi; converted to BIS in 2013, Nord Anglia from 2015

Curriculum
British → IB

English NC / IPC, IGCSE, then IB Diploma

Years
Age 2–18

Foundation Stage to Year 13

Campus
Long Bien

Vinhomes Riverside — across the Red River from Tay Ho

Structure
Nord Anglia

For-profit global group; Juilliard, MIT, UNICEF links

Accreditation
CIS + WASC

Since 2017, jointly re-accredited 2023; IB since 2016

The short version

The short version

The British International School Hanoi is the city’s leading British-curriculum option: an all-through school for ages 2–18 teaching the English National Curriculum and International Primary Curriculum, IGCSE in Years 10–11, and the IB Diploma — not A-Levels — in the sixth form.

It has been part of Nord Anglia Education since 2015, which buys students the group’s Juilliard, MIT, UNICEF and IMG Academy collaborations, and it holds joint CIS and WASC accreditation, renewed in 2023.↗↗

For a relocating family, the practical summary is this: 2026-27 tuition runs from VND 253.6 million (Foundation half-day) to VND 970.2 million (Years 12–13), with an unusually inclusive fee — uniforms, lunches, materials, day trips, exam fees and teacher-led activities are all bundled.

The decision that shapes everything else is location: the campus is in Vinhomes Riverside, Long Bien, on the far side of the Red River from the Tay Ho diplomatic quarter where most expat families first look at housing.↗

What the school is

A school with an identity history worth understanding

The campus opened in August 2012 as the British Vietnamese International School (BVIS) Hanoi, a bilingual school with Anthony Rowlands as founding Principal.

When BVIS relocated to the Royal City complex in 2013, the Vinhomes Riverside campus converted to a full international programme and became the British International School Hanoi; in 2015, Vietnam’s BIS and BVIS schools joined Nord Anglia.

That history explains two things families encounter immediately: the sister-school relationship with BVIS Hanoi (a different, bilingual, Vietnamese-market school), and a campus built for a dual-market purpose that now serves a fully international one.↗

The school today teaches over 1,000 students from more than 30 nationalities, and independent reviewers describe a roughly 50/50 split between Vietnamese and international students — a profile shaped by Vietnam’s Decree 86, which lets foreign-invested schools enrol Vietnamese citizens up to just under half of total enrolment.

For expat families this is neither unusual nor a red flag in Hanoi, but it is a real cultural parameter: ask which year groups skew which way.↗↗

Governance is corporate, not associational: Nord Anglia is a for-profit global group, and BIS Hanoi is run to group standards — group-wide teacher recruitment, the Global Campus platform, and the named collaborations with The Juilliard School, MIT, UNICEF and IMG Academy.

The trade-off versus a not-for-profit like UNIS is real and worth discussing openly at visit: group resources and consistency on one side, fee-income leaving the school on the other.↗

Academics in practice

IGCSE then IB — and results the school publishes

The academic pathway is English National Curriculum with the International Primary Curriculum in primary, IGCSE in Years 10–11 as a Cambridge International centre, and the IB Diploma in Years 12–13 — authorised since 2016. Families sometimes arrive expecting A-Levels at a “British” school; BIS Hanoi does not offer them.

If the A-Level pathway matters to you, that conversation needs to happen before enrolment, not at Year 11.↗↗

Results are published and strong for the city. The 2026 IB Diploma cohort averaged 35.11 points against a global 30.88, with two perfect 45s and about one in seven candidates at 40 or above; the 2025 average was 33.24, the eighth consecutive year above the world average.

Ten graduating cohorts have won places at more than 350 universities, including Stanford, Yale, Cambridge, UCL, NUS, Melbourne and Toronto. Ask for candidate counts with the averages — the school quotes averages prominently and cohort sizes less so.↗↗↗

A 2026 development worth knowing: the school launched a scholarship programme for the 2026-27 year in January 2026 — the terms were not public at research time, so ask admissions directly what it covers and who qualifies.

The school also runs the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and belongs to FOBISIA, the regional federation of British schools, which matters for sport and activity competition circuits.↗↗

Admissions and cost

The official 2026-27 fee table, and what is bundled in

From the school’s own schedule for 2026-27: Foundation 1 half-day VND 253.6 million, F1 full-day 343.1M, F2 360.9M, F3 510.8M; Year 1 657.6M; Years 2–4 715.5M; Years 5–6 734.6M; Years 7–9 846.8M; Years 10–11 893.2M; Years 12–13 970.2M. Fees are payable termly across three terms.↗

The headline fee is more inclusive than most in Hanoi: it bundles school uniforms, daily lunches, snacks for Early Years and Primary, learning materials, day trips, mandatory international examination fees for Secondary students, and teacher-delivered co-curricular activities.

When comparing against UNIS or Concordia, compare the all-in bill, not the tuition line — the bundling narrows the apparent gap.↗

Entry costs: a non-refundable VND 4.5 million application fee, a registration fee of VND 23.6 million (Foundation) or VND 70.8 million (Primary and Secondary), and a refundable VND 23.6 million security deposit returned when your child leaves — provided you give 90 days’ written notice.

That notice clause is the school’s hedge against its January teacher-recruitment cycle; families on short-notice postings should price the risk of forfeiting it.↗

On demand: the school’s own FAQ says the admissions process from first contact to offer should take no more than two weeks, against almost 1,000 enquiries a year — language that suggests capacity rather than siege, though popular year groups can still fill.

There is no public waitlist data; if a year group matters to you, ask admissions for a straight answer on current availability before paying the application fee.↗

The family experience

The Red River fork: choose the school, then the housing

BIS Hanoi’s defining practical issue is the river. The campus sits on Hoa Lan Road inside Vinhomes Riverside, a gated Long Bien development east of the Red River; the diplomatic quarter, UNIS, and most of the serviced apartments expats know are in Tay Ho and Ba Dinh on the west bank.

Families effectively choose between two lives: live inside or near Vinhomes Riverside and walk the school run, or live in Tay Ho and put a child on a bus across a bridge at rush hour. Neither is wrong — but make the choice deliberately, and test the crossing at 7:30am before signing a lease.↗

Community scale is genuine: the 2025 International Festival drew hundreds of families with more than 70 cultural booths and a secondary production of West Side Story in preview, and the school’s parent body takes an organising role.

Reviews describe a warm, close-knit community with strong pastoral care — smaller and more contained than UNIS, with the Nord Anglia network’s inter-school programmes on top.↗↗

Who thrives here: British and Commonwealth families who want a familiar curriculum spine, families sold on the IB Diploma but wanting IGCSE structure first, and households happy to live Long Bien-side.

Who should look elsewhere: families committed to A-Levels, families set on the UN-style diversity cap, and anyone whose work and social life anchors firmly west of the river who cannot face the daily crossing.↗

Our readConfidence: High

The British option — with the map as the deciding factor

Our confidence is High on fees, curriculum, accreditation and history: the 2026-27 fee table, the bundled-fee policy, the deposit terms and the BVIS-to-BIS conversion all come from the school’s own pages, and two years of IB averages are published first-party.

What remains soft is cohort-level exam detail (candidate counts), the terms of the new scholarship programme, and any measure of waitlist depth — the school’s two-week process language suggests capacity, but that is inference.

BIS Hanoi suits families who want British structure with an IB finish, value the all-inclusive fee, and are willing to organise life around Long Bien — ideally by living in or near Vinhomes Riverside.

It is a weaker fit for families who need A-Levels, who want a not-for-profit governance model, or whose daily life will stay anchored in Tay Ho. In Hanoi, school choice and housing choice are the same decision; this school makes that truer than any other.

Take these to the school

Questions that move beyond the tour script

Admissions and availability

  1. Is there current availability in our child’s year group for our entry date — and if not, how does the waitlist actually move?
  2. What does the 2026-27 scholarship programme cover, who qualifies, and when are decisions made?
  3. Which year groups are fullest, and how does the Vietnamese/international balance run in our child’s year?

Academics and pathway

  1. May we see the 2026 IB results with candidate numbers, and the IGCSE results breakdown by subject?
  2. How are students guided between HL/SL choices in the Diploma, and what happens if a child struggles with the IB’s breadth?
  3. What learning support and EAL provision exists, and how is need assessed before an offer?

Cost and logistics

  1. Given the bundled fee, what should we actually budget on top in year one — bus, trips, devices, exam resits?
  2. Which bus routes cross the river from Tay Ho and Ba Dinh, and what is the real journey time at 7:30am?
  3. If our posting ends mid-year, what notice protects the security deposit, and what are the tuition refund terms?

Continue your research

Choose your next step

Sources and further research

Where to verify and keep reading

We favor direct links to the exact page or document a family may need next. Access dates matter because admissions, tuition, leadership, and programs change.