International schools in Latvia

Are you looking for an international school in Latvia? Search here for the best international schools in Latvia; you can find a list of selected schools at the bottom of this page. Use the search filters to select only girls' or boys' schools, prep schools, senior schools or sixth forms; or you can search for schools that offer a particular curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate, the UK or US national curriculum or the International Primary Curriculum.

A fledgling international school sector is springing up in Riga, the capital of Latvia, as the small, highly developed Baltic state becomes increasingly integrated into the global economy after joining the European Union in 2004. 

Several English-medium independent schools offering an international curriculum are established in the city, with the oldest, the International School of Latvia (ISL), dating back to 1994. Most are coeducational day schools offering through-train education.

There are eight IB World Schools in Latvia, six of which are authorised to teach the International Baccalaureate Diploma, while one, the ISL, teaches all three IB programmes.

The International School of Riga delivers a mixed curriculum that includes the IB Diploma and Primary Years Programme, alongside the International Middle Years Curriculum of UK-based education provider Fieldwork Education. British A-levels and the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education are also offered.

King’s College, the British School of Latvia, opened in September 2017. The school belongs to a group of eight international schools that follow the English national curriculum and offer IGCSEs and A-levels. 

The French-medium Jules Verne Riga French School and German-medium Deutsche Schule Riga add to the international mix. Several private independent and top-ranking state schools also offer international streams alongside the Latvian curriculum. 

Education is compulsory from age five to 16 and state schools, which mostly teach in Latvian, are free to citizens of Latvia and other European Union countries. After two years of pre-school, children follow nine years of elementary education to age 16 before going on to academic or vocational high schools.

Participation rates are high, with net enrolment of 93 per cent in pre-primary education; 97 per cent in elementary schools; and 93.5 per cent at secondary schools, according to UNESCO in 2019. Some 95 per cent of young people receive some form of tertiary education, with girls outnumbering boys.