When a child finishes preschool in Ho Chi Minh City, families usually choose between three kinds of primary school: an international school teaching a foreign curriculum mostly in English, a bilingual school teaching the Vietnamese national programme alongside a substantial English or Cambridge strand, or a Vietnamese school, public or private, teaching the national programme in Vietnamese. The right choice depends less on which type is "better" than on four questions: how long you will stay in Vietnam, which country your child is likely to study in next, which languages the family can support at home, and what the budget allows for the next five or more years.
Preschool choices are forgiving. A child can move from one nursery to another with a few weeks of settling in. Primary school is different, because it is where reading, writing and mathematics are taught in a particular language and sequence, and a move between systems later on costs more effort. This guide sets out what really separates the three types, where the labels mislead, and a way of narrowing the field before you start booking visits.
The three types side by side
The table below describes the usual pattern. Individual schools vary a great deal, so treat each row as a question to put to the school, not as a verdict on it.
| International school | Bilingual school | Vietnamese school | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main curriculum | A foreign one: English National Curriculum, an American framework, IB Primary Years Programme, Cambridge Primary, Australian or others | Vietnam's General Education Programme 2018, plus an English or Cambridge programme in extra hours | Vietnam's General Education Programme 2018 |
| Language of most lessons | English, with a host-country language as a subject | Vietnamese for core subjects, English for a share of the timetable | Vietnamese; English becomes a compulsory subject from grade 3 |
| Who the pupils are | Mixed nationalities; at some schools many Vietnamese families | Mostly Vietnamese families, some foreign and dual-national children | Mostly Vietnamese children |
| What the end of primary leads to | The next stage of the same foreign system, here or abroad | Vietnamese lower secondary, or a switch to an international track | Vietnamese lower secondary |
| Licensing to check | Licence for foreign-invested education and the curriculum body's own authorisation or accreditation | Licence from the city education authority and the agreement with the partner programme | Licence from the city education authority |
| Typical cost profile | Highest; many separate fee lines | Middle; tuition plus programme fees | Lowest at public schools; private varies widely |
Two cautions sit behind this table. First, the word "international" in a school name is not a legal category, so a bilingual school can call itself international and a foreign-curriculum school may not. Second, the middle column covers a very wide range, from schools that add a few English periods a week to schools where half the day is taught in English by qualified foreign teachers. Ask for the timetable, not the brochure.
Start with how long you expect to stay
The single most useful fact for this decision is your likely time horizon in Vietnam. A family posted to Ho Chi Minh City for two or three years, with a known next destination, gains a great deal from a school whose curriculum matches what the child will meet next. A child who leaves a British-curriculum school in Year 3 and joins a school in England slots into a familiar structure: the same phonics approach, the same mathematics sequence, the same report language. The same logic applies to American, Australian or IB schools, since the IB Primary Years Programme is taught in many countries.
Families who are settled in Vietnam for the long term, including many dual-national and mixed Vietnamese-foreign families, face a different calculation. If your child is likely to stay through secondary school, literacy in Vietnamese becomes more than a cultural extra. It affects friendships, extended family, and the realistic options at secondary level. A bilingual or Vietnamese primary school builds that literacy in a way that a weekly host-language lesson at an international school rarely does.
Families who simply do not know, which is common, can ask a narrower question: which choice keeps the most doors open for the next two years? Often the answer is a school whose curriculum is widely recognised and which takes Vietnamese language seriously, so that a move in either direction stays possible.
Where the labels mislead
"Cambridge" can mean two different things. Some schools follow the full Cambridge Primary curriculum across subjects. Others use Cambridge English materials or prepare children for the Cambridge English Young Learners tests (Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers, A2 Flyers) inside a Vietnamese programme. Both are legitimate; they are not the same thing, and only the first is a full alternative curriculum.
"IB" requires authorisation. A school can only describe itself as an IB World School offering the Primary Years Programme once the International Baccalaureate has authorised it. Schools in the application stage are called candidate schools. You can ask which stage the school is at and when the next evaluation visit is due.
Accreditation is not the same as a licence. Bodies such as the Council of International Schools, WASC, NEASC or the British Schools Overseas inspection scheme review schools that apply to them. Their reports are useful, but they sit alongside, not in place of, the operating licence issued under Vietnamese law. Foreign-invested schools operate under Decree 86/2018/ND-CP on foreign cooperation and investment in education.
"Native teachers" says little about training. A teacher's passport tells you nothing about whether they hold a teaching qualification for primary-age children. Ask what proportion of class teachers are qualified primary teachers and how long they typically stay.
Language: what each type asks of your family
Every primary school assumes some support from home, and the language of that support matters. An English-medium international school expects a child to read English at home and assumes parents can talk through homework in English. Families who speak a third language at home often manage this well, because the school's English and the home language each have a clear place. What tends to fade at an international school is Vietnamese, unless the school teaches it seriously or the family arranges more outside school.
A Vietnamese school asks the opposite. Homework, notes from the teacher and parent meetings are in Vietnamese, and the primary programme moves quickly into reading and writing in Vietnamese from grade 1. Foreign parents who do not read Vietnamese can still make it work, especially with a Vietnamese-speaking partner, relative or tutor, but it is worth being honest about who will sit with the child in the evenings.
A bilingual school spreads the demand across both languages. That suits many mixed families, and it can suit a foreign child who has already spent two or three years in a bilingual preschool and follows Vietnamese in class. It can be hard for a child arriving with neither language, who would then be learning two new languages of instruction at once while also learning to read.
A way to narrow the field
Before booking visits, it helps to cut the list to a handful of schools. The sequence below keeps the decision anchored to your family rather than to marketing.
- Write down your realistic time horizon in Vietnam and the most likely next country, even if it is a guess.
- Decide which language your child must be able to read and write fluently by age eleven, and which ones are welcome extras.
- Set a budget for the whole primary stage, not just the first year, including the fee lines that are not tuition.
- Draw a commute limit on the map of the city. A journey that is fine for a three-year-old twice a day can become a burden over five years.
- List schools that fit those four constraints, then check each one's licence, curriculum authorisation and teacher qualifications.
- Visit three or four, ideally during a normal school day, and ask to see a class at the age your child will join.
The order matters. Families who start with visits often fall for a campus and then try to make the curriculum fit. Starting with time horizon and language makes the visits shorter and the comparison fairer.
What your child's preschool experience tells you
Your child's years in a bilingual preschool are a useful guide, though not a deciding one. Look at how your child uses each language by the end of the Super Star or equivalent final year. A child who switches comfortably between Vietnamese and English with classmates is in a good position for any of the three types. A child who understands Vietnamese but answers only in English may thrive at an international school but needs a plan if the family wants Vietnamese literacy. A child who speaks mostly Vietnamese and some English may find the first term at an English-medium school tiring, and the school's support for English as an additional language becomes a central question.
Ask your child's preschool teachers what they have observed, in plain terms: which language your child chooses when tired, which one they use to argue with friends, how long they concentrate on a story in each. These small observations predict the early months of primary school better than any language test given to a five-year-old.
Temperament matters too. Some children enjoy a large school with many classes per year; others do better in a smaller setting where every adult knows their name. Neither preference is tied to a school type, but it is a reason to visit before deciding.
Cost over the whole stage
Fees differ so widely between and within the three types that any single figure would mislead. The useful exercise is to add up the full stage. A family planning for primary school in Vietnam should estimate tuition for every year the child is likely to attend, the annual increase the school has applied in recent years, one-off charges such as application, enrolment or development fees, and the recurring extras: lunch, bus, uniforms, trips, after-school activities and, at some schools, support for English or for additional learning needs.
If an employer pays an education allowance, check whether it covers tuition only or also these extras, and what happens if the posting ends mid-year. A school with lower headline tuition can cost more overall once the separate lines are added, and the reverse is also true.
Public Vietnamese primary schools remain the lowest-cost option, but places are organised by residence and procedures for foreign children vary. Families considering this route should ask the school and the local ward office directly, since rules on admission by place of residence are set and applied locally.
Questions that separate one school from the next
Once the shortlist is down to three or four schools, the same set of questions asked everywhere makes the answers comparable. Write them down and note the replies straight after each visit.
- How many hours a week is each language used as the language of teaching, not just taught as a subject, in the year my child would join?
- Who teaches reading in each language, and what qualification do those teachers hold for primary-age children?
- How many children in the class, and how many adults? Does that change after the first year?
- What happens when a child arrives with little of the main teaching language? Is there extra support, and is it charged separately?
- Where do most children go after the final year of primary here, and how many leave each year for another country?
- How have fees changed over the past few years, and how much notice does the school give before an increase?
Pay attention to how readily each school answers. A school that can tell you exactly how many hours of English a Year 2 class has, and who teaches them, is usually a school that plans its teaching carefully. Vague answers to the first two questions are a more useful signal than the quality of the playground.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
Can my child move from a Vietnamese primary school to an international school later?
Yes, many children do, usually with an entry assessment in English and mathematics. The move is easiest in the early grades. Later on, a child may need support with English as an additional language and with differences in how subjects such as science are taught, so ask the receiving school how it handles mid-primary arrivals.
Is a bilingual school a compromise that does neither language well?
Not necessarily. A well-run bilingual school with qualified teachers in both languages and a clear timetable can build strong literacy in both. The risk is with programmes that add a small number of English periods and call it bilingual. Count the English hours per week and ask who teaches them.
Does an international school teach Vietnamese?
Most international schools in Vietnam offer Vietnamese as a subject, and Vietnamese pupils at these schools usually also follow some Vietnamese content set by the education ministry. The depth varies from a few lessons a week for beginners to native-level classes. Ask which level your child would join and how many hours it gets.
Should we choose the same school system as our home country?
If you expect to return within a few years, matching the system makes the move back smoother, mostly through familiar reading, maths and assessment approaches. If the next move is uncertain, a widely recognised curriculum such as the IB Primary Years Programme or Cambridge Primary may keep more options open.
How early should we start looking at primary schools?
Around twelve to eighteen months before the intended start is comfortable for popular international schools, which may have waiting lists for some year groups. Vietnamese public schools follow an annual enrolment window set by the city, usually in the months before the September start, so local timing matters more there.
Is it a problem to change school type after one or two years?
It is common in an expat city and children adapt, but each switch has a settling-in cost and sometimes a gap in content. If you suspect a change is likely, choose a first school that makes the most probable next move easy, and keep samples of your child's work to show the next school.