Knowing where the schools you want are located is vital
Knowing where the schools you want are located is vital Unsplash

For many expats there is a liberating feeling in being able to choose anywhere in the world to live, but the reality is that many wind up choosing the same places, as they are simply more attractive as destinations to live. Lisbon is one of the most attractive cities in the world for expats, for a number of reasons. For one, its lively job market offers relatively high salaries compared to Portgal's cost of living. In addition, the city is one of the best in the world for teleworking, a reality that many of us find ourselves in today. And to top it off, Lisbon is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe to buy a home so that you can start a family.

When it comes to buying that home however there are some considerations to take into account, and if it is to be a family home where you will raise your children, education is one of the primary concerns. Portugal has a robust public education system, but many expats would prefer to see their children receive a schooling that resembles what their own education was like. Luckily Lisbon has plenty of British and international schools, and recent investment in the sector shows that interest is growing. There are dozens of schools around Lisbon offering high quality international education to the children of expats and locals alike. But if you want to buy your home close to your children's school, an obvious question arises: so where exactly are these schools located?

Central Lisbon

Lisbon's city-centre has several high quality international schools
Lisbon's city-centre has several high quality international schools Flickr

It seems natural that one of the areas with the highest density and variety of international schools would be the city centre. Living in Lisbon's centre has several obvious advantages, most notably practicality, as you will have every service and amenity you could want within a short distance. Day to day you have access to a huge variety of shopping, dining, and social activities. If you wish to travel there are excellent transport links to move both within Portugal and abroad. And of course you cannot discount the pleasure of living in a city as beautiful as Lisbon, and you will be able to explore the gorgeous historic centre and typical tourist attractions at your leisure. And of course, one of the most important things that the city centre has to offer, is schools. 

For the most part these schools are away from the historic centre and the waterfront, but they are close enough that you could choose to live almost anywhere between the airport and Belém the school run wouldn't be too much of a problem. Plus, most of the schools offer a bus service to students to take that job off your hands entirely if you like! If you are looking for a British style of education for your children, the most obvious example to reccomend would be the British School Lisbon. This school is the most centrally located of Lisbon's international schools with their campus in the city's historic quarter, and they offer a students up to the age of 11 a high quality primary education following a British curriculum.

Other options for a British curriculum include Astoria International School, which accepts students up to 18 years of age, and PaRK International School, which offers both British and International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculums though the campus in the centre (the Praça de Espanha campus) serves the school's primary age students, and to complete their secondary education in the school children would have to travel to their other campuses. Redbridge School also offers an international curriculum, though only up to the age of 15. In addition, neither Redbridge School nor Astoria International School offer bus services, so you may want to look at property closer to these schools if you plan for your children to study there. Finally, if a United States style education is what you want for your children, United Lisbon International School offers an American curriculum to students from the ages of 3 to 18.

If you want your children to attend one of the international schools in Lisbon's city centre, have a look at some properties advertised on idealista and find your new home in Lisbon:

Oeiras

Waterfront properties in Oeiras
Waterfront properties in Oeiras Portugal Sotheby’s International Realty

Just to the west of Lisbon's city-centre, further along the Tagus estuary, is the municipality of Oeiras. This is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Portugal, with plenty of quiet residential neighbourhoods, but also all of the amenities you could need. In particular the area is notable for its sporting facilities, with several sports centres, including the National Sports Centre Jamor, where the Portuguese national team plays, two golf courses, and even a marina. The municipality is also well connected to the city centre by road and by rail, meaning the services of Lisbon itself are never far away. 

The area is also home to Taguspark, Portugal's first science and technology park, which hosts several R&D labs and technology startups. In addition to these potential employers, the park hosts the International Sharing School, an educational institute serving students from one year up to 18 years old, that offers them an incredible multilingual educational experience based around an IB curriculum. Other schools in the area that offer IB curriculums to students include Oeiras International School and St. Dominic's International School, both accepting students up to 18 years of age. If you would prefer a British curriculum for your children over an IB education, the best option in Oeiras is St. Julian's School. This school offers an IB curriculum, but they also follow a British curriculum to prepare students to take their IGCSEs

If one of Oeiras' international schools looks like the place where you want your children to study, search for your new home in Oeiras on idealista:

Estoril

Estoril is a beautiful town just outside Lisbon
Estoril is a beautiful town just outside Lisbon Wikimedia commons

Further along the coast to the west, just past Oeiras, is the town of Estoril. This town is part of the municipality of Cascais (which we will mention below), another of Portugal's most exclusive areas. The town has a sizeable foreign community, and is also a popular tourist destination, known for its luxury hotels and restaurants, and of course several beautiful sandy beaches and a stunning promenade. The town is also home to a golf curse and the famous Circuito Estoril, a former Formula 1 circuit that now hosts Mot GP races. Like Oeiras, the town is connected to the capital by rail and road links as well, so you will be able to get anything you need that you can't find closer to home. 

As far as education is concerned, Estoril has the opposite situation to Oeiras, in that the international schools in the town almost exclusively offer educations based on a British curriculum. Prime School offers a trilingual British education to students from 3 to 18 years old, while Greene's Tutorial College focusses of secondary education for students between 14 and 18 years old. A little outside the town to the north there is the International Preparatory school, which serves primary school students up to the age of 11. Finally, Santo Antonio International School is a Catholic school that offers students a British curriculum education, but with a more religious emphasis.

Search for properties in Estoril on idealista and find your new home to live near where you want your children to study:

Cascais

The Cascais town hall
The Cascais town hall Wikimedia commons

Finally, we move further west from Lisbon, all the way to the mouth of the Tagus estuary, to the end of the "Portuguese Riviera": Cascais. As mentioned above, this municipality is one of the most prosperous areas in Portugal. Centred on a beautiful historic centre by the coast, the town has everything from historic buildings like the Citadel of Cascais and the Santa Marta and Guia lighthouses, to sporting facilities for everything from golf, to horse-riding, to sailing. The Cascais Marina is the third largest in the country and hosts several international sailing events. Apart from this, Cascais is known for its natural beauty: the town has several gorgeous stretches of sandy beaches, scenic oceanfront cliffs with natural caves, and to the north is the expansive and truly stunning Sintra-Cascais Natural Park.

Like its neighbouring towns, Cascais offers its residents a host of high quality, private educational options. PaRK International School has a campus in Cascais, though in the coming year it will be taken over by King's College, to offer a high quality British education to children up to the age of 18. In addition to the first school in Portugal that will teach the full Cambridge curriculum to students, in Cascais we can also find Aprendizes, which offers a British style education to studets from 3 to 18, St. James' Primary School, and St George's School, which serve students from 6 to 10, and 10 to 16, respectively. Finally, if you are after a more religious education for your children in Cascais, the International Christian School of Cascais offers a Christian education in the US style to their students. 

If one of these schools looks like the right fit for your children's education and you would like to live nearby, take a look at the properties advertised on idealista in Cascais: