School search in Manila: the decision that fixes where a family can live
In the Philippine capital the school comes first: the one your child gets into decides which districts are liveable at seven in the morning. Asia Relocation Philippines compares the international schools against your child and your commute, visits them with you, and carries the application to enrolment.
Metro Manila has more international schools than most families expect, spread across a city where distance is measured in hours. A school on the far side of the traffic from the office is a daily cost, which is why the school goes on the map before any home viewing is booked.
The schools differ by curriculum, by the language a child hears in the corridor, by the size of the campus and by the year groups that still have places. A choice made from a website is made on reputation, and reputation says nothing about whether a nine-year-old from a French primary will settle.
Asia Relocation Philippines has done this for families arriving in the capital since 2011, and for those posted to Cebu. The consultant who takes the brief runs the visits, the file and the enrolment.
What the school search includes, and what it does not
Two columns of equal weight; the right one saves the surprise in week three.
Carried by the service
- A brief built around the child: where the schooling stands, in which language, and which programme the next school should continue rather than interrupt.
- Places checked by year group, not by school. A Manila school can be open in Grade 3 and full in Grade 7; we ask for your child's year before a name goes on the list.
- One written comparison instead of a pile of brochures: programme, admission tests, fee structure, class sizes, accreditation, and the districts each campus makes liveable.
- Visits with a consultant beside you, on campus in Manila or Cebu, or by video before you land.
- The file, carried to the offer: transcripts, references and forms gathered, deadlines held, the admissions office called by us, the seat confirmed.
Which schools we approach, and in what order, is fixed at the brief and put in writing.
A different service
- The home the school makes necessary. A campus in BGC or Alabang decides where the family can live; finding that home, and the Letter of Intent before the lease, is home search in Manila.
- Somewhere to sleep before the lease. The August start rarely waits for a signed lease: temporary housing in Manila covers the weeks between.
- A few words of Filipino for the child. Useful in the playground before it is useful in class: language training, for the whole household.
- The dependant's visa and ACR I-Card. The school asks for them; they are a Bureau of Immigration file: visa and immigration in the Philippines.
One consultant can carry all four alongside the school file; say which apply.
Five tracks in the capital, and the schools that carry each
The schools named are examples of a track, not a ranking.
American programme with the IB Diploma
The track most families from a third country choose: continuous from primary to the Diploma, and it transfers at the next posting. International School Manila and Brent run it; the Beacon School and Chinese International School Manila are on the IB path too.
British curriculum
The structure British and Commonwealth families know, through to the sixth form. The British School Manila is the reference in the capital, and the school whose year groups fill earliest.
French and German programmes
Eurocampus houses the French and the German school on one site: a family arriving from Europe is not forced to change system. Often the only question for a French-speaking household.
Christian and Australian schools
International Christian Academy and the Australian International School Manila serve families who want a particular ethos or a curriculum that matches home. Smaller campuses, and a different answer on the commute.
Japanese school
Manila Japanese School follows the Japanese curriculum for families who will return to it. We include it when the brief calls for it, and say honestly when it does not.
The child, the commute, the shortlist, the file
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The consultation
The child's academic history, language level and any specific need, the curriculum you would prefer, and the district the posting points to. The commute is settled here, not after.
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The shortlist
The schools that match, with admissions requirements, curriculum, class size and facilities side by side, and the districts each one makes liveable. One document for both parents.
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The visits
We organise and join them in Manila or Cebu, or run them on a call if you are not yet here. You meet the staff; we ask about year groups, waiting lists, bus routes and mid-year entry.
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The application
Documents assembled, deadlines held, the admissions office contacted directly so the file arrives complete and is read once. Where a school assesses the child, we say what that looks like.
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Enrolment and the transition
Enrolment coordinated with the school, and the advice that helps a child settle: who to speak to in the first week, what the bus does, how the school talks to parents.
Four families, and what the school decides for each
The family whose flight is booked before the school is
The posting starts on a date the employer chose, the school year starts in August whether the family is ready or not, and the shortlist has to exist before the plane does.
The household that will not change system
French, German and Japanese families who want their children to sit the exams they would have sat at home. Manila has the schools; the question is whether the right year group has a place, and we find out before promising.
The employer with schooling written into the offer
An assignment letter that guarantees school support has to be delivered by someone. We take the brief from HR and the family together, so neither hears a different answer.
The parent who wants the map before the names
Someone new to international schooling, or to the Philippines, who wants the programmes, the admission steps and the district logic laid out before anyone names a school. That conversation comes first.
Metro Manila, then Cebu in its own right
Visits and applications in Metro Manila and Cebu.
Metro Manila is where most searches happen and the choice is widest, which is why the commute is part of the brief: a campus on the wrong side of the traffic from Makati, BGC or Ortigas costs hours a day, and bus routes quietly define where families live.
Cebu has its own international schools, fewer than the capital, on a scale where the school run is measured in minutes. Families posted there do not need Manila for a curriculum; we visit there too.
What parents ask before choosing a school in the Philippines
Which curricula do the international schools in Manila follow?
Why does the school come before the home in the Philippines?
How early should we start?
What does a school in Manila ask for at application?
Can you visit schools before we arrive?
What do fees look like, and what sits on top of tuition?
Can our children arrive mid-year?
Do you search schools in Cebu as well as Manila?
After the school, the house; above it, the whole service
You have the school, you need the house
The district the school makes liveable, the viewings, the Letter of Intent and the move-in.
Home search in Manila →The whole relocation service
Housing, schooling, orientation and settling-in for the Philippines, on one file with one coordinator.
Relocation services in the Philippines →Tell us the child's age and the district, and we start the shortlist
One consultant, in English, French or Filipino, from the first call to the first day of term.
Start a school search →