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International Schools in Mauritius: Curricula, Fees and Places

By Rory Phillips · Updated October 2026

International schools in Mauritius are private and fee-paying, and each one publishes its own fees and entry rules, so there is no single national price list. The fees we could read for 2026, 2026-27 and 2027, for a family without Mauritian status, run from Rs 168,905 a year at the École du Centre (youngest classes) to Rs 656,700 at Northfields International School (Years 12 and 13), before registration and other one-off fees. The Lycée des Mascareignes and the École du Centre say they cannot enrol a child who arrived on a tourist visa, even temporarily, and want the child named on a parent’s residence permit first.

Moving with children means fitting a school place to a start date and to an immigration document the school will accept. We read the websites of ten private schools, plus the government’s school calendar and the FCDO’s notes on education. We rank no school, and every fee is the school’s own figure for the year named.

State or private: how schooling works for a foreign family

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) says education in Mauritius is free and mandatory up to 16, with teaching in English, Créole and French and exam papers in English. It does not say whether free state schooling covers the children of foreign residents, and we found no government page that does. Check with the education ministry or a school before you plan around it.

The table lists the ten private schools we read about, in alphabetical order, not by merit. It is not a register of every school. The descriptions are the schools’ own and we have not checked accreditation, so ask who authorises each programme.

The schools are spread across the island, so the school run belongs in any choice of area: see our where to live tool and the guide to the best places to live in Mauritius.

When the school year starts and when to apply

There is no single school year. State schools, Alexandra House and Westcoast run a January calendar, Northfields starts in August, and the Lycée des Mascareignes, École du Centre and École du Nord share one calendar that begins in late August.

Where that leaves a family on 28 October 2026. The August-start year is under way, so the next published entry points are in January 2027: 11 January at Northfields and at the three schools that share a calendar, 13 January at Alexandra House and Westcoast.

What the schools say about applying early:

• The École du Nord reports waiting lists for 2026/27 in Grande Section, CM2 and 6ème, says enrolling from Petite Section secures a place for the whole schooling, and asks new families to announce themselves well before arrival, even if the move is only a plan.
• Northfields wants the inception fee and the deposit within two weeks of the letter of acceptance.
• Greencoast takes the enrolment fee in the April before a January start. That April has passed for January 2027, so check whether a place is open; for January 2028 that means April 2027.

Our own suggestion, not a school rule: if you hope to arrive for August 2027, write to your shortlist before the end of 2026. The permit timetable can set the start date too.

Admissions, documents and the tourist-visa rule

Each school runs its own admissions. The École du Centre wants a birth certificate, school record, recent reports and a de-registration certificate, and tests children who are not in a recognised French-curriculum school. The École du Nord charges for placement tests for pupils from outside the AEFE (French schools abroad) and French national systems. Clavis observes pre-primary children and sets primary entrants a language and mathematics assessment. Greencoast follows its expression-of-interest form with a visit and a meeting with the Principal.

The tourist-visa rule. The Lycée des Mascareignes says a non-Mauritian family must show the child named on a parent’s residence permit, and that children entering Mauritius on a tourist visa cannot be enrolled, ‘même temporairement’ (even temporarily). The École du Centre’s enrolment page carries the same wording. For a family living abroad, enrolment at the Lycée des Mascareignes and the École du Nord takes effect only once the registration right is paid and the family holds the resident permit.

Our reading of the permit rules. The government’s Occupation Permit guidelines tell a dependant to hold a valid tourist visa when the application is made, and tell anyone who has travelled to Mauritius to keep a valid visa at all times while it is processed. As we read them, a child can be in the country lawfully on a tourist visa while a permit is pending, which is the position these two schools say they cannot accept. We found nothing that reconciles the two, so ask each school.

The Premium Visa is a visa, not a residence permit. Neither school page mentions it, and nothing says whether a child included on one counts. The other schools’ pages state no tourist-visa rule, which does not prove there is none. Our guides to the Occupation Permit, the Premium Visa and the Permanent Residence Permit cover each route, and the visa checker helps you pick one.

Ask for the immigration paper in writing: Before you pay a deposit, get the school to say which document it needs for your child, from what date, and whether a pending permit or a Premium Visa counts. Some charges are never returned, such as the Rs 100,000 first-registration right at the Lycée des Mascareignes if the family leaves early.

Fees for 2026-27 and why nationality changes the price

Every figure here is the school’s own, in Mauritian rupees, for the year named. Schools charge for different things, so a lower yearly figure does not always mean a lower bill. Our cost-to-move tool and cost of living guide put the rest of the budget beside them. This is how each school draws the line between its two rates:

• Northfields: the Mauritian rate covers Mauritian citizens, students enrolled for more than six years, children with a parent who is a Mauritian citizen or holds a diaspora visa, and children with a parent resident for more than six years. Proof is required.
• Lycée des Mascareignes and École du Nord: French and Mauritian families get the lower rate, and the Lycée counts only the parents’ nationality.
• Greencoast: a Mauritian national is a child with one parent holding a Mauritian passport or a 10-year permanent resident permit.
• Alexandra House: the lower rate needs a parent who is a Mauritian national, meaning one with a Mauritian birth certificate.
• École du Centre: the annual totals are the same for everyone. Mauritian families pay in 11 monthly instalments, while families arriving from abroad pay on 19 August 2026, 4 December 2026 and 5 April 2027.
• Westcoast: the fees page says Mauritians include any child with at least one parent holding a Mauritian passport.

As we read the fee pages, a family with no Mauritian parent should expect the higher band, except French nationals at the Lycée des Mascareignes and the École du Nord. A diaspora visa, six years of a parent’s residence or a 10-year permanent resident permit can change the band at Northfields and Greencoast.

Yearly tuition for 2026-27, or 2027 at Westcoast. The higher rate is the one for families without Mauritian status. Special classes, such as Sport-Études, are on the schools’ fees pages.

Greencoast quotes its 2026 rates by the month and Alexandra House its January 2026 year by the term. The yearly totals in brackets are our arithmetic.

Northfields one-off charges, from the expatriate sheets for August 2026 to July 2027:

Northfields also charges a yearly levy of Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,400, books or materials, an Ed-Tech charge of Rs 5,156 from Year 7 and, in some years, camps costing Rs 6,100 to Rs 9,200. The deposit is meant to represent three months’ fees and is forfeited unless you give three months’ written notice in term time. The oldest enrolled child pays full fees, the second gets 7.5% off and any younger child 15%.

Other charges to ask about:

• Lycée des Mascareignes: a first-registration right of Rs 100,000 per new pupil (waived for pupils coming directly from the École du Centre or École du Nord), a refundable deposit fund of Rs 7,000 a year and a flat fee of Rs 2,600 each July.
• École du Centre: association membership of Rs 8,000 a family (new families only) and a first-registration fee of Rs 40,000 a pupil from Grande Section to 3ème, both non-refundable.
• École du Nord: first registration for new pupils of Rs 45,500 in Grande Section, Rs 60,500 in élémentaire and Rs 74,000 in collège, with tariffs revised upward each year by 5% to 10%, barring an exceptional project, the school says.
• Greencoast: an enrolment fee of Rs 60,000 (Mauritian national) or Rs 75,000 (non-national), a deposit of three months’ fees, and extra charges for uniform, buses and lunches. The rates apply to 2026 only.
• Alexandra House: an enrolment fee on acceptance of Rs 100,000 (non-Mauritian) or Rs 75,000 (Mauritian), and one term’s written notice to leave.
• Westcoast: a non-refundable enrolment fee of Rs 70,000 (non-citizen) or Rs 55,000 (citizen), a Rs 4,000 application or entrance exam fee, a deposit of Rs 84,750 to Rs 102,600 for a non-citizen, and IGCSE and IB Diploma exam fees.
• Clavis, Le Bocage and Lycée La Bourdonnais: Clavis lists monthly rates by citizenship but no school year, so we do not quote them. We could not confirm fees for the other two.

What to ask a school before you commit

Put these to each school on your shortlist and keep the replies in writing.

• Which fee band applies to our family, and what proof do you need?
• What does the first year cost in total, with registration, deposit, levies, uniform, transport, lunches and trips?
• Which charges are refundable, and how much notice do you need to leave?
• Is there an entry assessment, and what support exists for a child who needs help with the language of teaching?
• Is there a waiting list for the year group, and can the child join in January 2027 or part-way through a term?
• When is the 2027-28 calendar out, and how are fees reviewed from year to year?
• Which body authorises the programme, and which qualifications will the child sit?

Frequently asked questions

Sources, checked 28 October 2026

The Mauritian government and FCDO pages come first and are official. The rest are the schools’ own websites, so every fee and rule is the school’s statement for the year named, not an independent comparison. We paraphrase the French-language pages in English.

• School calendar 2026 (Government of Mauritius, education ministry): the state school terms for 2026.
• Living in Mauritius (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office): free, mandatory education to 16 and the languages of teaching.
• Occupation Permit guidelines (Government of Mauritius, residency site): the rules on dependants and on tourist visas while an application is processed.
• Northfields International School: the home page and the PYP, IGCSE, Diploma Programme and A-Level pages for its programmes, the fees page, the expatriate fee sheets for Year 1, Years 7 to 11 and Years 12 and 13, the Mauritian sheet for Years 7 to 11 and the 2026-27 calendar: fees, conditions, who qualifies for Mauritian rates, and term dates.
• Westcoast International Secondary School: the home page for its programmes by form and its Cascavelle address, the admissions and fees page for the 2027 fees, who counts as Mauritian, the enrolment fee, deposits and exam fees, and the 2027 academic calendar for term dates.
• Lycée des Mascareignes: the home page, the enrolment page, the fees and financial rules for 2026/27 and the school calendar: the tourist-visa rule, fees by parents’ nationality, extra charges and term dates.
• École du Centre: the home page, the enrolment page, the fees page and the calendar: admission steps, the tourist-visa wording, 2026-27 fees and dates.
• École du Nord: the home page, the enrolment page, the 2026/27 tariff, the financial rules page, its 2026/27 financial regulations and the calendar: admission advice, fees by nationality, the yearly review of tariffs, the permit condition for families living abroad and dates.
• Greencoast International School: the primary school home page, the fees page, the expression of interest page and the primary curriculum page: fees by nationality for 2026, the admission steps and the curriculum.
• Alexandra House School: the home page for the British curriculum and ages, and the general information page for term dates, admission timing, fees for the January 2026 year and the notice period.
• Clavis International Primary School: the home page for its two campuses, the curriculum page for its programme and the admissions page for entrance steps. The admissions page lists undated fees, which we do not quote.
• Le Bocage International School: the home page: the programmes it says it teaches. We could not confirm fees.
• Lycée La Bourdonnais: the home page for its recognition by the French education ministry, the secondary contact page for the Curepipe address and the enriched pathways page for the British international section. We could not confirm fees.

General information only, not immigration, legal or financial advice. Fees, dates and entry rules change every school year, so check each school’s own pages and ask the school in writing before you pay anything.