Schools in Uruguay: the map that decides the neighbourhood
Bilingual schools over a century old, three diplomas in one curriculum and the best maths results in the region. What Uruguayan education offers newcomers.
In almost every international move with children there is one decision that comes before all the others — and it is almost never treated that way.
It is not the neighbourhood. It is not the property. It is the school.
Once the school is chosen, the neighbourhood is effectively settled, the daily journey is settled, the social circle of the family is settled and the routine of the next ten years is settled. Choose the neighbourhood first, and there is a real chance the family will move twice.
This article is about what exists in Uruguay before that decision: the design of the system, what the international data show, and why the supply of bilingual schools in the country is out of proportion to its size.
The first figure, and the most misread of all
Uruguay has taken part in PISA — the OECD assessment applied to students aged 15 — since 2003. The 2022 results say two things at once, and almost everyone reads only one of them.
On the averages for mathematics (408.7), reading (430.4) and science (435.4), the country sits between 30 and 36 points above the Latin American average and between 46 and 63 points below the average of OECD countries.
In mathematics, Uruguay and Chile are the two best performances in Latin America — 52nd and 53rd among 81 systems assessed, with no statistical difference between them. In reading and science, Uruguay sits just below Chile and above every other Latin American system taking part.
But there is a figure that rarely reaches the headlines and that changes the reading of all the rest: coverage of the assessment in Uruguay was 90.9% of 15-year-olds, against 84.6% in 2012.
That means the Uruguayan average is calculated over practically every adolescent in the country, and not only over those who are still inside the system. In countries that test a smaller slice, the average is mechanically higher for the simple reason that the weakest pupils have already dropped out of the count. Uruguay is measured in full — and still leads the region in mathematics.
The other signal pointing the same way: the proportion of students in the year group corresponding to their age rose from 58.6% in 2012 to 72.5% in 2022. And between 2018 and 2022, performance in science rose by 10 points while most countries were falling.
The system, on one page
Compulsory education in Uruguay is administered by ANEP — the Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, the national public education authority — which is autonomous in relation to central government, a long-standing institutional feature of the country.
In 2025, public pre-primary and primary education taught 304,806 children. The split between networks is as follows:
| Network | Share (pre-primary and primary, 2025) |
|---|---|
| Public | 81.5% |
| Private | 18.5% |
In secondary education, the public network (DGES) taught 268,995 students in 2025.
What those numbers tell a family arriving: the Uruguayan private network is a minority one, which means smaller classes, real competition for places at the most sought-after schools and geographical concentration — most bilingual and international schools sit in the eastern coastal strip of Montevideo and its immediate surroundings.
Bilingual schools: a tradition of more than a century
Here is the difference that tends to surprise anyone comparing Uruguay with countries of similar size.
The British Schools of Montevideo was founded on 8 October 1908 by José María Guerra Bergman, to serve the British community in the country. The first classes began in February 1909, in a building on calle Juan Blanes, in the city centre. The school moved to Pocitos in 1917 and opened premises of its own in 1926, with the main building inaugurated by President José Serrato. Boys and girls were taught separately — hence the plural in Schools — until the merger in 1936. The secondary school moved to a campus built in Carrasco in 1958, and the primary school followed in 1965.
There is a detail in that history worth more than the age of the institution: the British was in the first group of schools in the world to adopt the International Baccalaureate (IB), at the end of the 1960s, and was one of the pilot schools with candidates in the inaugural examinations, in May 1971. Today it offers IGCSE and IB.
The Uruguayan American School (UAS), founded in 1958, teaches around 350 pupils from nursery to grade 12 and is accredited both by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, in the United States, and by the ANEP boards. Its curricular design is the strongest argument for a family that does not yet know where its children will go to university: a single pupil can complete three diplomas — the American, the Uruguayan and the IB.
Beyond these, the capital has German, French and Italian schools and an established network of Catholic and secular bilingual schools, almost all of them concentrated in the same strip of the city.
For a country of 3.5 million inhabitants, that density is unusual. It exists because Montevideo was, for more than a century, home to British, German, French and Italian commercial communities — and each of them founded its own school.
What that means in practice for the move
Three concrete consequences, and none of them is obvious from a distance.
The school defines the neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood has an address. The concentration of international schools in Carrasco and the surrounding area explains why the foreign community of Montevideo settled there and not somewhere else. It is also what makes Punta Gorda and Carrasco Norte and the Ciudad de la Costa such frequent options: the same distance from the schools, a different level of cost.
Curricular continuity is an asset. A family that has not yet decided whether it will stay in Uruguay for five years or twenty-five gains a great deal by choosing a curriculum that is internationally portable. The IB and the dual diplomas exist for exactly that: they transfer between countries without the child losing a year.
The calendar belongs to the southern hemisphere. The Uruguayan school year begins between February and March and ends in December — the same as Argentina and Brazil, the reverse of Europe and North America. For a family arriving from the northern hemisphere, that means a half-year offset to plan around: arriving in the middle of the year means joining a school year already under way, or waiting until the following March. It is a scheduling problem rather than an obstacle, and it is the point that weighs most when there is a teenager involved, a subject we open up in Moving country with teenagers.
Outside Montevideo, the relevant supply is in Maldonado, with bilingual schools under Cambridge and International Baccalaureate curricula — the picture is in Punta del Este for families.
What an article cannot answer
Here it is necessary to be direct, because this is the point at which most material on the subject promises more than it can deliver.
Places, entry year group, recognition of the school record from the system the family is coming from, language requirements, application deadlines and fees vary by school, by year group and by year — and they change. Two families with children of the same age can receive different answers from the same school, depending on when they ask and on the profile of each child.
That is why the honest way forward is not a list of requirements. It is the reverse: mapping the schools compatible with the profile of the family before choosing where to live, and running the two decisions together — because in practice they are a single one.
Note on sources: the performance data come from the national PISA 2022 report published by ANEP and from the OECD country notes for the same cycle, released in December 2023 — the most recent edition available. The enrolment data come from ANEP publications relating to 2025. The historical and curricular information on the schools cited comes from their public institutional sources. Availability of places, curricula and admission conditions change by institution and by year, and must be confirmed directly with each school at the moment of the decision.
Frequently asked questions
Is education in Uruguay any good?
On comparable international indicators, it is the best or the second best in Latin America. In PISA 2022, Uruguay had, alongside Chile, the best regional performance in mathematics, and sat between 30 and 36 points above the Latin American average in the three areas assessed — with the particular feature that it tests more than 90% of its 15-year-olds.
Are there international schools in Uruguay?
Yes, and with a long tradition. The British Schools of Montevideo was founded in 1908 and was in the first group of schools in the world to adopt the International Baccalaureate. The Uruguayan American School, from 1958, is accredited in the United States and in Uruguay and offers three simultaneous diplomas. There are also German, French and Italian schools, as well as a broad network of bilingual ones.
Where are the international schools of Montevideo?
The great majority are in Carrasco and the neighbouring districts of the eastern coast — which explains the concentration of the foreign community in that strip of the city and the demand for addresses nearby, such as Punta Gorda, Carrasco Norte and the Ciudad de la Costa.
When does the Uruguayan school year run?
From February or March to December, on the southern-hemisphere calendar — the same as Argentina and Brazil, and the reverse of Europe and North America. A family arriving from the northern hemisphere has to plan the move around that half-year offset.
Is the private network large in Uruguay?
No. In 2025, the private network accounted for 18.5% of enrolment in pre-primary and primary education, against 81.5% for the public one. It is a small network, geographically concentrated and with real competition for places at the most sought-after schools.
Is it worth choosing the school before the neighbourhood?
In practice, it is the only route that avoids moving twice. The school determines the daily journey, the social circle of the children and the zone of the city in which it makes sense to live.
Where to start
There is a sentence that sums up well why this subject comes first: adults adapt to the city they chose; children adapt to the school they were enrolled in.
For a country of three and a half million inhabitants, Uruguay offers a density of bilingual and international schools that practically no neighbour has — the legacy of more than a century of foreign communities that founded their own schools and never closed them. Add to that a public system that is measured in full and still leads the region, and a school year that runs with the southern hemisphere, from March to December.
It is a rare combination. And it is the reason why, among the families we work with, the school is usually the argument that settles the decision — not the climate, not the tax, not the beach.
The wider context of life with children is in Raising children in Uruguay; healthcare, in Healthcare in Uruguay; the budget, in Cost of living in Uruguay in 2026 and in What a family of four costs. The map of the neighbourhoods is in Living in Montevideo.
And when the choice of school and the choice of neighbourhood have to be made together — which is always — that is the route we take alongside the family in Relocation and Living.
Informational content. It does not constitute educational, legal or investment advice. Data verified on 21 August 2026 with ANEP, the OECD and the public institutional sources of the schools cited. Admission conditions and fees vary by institution and by year. Each situation is analysed individually.