British International School Ho Chi Minh City

The short version

The short version

BIS HCMC is the largest international school in Vietnam: over 2,300 students aged 2–18 from more than 50 nationalities, taught across three purpose-built campuses in Thao Dien, Thu Duc City (the former District 2). Students follow the English National Curriculum, sit Cambridge IGCSEs in Years 10–11, and take the IB Diploma in Years 12–13.

The school has been part of the for-profit Nord Anglia Education group since March 2015.↗↗

For a relocating family, the practical summary is this: BIS is the default British-school answer in HCMC — the strongest combination of scale, external validation (a full BSO Outstanding) and published results in the city.

The trade-offs are premium-group pricing (secondary tuition approaching VND 1 billion a year plus a registration fee of around VND 70 million), selective entry, and a three-campus structure your family may move between as children grow.

What the school is

A family startup that became a group flagship

The school’s origin is unusually well documented. It opened in August 1997 as Tiny Tots, a preschool in a renovated District 1 villa, founded by Maurice Nguyen and Rosie Ngo for their daughter Jenny; 60 children registered in the first week and another 50 joined a waiting list.

Nord Anglia advised the founders on establishing the British International School as early as 2000, and the school formally joined the group in March 2015.↗

Nord Anglia ownership brings the group’s standard package — collaborations with MIT, The Juilliard School, UNICEF and IMG Academy, plus transfer pathways across its 80-plus schools worldwide — and a commercial fee posture. Families leaving one Nord Anglia school for another city should ask about group transfer priority, a genuinely useful perk for mobile postings.↗

The campus map matters for daily life: the Early Years & Infant Campus sits at 101 Thao Dien Street, the Junior Campus at 225 Nguyen Van Huong, and the Secondary Campus at 246 Nguyen Van Huong — all within Thao Dien, HCMC’s main expat district.

The first Year 13 cohort graduated in 2006, and a specialist early-years campus was added in 2017; the school also runs Fundinotots, a parent-accompanied programme for children up to 36 months that preserves its preschool roots.↗↗

Academics and inspection

A full BSO Outstanding, and published results

BIS HCMC was inspected under the UK Government’s British Schools Overseas framework in November 2022 and rated Outstanding in all categories — the strongest external quality signal available to a British school abroad.

It also holds CIS and WASC membership, FOBISIA membership, Cambridge IGCSE centre status, IB World School authorisation, UK DfE registration and a Vietnamese MOET licence.↗

The school publishes a proper secondary profile — a rarity in Vietnam. For 2024/25 it reports a 97.1% IB Diploma pass rate, a 36.1 average score against a world average of 30.3, 28.4% of IBDP students at 40+ points, and 97.4% of students achieving five IGCSEs at A*–C in 2024.

These are school-published figures, but they are specific, dated and checkable — ask for the current year’s equivalent.↗

The pathway is British to 16, then IB: English National Curriculum and EYFS in the early and middle years, Cambridge IGCSE in Years 10–11, and the IB Diploma — not A Levels — in the sixth form. Around 92% of teachers are reported UK-qualified.

Families set on A Levels should note that distinction early; the IB is a broader, more coursework-heavy finish.↗

Admissions and cost

2026/27 fees, the registration charge, and the 50% rule

For 2026/27, Nord Anglia’s own published comparison puts BIS tuition at VND 333–521 million a year in EYFS, VND 679–759 million in primary and VND 875–999 million in secondary — near the top of the city market.

The 2025/26 range was VND 238.1 million (F1 half-day) to VND 956.3 million (Years 12–13), an average rise of 4–5% on the prior year.↗↗

One-time charges are substantial: a VND 3.5 million application fee, a registration fee of VND 70.8 million at primary/secondary entry (VND 23.6 million at Foundation Stage, with the difference payable on moving up), and a refundable VND 23.6 million security deposit — refunded only with 90 days’ written notice of withdrawal.

One 2026 expat review cites the registration fee at VND 73.3 million; the school’s own table is published as an image, so confirm the current figure in writing. All tuition and the deposit must be paid in full before the first day.↗↗

Entry is selective: every child sits an age-appropriate assessment, with school reports, certificates and teacher recommendations required, and year groups are set by 1 September–31 August birthdays.

One structural fact shapes the community: under Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, foreign-invested schools teaching foreign programmes may enrol Vietnamese citizens up to just under 50% of total enrolment — so BIS’s large Vietnamese cohort is capped by law, and demand from local families competes for that quota.↗↗

The family experience

Thao Dien life and the three-campus rhythm

Thao Dien is HCMC’s established expat district — walkable by local standards, dense with family restaurants and services, and home to most of the city’s premium schools.

Living there converts the school run into a short hop; living in District 1, Binh Thanh or District 7 converts it into a river-crossing commute that parents consistently cite as the defining daily variable. The school year runs August to June across three terms.↗

Parent sentiment, as recorded by editorial reviewers, is strongly positive — one parent called it “definitely one of the best in the area”, citing standards, facilities and the extracurricular range — with the caveat that the school’s scale (2,400 students) and group ownership mean the experience depends heavily on the campus and year team your child lands in.

That is attributed opinion, not measurement; test it on a tour with the questions below.↗

Take these to the school

Questions that move beyond the tour script