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Sandford International School

Ethiopia, Addis Ababa

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Independently researched by doris.
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The school at a glance
Instructs in English
Fees ETB 6,575
Ages 3 - 18 years
Pupil numbers 400
Type Co-educational
Opened 1947
Bus Service No
Availability Not shared by this school
Academic offering
Curriculum British Curriculum, IPC (International Primary Curriculum), Cambridge IGCSE, IB (DP)
Taught languages Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bislama, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Chamorro, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kazakh, Khmer, Kiribati, Korean, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Mandarin, Marathi, Marshallese, Mongolian, Nepali, Niuean, Norwegian, Palauan, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Sesotho, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Tetum, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvaluan, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu
Strengths Languages, Outdoor Education, Visual and Creative Arts
Clubs Academic and Intellectual, Arts and Creative, Leadership and Professional
Stages Early Years, Primary School, Secondary School, Sixth Form
Introduction

Sandford International School is an Ethiopian international school serving ages 3 to 18. It offers the British Curriculum, IPC, Cambridge IGCSE, and the IB Diploma Programme. The Primary Curriculum uses English as the language of instruction, with Amharic and French classes, while secondary students study Cambridge IGCSE in Years 10–11 and the IB Diploma in Years 12–13. The school traces its origins to the 1940s, founded to provide an English-speaking option for local and expatriate families; it re-registered in 2001 and began offering the IGCSE Cambridge examinations and the IB for Years 11 and 13. The campus features modern classrooms, a well-stocked library, and facilities designed to support outdoor learning and creativity. Extracurricular activities include Model UN, Taekwondo, culinary and business clubs, and arts and sports programs. Pastoral care, mentoring, and PSHE support wellbeing and development, while language and cultural activities foster citizenship within a co-educational, non-boarding environment.

sandfordschool.org

Vibes and Culture
The school has not added this information
The Essentials

Sandford International School has 400 pupils, instruction in English.

Location
Sandford International School is located on Shewareged Gedle Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It markets itself as providing quality international education in Addis Ababa. The school serves three levels: Early Years (ages 3-5), Primary (ages 5-11), and Secondary (ages 11-18).

Stages
EYFS Ages 3-5; Primary School Ages 5-11; Secondary School Ages 11-18.

Type
The school is an international school.
Diving Deeper
The school has not added this information
Fees

Annual tuition at Sandford International School ranges from ETB 6,575 for 2026/27.

Application fees

- No specific, school-published application or one‑time enrollment fee amount is publicly available for Sandford International School. Searches of the school's School Fees page and admissions information do not list a published application fee.

Tuition fees by school year (per term / per year)

- Sandford does not publish a detailed, grade-by-grade fee schedule for the 2026/27 or 2025/26 academic years. There is no publicly available breakdown showing exact fees per term for individual year groups.

- Independent and international school databases provide estimated annual day‑tuition ranges for Sandford for recent years: US$3,150 to US$10,000 per year (reported in one international school directory) and, in local currency estimates for 2025/26, approximately 2,609,354 ETB to 4,981,371 ETB per year in other aggregated listings. These figures are presented as external estimates rather than a published school fee schedule. Sandford is listed as a day school (non‑boarding).

Billing schedule and payment terms

- The school operates on a three‑term academic calendar (Term 1, Term 2, Term 3) for the 2025/26 academic year with the term dates published by the school. It is common for international schools in the region to align billing with the academic terms, but Sandford has not published an explicit public billing timetable (e.g., whether invoices are issued termly, monthly or annually) or the precise payment deadlines for each term. The school's term dates are: Term 1 (27 August 2025 – 19 December 2025), Term 2 (12 January 2026 – 17 April 2026), Term 3 (4 May 2026 – 26 June 2026).

- There has been public reporting that Sandford's management previously quoted fees in US dollars and allowed nationals to pay in Ethiopian Birr at the prevailing exchange rate, and that this practice was subject to regulatory scrutiny and parent complaints; this history may affect currency and billing arrangements for families. No single, current public statement listing accepted currencies and exact payment deadlines was found.

Boarding fees

- Sandford is identified as a day school and is reported as non‑boarding; therefore there are no published boarding fees for the school.

Other costs and likely additional charges

- No detailed, school‑published schedule for additional costs (uniforms, transport, exam fees, activity fees, school lunch, school supplies or capital levies) was located. External guides for international schools in Addis Ababa note that families commonly pay additional charges for uniforms, textbooks, transport, external exam fees and occasional capital or registration levies, but Sandford's specific amounts for these items are not publicly listed.

Refund information

- There is no publicly available, school‑published refund policy or fee‑refund schedule located in the materials reviewed. No precise statement was found that sets out conditions for refunds of tuition, deposits, or registration fees.

Fee payment options (methods)

- A definitive, published list of accepted payment methods (for example, bank transfer, credit/debit card, cash, mobile money) was not found. Historical reporting about Sandford's billing practice refers to invoicing in foreign currency (US dollars) with local Birr payment options at exchange rates, but specific modern payment methods accepted by the school are not published in the publicly available materials reviewed.

Summary of findings and limits of available information

- Sandford International School's public pages do not contain a complete, grade‑by‑grade fee schedule, per‑term amounts, or a detailed published refunds and payment‑methods policy for the 2026/27 or 2025/26 academic year; a dedicated School Fees page is present but marked under construction. Published third‑party directories and news reports provide estimated annual ranges and background context (including a currency/billing dispute and tax/regulatory attention), but those external figures are not a formal school fee schedule. The most load‑bearing public references consulted include the school's own pages (term dates and school fee placeholder), international school directories that provide estimated annual fee ranges, and recent news coverage about the school's fee and currency practices.
Academics

Sandford International School teaches British Curriculum, IPC (International Primary Curriculum), Cambridge IGCSE, IB (DP) for students aged 3 to 18.

Curriculum
Primary Curriculum uses English as the language of instruction, with Amharic and French classes. Secondary Curriculum offers IGCSE and the IB Diploma Programme.

Student Teacher Ratio
A dedicated teacher and teaching assistant support each primary classroom.

Exam Results
IGCSE Section features 17 timetabled courses with 9 examinations each year; subjects include Mathematics, English, a modern foreign language, at least one Science, and one Humanity; results surpass the world average.

Higher Education Progression
Over 90% of Sandford graduates attend university within one year of graduation; most go to universities in the United States and United Kingdom. Destination universities include Bentley University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Santa Clara University, Goldsmiths, University of London, Addis Ababa University, and Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar, among others.
Wellbeing
The school has not added this information
Parent Experience
The school has not added this information
Facilities
The school has not added this information
Extra-Curricular Activities
The school has not added this information
Languages
The school has not added this information
Reputation
The school has not added this information
Admissions

Admissions
1. Submit an online application. Sandford uses an interactive online Application Form as the standard method of applying for international admissions. The application has a nonrefundable fee of 2,000 birr for Ethiopian applicants or 50 USD for international applicants. The Admissions Department acknowledges receipt of the application immediately and posts the names and grades of applicants to ensure transparency. 2. Prepare and submit required documents. Before admission, the following must be submitted: the Signed Student Application Form with a passport photo; transcripts covering two complete years (in English or with translations); school testimonials of good conduct; parents' documents (passports, work permit and residency/visa); and vaccination cards. The Admissions Committee may request additional documents and may conduct interviews or school visits as needed. 3. Undergo assessments. For Nursery, Reception and Year 1, an EYFS assessment/observation is conducted by the Primary School; for other years, CAT4 tests are administered by the Admissions Committee. CAT4 targets include Verbal, Non-Verbal, Quantitative and Spatial reasoning, with CAT4 scores above 100 (Stanine 5) used in decision-making. 4. Admissions decision and timelines. Applications are reviewed weekly by the Admissions Committee, and a decision is typically issued within five days of a completed application. The Admissions Committee's decision is usually final, though an appeal may be considered in exceptional cases. 5. Admission categories and priority. Students are categorized as National, International, Staff or Scholarship; National parents cannot gain a place merely by paying fees. There is allocated space balancing between international and national admissions, and the Board of Governors may admit up to five students per year under certain conditions (e.g., government or school contribution) but only if space and CAT4 criteria permit. 6. Lottery and waiting lists. National Nursery and Year 1 admissions are through a Lottery system or sibling placements; international spaces are reserved where available. If no immediate vacancy exists, applicants may be placed on a Waiting List (and cannot be CAT4 tested until a vacancy appears). 7. Registration and induction. An accepted applicant's place is guaranteed only after a completed Enrollment Contract, the Registration Fee, and any required contracts are received and the remainder of tuition is invoiced. A formal re-registration process occurs annually in May/June with a Registration Contract and Deposit due by the stated deadline. Successful applicants complete an induction program, and new student files are handed to the relevant school offices with orientation procedures to follow. 8. Follow-up procedures. Before the start of the school year, new student files are reviewed by the appropriate year and there is an orientation session for new Primary students (Nursery–Year 6) to ensure a smooth transition.

Scholarships
Scholarships are offered for admission to Sandford International School. A scholarship opportunity is available for Year 7 entrants (as announced for 2024/25), with up to twenty places per year; Ethiopian nationals in government schools are eligible, must be nominated by their current school, and must meet criteria including a high Year 6 national exam score, an entrance examination in English and Maths, a CAT4 test, excellent behavior and attendance, consistent prior performance, and a suitable age (eleven to thirteen) at entry. Government schools are notified of this opportunity, and nominations proceed to a scholarship committee for evaluation. In addition, scholarships may be awarded to new Secondary-level students based on policy and available space, with criteria set by the Ministry of Education and the Board of Governors.

Waitlist
National Nursery and Year 1 admissions are via Lottery or sibling placements. If demand exceeds places, a Waiting List may be used, and applicants on the Waiting List cannot be CAT4 tested until a vacancy exists. When placed on the Waiting List, applicants receive notification by letter or email about their status. Waiting List procedures and lottery-related appendices are described in the admissions policy.
School Events
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