Portuguese Colégio or International School in Cascais?

Moving to Cascais with children, you’ll soon face a choice that many families don’t expect: a Portuguese private colégio or an international school. Both can be good schools. They lead to different places, cost very different amounts, and suit different families.

This guide sets the two side by side, using official Portuguese sources and each school’s own website. It doesn’t rank schools or pick a winner. The right choice depends on your child, how long you’ll stay, and where you might go next.

Last checked: 22 October 2026.

Colégio vs international school: the short answer

A Portuguese colégio teaches the national curriculum in Portuguese and leads to Portuguese national exams. It costs far less: about €3,900 to €5,600 a year for the Cascais colégios that publish annual fees for 2026/27. An international school teaches in English (usually) to a foreign or international curriculum, for roughly €8,200 to €30,000 a year.

If you’re settling in Portugal for good, or your child is young, a colégio can be a natural fit. If you may move again, need English-language teaching, or want the IB, A Levels or an American diploma, an international school keeps more doors open. You can also switch later, and both routes can lead to university in Portugal.

What a Portuguese colégio is

A colégio is a private school in the Portuguese system. The colégios in our guide follow the national curriculum, set by Decreto-Lei 55/2018 and the DGE’s Aprendizagens Essenciais, and teach in Portuguese. Pupils sit the same national tests and exams as state-school pupils. Some colégios also have state-funded places under a contrato de associação.

Here’s what the national system looks like in practice:

• Stages. Pré-escolar (ages 3 to 5), then the ensino básico in three ciclos (1.º to 9.º ano), then secundário (10.º to 12.º ano). Our age and grade guide shows which year your child would join.
• National tests and exams. In 2025/26, pupils sat ModA monitoring tests (provas de Monitorização da Aprendizagem) in 4.º and 6.º ano, provas finais in Portuguese and Maths at the end of 9.º ano, and exames finais nacionais in secundário. The dates are set each year by government order (Despacho 14616-A/2025 for 2025/26).
• Contrato de associação. Some private schools have a contract with the state that funds places. By law (Decreto-Lei 152/2013 and Portaria 172-A/2015), pupils in those places attend free of tuition, as at a state school. In Cascais, the council lists Salesianos de Manique with a contract for 2.º ciclo to secundário.

Colégios vary a lot. Several in Cascais are Catholic schools. Some run from creche right through to 12.º ano, while others are small and stop at 4.º ano. A few add extras: Externato Nossa Senhora do Rosário, for example, offers an American Dual Diploma alongside the Portuguese course.

What an international school is

An international school teaches another country’s curriculum or an international programme, such as the IB, Cambridge (IGCSE and A Level), the English National Curriculum or an American diploma. Most around Cascais teach in English; some national schools teach in German, French or Swedish. Fees are higher, and classes mix many nationalities.

Our guide to schools in Cascais lists 22 international schools between Cascais, Sintra and west Lisbon, each with its own profile. They follow their own calendars, assessment and exams, rather than the Portuguese national tests.

In between sit the bilingual colégios, such as Colégio Papião, Colégio Quadrante and Colégio Príncipes de Aviz. They follow the Portuguese curriculum but teach part of the day in English. Their fees vary, so check each profile.

Fees side by side: real Cascais examples (2026/27)

For 2026/27, the Cascais colégios that publish an annual total charge €3,887 to €5,634 a year in tuition. Published tuition at international schools on the Cascais–Lisbon line runs €8,200 to €29,970 a year. Entry fees, lunch, books and transport are extra in both, so compare the full first-year bill.

All figures below are annual tuition for 2026/27, as published by each school and checked on 22 October 2026. Each links to the school’s profile, where you’ll find the official fee page.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Monthly fees. Colégios usually publish a monthly fee. We only show an annual figure where the school gives one or says how many payments there are. Salesianos do Estoril’s annual totals assume 9 payments from 1.º ciclo up, but its price list also says fees run September to June. If it were 10 payments, the secundário fee would be €6,260, so ask the school which applies.
• Entry fees. Colégios charge an enrolment fee (matrícula or inscrição), typically a few hundred euros. International schools often charge several thousand euros in one-off fees in the first year.
• Free places. At a colégio with a contrato de associação, places covered by the contract are free of tuition.

For every school’s fees, including the colégios that publish only monthly figures, see our school fees guide. To add up a full first year, with entry fees, lunch and the bus, see the true first-year cost of an international school.

Language: how children cope in Portuguese

There’s no official figure for how long a child takes to cope in a Portuguese-taught class, and it varies a lot with age and personality. What’s official is the support: the national curriculum includes Português Língua Não Materna (PLNM), Portuguese as a second language, taught by level from nível zero to C1.

Here’s what the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) says about PLNM:

• Placement by level. Newly arrived pupils are placed at a level based on the European framework: Iniciação (A1, A2), Intermédio (B1, B2) or Avançado (C1). There’s also a nível zero for children with no Portuguese yet.
• Support plans. Pupils at A1 to B1 should get teaching suited to their level, through a support plan (plano de acompanhamento pedagógico). For newly arrived pupils at nível zero, A1 or A2, the school, together with parents, can phase in the curriculum gradually, with tutoring, clubs and school sport.
• Exams. Pupils at A1 to B1 sit the PLNM version of the 9.º ano Portuguese test and of the 12.º ano national exam, rather than the standard Portuguese paper. There are PLNM versions of the 4.º and 6.º ano ModA tests too.

PLNM is part of the national curriculum (Portaria 223-A/2018, article 12, for the ensino básico). But none of the Cascais colégios in our guide explains on its website how it offers PLNM, so ask each school what support your child would get, in class and outside it. International schools teach mostly in English, so the language question looks different there: check each school’s profile for how it teaches Portuguese as a subject.

University routes

From a colégio, students apply to Portuguese public universities through the national access competition (concurso nacional de acesso), using their secundário grade and the national exams each course requires. From an international school, they can use a foreign diploma, such as the IB, made equivalent to secundário, plus accepted foreign exams or the Portuguese ones.

Here’s how it works, according to the Instituto para o Ensino Superior (IES, formerly the DGES):

• The national route. To apply, students need a completed secundário course (or a legally equivalent qualification) and the national exams set as entry exams (provas de ingresso) for each course. Each university sets minimum grades every year, published in the Guia da Candidatura.
• The international-diploma route. A foreign secondary course needs a certificate of equivalence to Portuguese secundário, with a final grade on the 0 to 200 scale. The DGE issues it for IB and Cambridge qualifications. Students can then replace the entry exams with foreign final exams that the CNAES lists each year as equivalent (homólogos), or sit the Portuguese national exams instead.
• Timing. The application for students replacing entry exams with foreign exams closes earlier. For 2026, it ran from 20 to 29 July, against 6 August for most candidates.

Students covered by the international student statute (Decreto-Lei 36/2014) can’t use the national competition and apply through a separate route. If your child may study outside Portugal, check that country’s entry rules too; we don’t cover them here.

Switching between the two systems

Yes, you can switch. Moving from an international school into a colégio, or arriving from abroad, you request an equivalência of your child’s schooling at the school. It’s free, the DGE’s reference time is 30 days, and your child can enrol conditionally while it’s processed. Moving the other way, each international school runs its own admissions.

The details, from the DGE’s FAQ on foreign qualifications:

• Where to apply. At the school your child will attend, or a school near where you live. For IB, Cambridge and some other qualifications, the school sends the request on to the DGE.
• Documents. Official school records showing the years completed and grades, legalised (for example with a Hague Apostille), with an official Portuguese translation.
• Grades. In the ensino básico, equivalence is given without a grade. In secundário, it comes with a grade, which counts towards the final secundário result.
• Year below. Within the same ciclo, you can ask for your child to join the year below, if they need time to settle into the Portuguese system. The school’s director decides.

Our age and grade guide shows how ages map to Portuguese years, which is the first thing to check.

Waiting lists and availability

Popular schools of both kinds fill up, so start early. Colégios often open pre-registration in the autumn for the following September: Colégio Marista de Carcavelos opened its 2027/28 pré-inscrições in October 2026, and Colégio Senhora da Boa Nova opens its free pre-registration in November.

Many international schools take applications all year, but some year groups have waiting lists. Our guide to international school waiting lists in Cascais sets out what each school says. For open days and application dates, including Salesianos do Estoril’s Open Day on 16 January 2027, see our open days calendar.

Which fits your family?

There’s no single right answer. A colégio often suits families staying in Portugal long term, especially with younger children who’ll pick up Portuguese. An international school often suits families who may move again, children joining at secondary age, or anyone who needs a diploma recognised abroad. Bilingual colégios sit in between.

Some questions to talk through at home:

• How old is your child? Younger children have more years to adapt to a new language before the national tests at the end of 9.º and 12.º ano.
• How long will you stay? If you might move in two or three years, a curriculum your child can carry to the next country may matter more.
• Where might university be? A Portuguese secundário and the national exams are the direct route into Portuguese universities. An IB or A Level diploma also works for Portuguese universities, through equivalence.
• What’s your budget for the whole stay? Over several years and several children, the fee gap adds up. Our fees guide has the figures.
• How do you feel about school in Portuguese? For some families, it’s the whole point of moving. For others, it’s a worry. Both are fair.

Colégios and international schools in Cascais: a shortlist

Here are the schools in our guide, grouped by type, so you can open the profiles and compare. Each profile has the school’s ages, curriculum, published fees, services and links to its own website. This isn’t a ranking: the order is alphabetical within each group.

Portuguese colégios (taught in Portuguese):

• Colégio do Amor de Deus, Alcabideche: pré-escolar to 12.º ano
• Colégio Marista de Carcavelos, Parede
• Colégio Senhora da Boa Nova, Estoril: 1.º to 9.º ano
• Externato Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Cascais: 5.º to 12.º ano
• Externato O Cantinho, Carcavelos: creche to 4.º ano
• Salesianos de Manique, Alcabideche: state-funded places from 2.º ciclo
• Salesianos do Estoril, Estoril: pré-escolar to 12.º ano
• More in the schools guide, and smaller ones on other colégios in Cascais

Bilingual colégios (Portuguese curriculum, part in English):

• Colégio Papião, Colégio Príncipes de Aviz and Colégio Quadrante

International schools in and near Cascais:

• IPS Cascais, Kairos Montessori, King’s College School, Cascais, SAIS, St. Dominic’s International School and St. Julian’s School
• All 22 in our guide to schools in Cascais

Sources

Official sources, checked on 22 October 2026:

• Curriculum: Decreto-Lei 55/2018 and the DGE’s Aprendizagens Essenciais.
• National tests and exams for 2025/26: Despacho 14616-A/2025 (DGE copy).
• PLNM: the DGE’s Português Língua Não Materna page.
• Contrato de associação: Decreto-Lei 152/2013, Portaria 172-A/2015 and Cascais council’s list of schools with a contrato de associação.
• University access: the IES (Instituto para o Ensino Superior) access pages, including foreign exams and the 2026 calendar.
• Equivalence of foreign schooling: the DGE’s FAQ on foreign qualifications and Decreto-Lei 227/2005.
• Fees, open days and admissions: each school’s own website, linked from its profile.