International School Ho Chi Minh City

In Brief

If you want a single coherent IB pathway from nursery to diploma and you're in Thao Dien, ISHCMC is the obvious choice - ask about the management changes under Cognita and whether the all-inclusive fee model genuinely covers everything for your year group.

ISHCMC sits at the top of the IB market in Saigon - Vietnam's first IB World School, with a full PYP, MYP, and DP continuum on two campuses in Thao Dien. The 50-plus-nationality student body and 98% university acceptance rate attract families who want a genuinely international pathway rather than a British or American track. The all-inclusive fee model is rare here: uniforms, devices, field trips, and after-school activities are in the headline number, which makes like-for-like fee comparisons with other schools more favourable than they first appear.

Day-to-day, the school runs a structured but not rigid IB programme across age groups, with strong teacher numbers relative to enrolment. Families who've been here a while praise the community feel despite the school's size, and the exam results back up the academic reputation. The 2025 cohort earned over US$56 million in scholarship offers - a figure that reflects both selective university targets and the programme's depth.

Cognita acquired ISHCMC in recent years, and some families have noted more management movement and policy changes since. It's worth asking how staffing continuity looks in your child's key years, and whether the all-inclusive promise still holds fully at the current year group. Sibling discounts only kick in at the third child, which matters for larger families comparing value against BIS or SSIS.