Cities / Cairo / New Cairo British International School
New Cairo British International School
The original British international school in the Fifth Settlement, founded in 1978 by a group of WHO linked parents and still run as a not for profit through a parent elected board. Around 700 students and 60 plus nationalities.
In brief
The original British international school in the Fifth Settlement, founded in 1978 by a group of WHO-linked parents and still run as a not-for-profit through a parent-elected board. Around 700 students and 60-plus nationalities.
Was the first school in Cairo to gain CIS accreditation, and now layers the IB Diploma onto the British secondary pathway. Durham Value Added places students in roughly the 90th percentile against international peers, with an average IB score of 32. COBIS executive member and BSME affiliated. The not-for-profit governance is a real differentiator in a market where most competitors are commercial operators.
Expat families with secondary-age children gravitate here, and the active PTG is part of the soft-landing for new arrivals to New Cairo. Teaching is professional and academic outcomes hold up. Where the experience can sour is in periodic friction between management and teaching staff, which surfaces in mixed reviews from former teachers and a small number of parents. Fees are at the top end of the Cairo market, so families typically weigh NCBIS against MES, BISC and CES on package and travel time.
Fees
Annual fees
| Year level | Age | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Nursery | 3 | EGP 530,933 |
| Reception - Year 5 | 5 | EGP 777,408 |
| Year 6 | 10 | EGP 792,187 |
| Years 7-8 | 11 | EGP 912,835 |
| Year 9 | 13 | EGP 926,095 |
| Years 10-11 (IGCSE) | 14 | EGP 942,669 |
| Years 12-13 (IB / A-Level) | 16 | EGP 972,434 |
One-time fees
| Item | Age | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Application Fee | EGP 6,906 | |
| Refundable Deposit | EGP 40,000 | |
| Registration Charge | EGP 517,950 |
Reviews
A long-running non-profit in the 5th Settlement, governed by a board elected from parents at the school. Around 760 pupils across roughly 60 nationalities, with a Dutch stream sitting alongside the international primary. Curriculum runs EYFS and IB PYP through to iGCSE, then a choice of IB Diploma or Pearson International A levels in the sixth form. The 2025 British Schools Overseas inspection found all applicable standards met, with SEND provision, safeguarding and EAL support singled out as strong. A new principal arrived in May 2024 and the school is still settling into that change, with parent and teacher commentary on management catching up at different speeds.
Positives
- SEND and EAL support. Specialist inclusive learning team works across primary and secondary, with individual needs picked up early and one-to-one and small-group sessions running consistently. EAL provision is a particular focus, with teaching assistants deployed in primary and explicit work on subject vocabulary in secondary.
- Safeguarding and pastoral. Safeguarding leads carry UK statutory training into the Egyptian context, with clear reporting channels and a designated safeguarding governor reviewing implementation. Pupils in the BSO survey said they have a trusted adult to go to, and the anti-bullying programme is well known across the school.
- Non-profit, parent-governed. Owned by the Heliopolis Society, a non-profit whose board is elected from within the parent body. No group operator extracting margin, no shareholder pressure on fee escalation. Decisions sit closer to the families than at the brand-led competitors.
- Sixth-form pathway flexibility. Both IB Diploma and Pearson International A levels run in Years 12 and 13 after iGCSE, with A levels introduced in 2025. IB outcomes sit above the global average on mean subject score, and university destinations span UK Russell Group, Canada, continental Europe and the American University in Cairo.
Considerations
- Translation from iGCSE to sixth form. iGCSE results are strong and value-added data shows good progress from starting points. The same momentum is not always reaching IB and A level in equivalent terms, which the inspection flagged. Sixth-form outcomes hold above average but the curve through Year 11 is the steeper one.
- Leadership transition. A new principal started in May 2024 after a long previous tenure, and the period since has been one of recalibration. Some staff and parent commentary from the transition window leans cautious. Inspectors in April 2025 judged leadership as meeting the standard with the wellbeing of pupils actively promoted.
- Management and staff dynamic. Periodic friction between management and teaching staff surfaces across teacher-side commentary. Workload and pay come up alongside questions about HR. Glassdoor sits in the middle range rather than at either extreme, which is roughly where the volume of complaints lands.
- Host-country constraints on curriculum. Egyptian law precludes the school from delivering parts of the English national curriculum, specifically secondary sex education and active promotion of certain protected characteristics under the UK Equality Act. The BSO report flags both as not met for that reason. Families come to British schools in Cairo aware of this; the school does not have the option to do otherwise.
- Fees and the Egyptian pound. 2025/26 fees run from around EGP 137,400 in early years to EGP 217,000 in the sixth form. In hard currency that still reads as moderate against Cairo's other British schools, but the pound's recent slide makes year-on-year increases in EGP look sharper than the underlying movement.
Leadership
Paul Joseph
Paul Joseph is the Principal of New Cairo British International School (NCBIS). He leads an inclusive community of approximately 800 students from over 70 nationalities. He is committed to providing a nurturing environment where every child can excel through the school's High Performance Learning (HPL) approach. Under his leadership, the school emphasizes personalized support and academic excellence across its diverse curriculum offerings, including both A Levels and the IB Diploma Programme.
Accreditations
- Council of International Schools 01
- New England Association of Schools and Colleges 02
- COBIS Patron's Accreditation and Compliance 03
- British Schools Overseas (DfE) 04
- British Schools in the Middle East accreditation 05
Academic results
- IB DP average 33 (2025)
- IGCSE 9-7 36% (2025)
- IGCSE 9-4 89% (2025)