More parents are choosing international secondary education at Zlatarski School instead of sending their children abroad
Education in integrated international programmes International Baccalaureate, Pre-IGCSE and IGCSE for students from grades 8 to 12
In the period 12 October – 18 November 2011 at Zlatarski International School will take place the official British exams IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education). IGCSE is an academic programme for secondary education, designed for students in grades 8 to 10 in the United Kingdom as well as in many international schools across the world. Zlatarski School teaches the programme and is an authorised centre for sitting the exams in Bulgaria. Integrated in the programme of an English language school, the IGCSE programme prepares students for their successful progression in the International Baccalaureate/A-level programme in grades 11 and 12.
Founded in 1995, Zlatarski International School is the only school in Bulgaria, which teaches the international programmes Pre-IGCSE (8 grade), IGCSE (9 and 10 grade) and International Baccalaureate/A-level (11 and 12 grade) to Bulgarian and international students. The school curriculum integrates the international standards to the Bulgarian national curriculum. After introducing the International Baccalaureate in 2003, Zlatarski School marks the highest results achieved by Bulgarian students in the international baccalaureate examinations.
„Zlatarski School not only introduced the International Baccalaureate for the first time in Bulgaria 12 years ago, but it also achieved extremely high results. The continuously achieved 40-44 points (max 45) in the IB Diplomas are a sign of high quality education according to international standards. This makes it possible for a large number of our students to be admitted to the top 10 British universities.”, commends Tsvetana Kardasheva, Director.
Therefore, more parents choose Zlatarski School for pre-university education instead of sending their children abroad for the same qualifications. The reasons – the excellent results, which satisfy the requirements of the most selective universities; the organised by the school preparation for university applications; and the fact that in parallel to achieving the international diploma, students also gain the Bulgarian diploma of an English language school. “The most significant benefit of students achieving their international secondary education close to their families, here in Bulgaria, is the family atmosphere, which creates the feeling of security and comfort, the existence of parental control and clear rules”, comments the school counselor Anna Joukivskaya.
As early as grade 8 students are enrolled in the Pre-IGCSE programme, which is an excellent preparation for the IGCSE education (9 and 10 grades). Besides the intensive preparation in English, students of Zlatarski School are also taught in English in the Sciences, Social sciences and Mathematics with textbooks from Cambridge University Press. The programme includes tuition by native speakers. Students are prepared for exams in English, Mathematics, History, Biology and Physics. The successful results in IGCSE exams after grade 10 is highly respected by university admissions committees. Tution fees at the school are on average 3500 euro per year, while the same tuition costs around 20 000 pounds in the United Kindom, while in Switzerland tuition fees vary between 54 and 100 000 Swiss francs.
Zlatarski School graduates are accepted at Oxford University, St Andrews University, Warwick University, London School of Economics, King`s College, University College London, Queen Mary, University of Leeds, York, Exeter, in programmes such as Economics, Finance, Law, Architecture, Computer Science, Interior Design. „Our school marks record results in the International Baccalaureate. With the Pre-IGCSE and IGCSE tuition our students in grades 8, 9 and 10 receive the required preparation, and the standardized tests allow them to compare their knowledge with students in the UK”, comments Daniel Parsons, teacher of History at Zlatarski School.