Forty-five schools, fees included
We list the fees other guides leave out. Forty-five schools with the numbers, the curriculum and the character, from a Swiss chateau on Lake Geneva to a colonial village in New England.
The short version
A private school is a fifteen-year decision made in an afternoon. Our profiles give you the boarding fee, the curriculum, the entry ages, the ratio of boarders to day pupils and the kind of child who is happy there. Use the School Finder to narrow forty-five down to five, then visit.
The School Finder
Choose the country, the curriculum and the budget: five schools from the guide with the fee, the entry age and the reason they fit.
Switzerland
SwitzerlandRolle and Gstaad
SwitzerlandVillars-sur-Ollon
SwitzerlandSt. Gallen
SwitzerlandZuoz, Engadin
SwitzerlandVillars-sur-Ollon
SwitzerlandLeysin
SwitzerlandMontagnola, Lugano
SwitzerlandLausanne
SwitzerlandZug
SwitzerlandCrans-Montana
SwitzerlandMontreux
SwitzerlandVersoix, Geneva
United Kingdom
United KingdomWindsor, Berkshire
United KingdomHarrow on the Hill, London
United KingdomWinchester, Hampshire
United KingdomWestminster, London
United KingdomBarnes, London
United KingdomHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
United KingdomCheltenham, Gloucestershire
United KingdomSevenoaks, Kent
United KingdomMarlborough, Wiltshire
United KingdomRugby, Warwickshire
United KingdomElgin, Moray, Scotland
United KingdomGodalming, Surrey
United KingdomCrowthorne, Berkshire
United KingdomStreet, Somerset
United KingdomStowe, Buckinghamshire
United KingdomOundle, Northamptonshire
United KingdomAbingdon, Oxfordshire
United KingdomCranbrook, Kent
United KingdomCold Ash, Berkshire
United KingdomTonbridge, Kent
France
United States
United StatesExeter, New Hampshire
United StatesAndover, Massachusetts
United StatesWallingford, Connecticut
United StatesDeerfield, Massachusetts
United StatesLakeville, Connecticut
United StatesLawrenceville, New Jersey
In this section
Private Schools · 9 min read
The English send their children away at thirteen, the Swiss take them at any age, the Americans wait until fourteen. Behind the traditions is a simpler question: is this child ready, and is this the right house?
Private Schools · 9 min read
Twelve schools, four curricula, three languages and fees that reach the highest in the world. The Swiss institutes are not one thing, and the right one depends on whether your family wants Geneva, the mountains or the Matura.
Private Schools · 7 min read
A child who reads, talks and is curious will do well. A child coached to perform will be spotted in four minutes. The interview is the part of admissions that money cannot buy, which is why the schools keep it.
Between 55,000 and 65,000 pounds a year at the leading English schools since VAT was added in 2025, between 90,000 and 160,000 Swiss francs at the Swiss institutes, 40,000 to 50,000 euros at the German elite boarding schools and 70,000 to 80,000 US dollars at the New England academies. Extras, trips, uniforms and flights come on top.
English prep schools board from 7 or 8, the senior schools enter at 11 or 13. Swiss schools take boarders from 8 to 10, most families start at 12 to 14. American academies begin at grade 9, so at 14. Later entry at 16 for the sixth form or the IB is common everywhere.
Very, at the famous names. Eton, Westminster, St Paul's and Wycombe Abbey test at 10 or 11 for entry two or three years later. Swiss schools are less exam-driven and more interview-driven, but the best are full a year ahead. Apply eighteen months before entry as a rule.
