Halcyon London International School

Halcyon is the only not-for-profit IB school in London, founded in 2013 in Marylebone. Around 190 students aged 11 to 18 running MYP and Diploma only, with a focus on small classes and central London location.

Fees run roughly GBP 30,400 to GBP 31,900 a year, with means-tested bursaries available. The campus is a townhouse setup with no playing fields or dedicated gym, so PE and sport happen at Seymour Leisure Centre, Westway, and rented ice and pitches around the city. The school is purely secondary, no primary feeder.

Families describe rigorous teaching, IB results that punch above the school's size, and a tight-knit community where teachers know every child. Parents who moved from the British system often cite the IB's broader, less pressured approach as the main draw. The trade-off everyone names is the lack of on-site sport and outdoor space. Best fit for central London families set on the IB and willing to accept a city-centre footprint over playing fields.

• Parents and reviewers describe a small, central-London IB school where the small size is the point. Class sizes sit in the mid-teens or below and the school markets itself as not-for-profit.
• IB Diploma results are consistently above the global average, and graduates appear in Russell Group destinations including LSE, UCL and Imperial.
• Wellbeing and identity programmes are praised. A Mother Tongue Programme supports several home languages and weekly mentoring is built into the timetable.
• One parent moving from a British school said their children were "much more engaged and motivated" at Halcyon. Reviewers describe a "tight-knit community" with active parent involvement.
• The same small size limits competitive sport and the breadth of extracurriculars; one third-party review notes only a "limited range" of SEN provision.
• Online review volume is small, so parents should weigh consistency over count.