Bangalore International School

In Brief

BIS is the right school for families who want a genuinely small, long-established international community at a fraction of the cost of the large IB schools. The ESL programme is one of the strongest in Bangalore and the fees leave room in the budget for everything else.

Founded in 1969, BIS is among the oldest international schools in India - older than most of Bangalore's prominent IB schools by several decades. The school was built for the American families working in the city before the tech boom arrived, and that community character has persisted. With around 500 students, it operates on a scale where teachers and the head of school know most families directly. CIS accreditation and the Cambridge-to-IB Diploma progression give it solid academic credentials, with IGCSE for Grades 9-10 and a choice of Cambridge A/AS Levels or the IB Diploma for the final two years.

The Hennur Gardens location places it north of central Bangalore, reasonably accessible from Indiranagar, Hebbal, and Yelahanka without the Sarjapur corridor traffic. Families who've moved from other countries report the ESL provision as exceptional - children with little to no English joining at primary level were speaking, reading, and writing well enough to participate in class within six months, which is a meaningful claim if your children are arriving mid-schooling. Art and music departments are consistently mentioned as genuine strengths.

The fee level - INR 1.78L to INR 3.03L per year - is considerably lower than CIS, Stonehill, or Inventure. That affordability comes with a smaller campus. There is no swimming pool on site, though the school has an agreement with a nearby sports facility. The campus is compact and the school is not competing on sports infrastructure or scale. Some grades are currently on waitlist, so check availability for your child's year group before visiting.