Keys School Manila runs a five-step application, an on-campus assessment for the child and an interview for the parents, and expects you to attend a school tour first. Regular-cycle results land at the end of June. The school publishes its class size caps and age bands in detail, and publishes no fees at all.
Keys School Manila is a progressive IB World School on Luna Mencias in Addition Hills, Mandaluyong, running from age 2 through Grade 12. Address, contacts and level flags are on the Keys School Manila profile. This guide covers the application itself, in the order you will actually meet it.
Start with the school tour, because Keys expects it
Keys frames the school tour as a requirement rather than an optional perk. Its own wording: "Attendance is a must." Two separate tour tracks run, on different days and at different times.
| Track | Time | Published dates |
|---|---|---|
| Kinder to Grade 11 | 9:30-11:30 AM | September 23, October 7, November 11 |
| Preschool | 9:30-11:00 AM | October 1, November 5, January 28 |
Admissions for 2026-2027 open in September for PreK to Grade 11. Register for a tour date before you start the form, not after.
The five steps, as published
Keys lists its process as five steps, and the numbering on its own page jumps from 2 to 4. Step 3 is not published. Expect the accounting or portal step to sit in that gap and ask admissions what it is.
1. Fill out the application form and submit requirements. Forms are level-specific. Documents go by email to [email protected] as clear, readable copies.
2. Pay the assessment fee. Admissions emails the payment details. Keys publishes deposit accounts at BDO, BPI and Security Bank, and accepts Dragonpay, where you use the Applicant ID as the student number. The fee amount is not published.
4. Take the assessment and attend the parent interview. The assessment is on campus for all applicants. Parents are invited to a live or virtual interview.
5. Await results by email.
Documents by level
The list grows as the child gets older, and the recommendation letters are the part that needs lead time.
Preschool — Preschool application form, PSA birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable, progress report if applicable.
Kindergarten — Kindergarten application form, PSA birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable, progress report if applicable, plus recommendation letters from the class adviser and guidance counsellor.
Grades 1-6 — Grades 1-6 application form, PSA birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable, current report card, report cards for the two previous school years showing the LRN, plus recommendation letters from the class adviser and guidance counsellor.
Grades 7-11 — Grades 7-11 application form, PSA birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable, current report card, report cards for the two previous school years with LRN, plus four recommendation letters: class adviser, guidance counsellor, mathematics teacher and English teacher.
Four referees for a secondary applicant is a real scheduling constraint. Ask in the first week of your application, not the last.
Non-Filipino applicants add enrolment certification, official transcript of records, passport pages showing the biopage, visa and stamp of entry, ACR I-Card, and a Special Study Permit from the Bureau of Immigration. Dual citizens submit a photocopy of the Philippine passport or a Certificate of Recognition as a Filipino instead. The medical form is listed as temporarily waived. Our dual citizen school enrollment documents guide covers that route in more detail.
What the assessment actually tests
Keys is unusually direct here. The assessment is described as developmentally appropriate, and the stated goal is to determine the applicant's mathematics and literacy competencies, behaviour and attitude. That is a narrower brief than a conventional entrance exam and it explains why the parent interview carries weight alongside it.
The published age bands and class caps
Keys publishes both, which is rare. The age bands are tight: each level maps to a single year of age, expressed as a range that closes at eleven months.
| Level | Age band | Ratio | Max class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2s | 2 to 2.11 | 1:5 | 10 |
| 3s | 3 to 3.11 | 1:8 | 16 |
| 4s | 4 to 4.11 | 1:8 | 16 |
| Kindergarten | 5 to 5.11 | 1:10 | 20 |
| Grades 1-6 | 6 to 11.11 | 1:12 | 24 |
| Grade 7 | 12 to 12.11 | 1:25 | 25 |
| Grades 8-10 | 13 to 15.11 | 1:26 to 1:28 | 26-28 |
| Grades 11-12 | 16 to 17.11 | 1:30 | 30 |
Small preschool caps and a 24-student ceiling through primary are the concrete version of what the school means by progressive. Ask on the tour whether those caps have held in the current year, since a published maximum and an actual roll are different things.
What you are applying into
The parent interview goes better if you have read what the school says it does, because Keys is explicit about a pedagogy and will expect you to have an opinion about it.
Keys publishes nine principles that it applies at every grade level. The load-bearing ones: children learn best by doing, through hands-on projects and expeditionary and experiential learning; the curriculum is integrated around thematic units rather than split into isolated subjects; learning is assessed by the quality of a child's projects and output; conceptual understanding rather than rote knowledge is the goal; worksheets and workbooks are deliberately de-emphasised; and community service and service learning are inside the curriculum rather than bolted on.
That last set of commitments is what the school means by progressive, and it has practical consequences. Project-based assessment means fewer conventional test scores to show a future school, which matters if you might transfer out. Ask how Keys reports achievement to receiving schools.
The programme runs in four stages.
- Preschool to Kindergarten — built around play, routines, an atelier, specials and supplemental programmes. The atelier is a Reggio-influenced studio space rather than an art class.
- Primary (Grades 1-6) — literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, Filipino, arts, PE, HELE and CLE.
- Secondary (Grades 7-10) — literacy, communication arts, mathematics, Filipino, arts, PE, CLE, applied studies, and robotics and technology education.
- College Preparatory (Grades 11-12) — the IB Diploma Programme, with studies in language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics and the arts, plus the DP core elements.
Two smaller points that come up in interviews. Religion is taught, as Christian Living Education from Grade 1 upward, but Keys states it is optional. And the only additional language offered is Chinese, as an after-school class.
Special rights, late enrolment and the reservation fee
Students with special rights. Keys is an inclusive school and says slots are limited. It requires all diagnostic reports from specialists or therapists, and a letter of endorsement from a developmental paediatrician confirming that Keys offers an environment conducive to the child's growth. Additional interviews of the child, parents or previous school may be required, and a shadow teacher may be a prerequisite. Learning support services may carry additional fees.
Late enrolment. Keys cites DepEd Order No. 3, s. 2018, under which a school may accept late enrollees provided the learner can still meet 80 percent of the prescribed school days. Applications run to the end of August, with results at the end of September.
Reservation. After an acceptance notification, the reservation fee must be paid immediately to secure the slot. It is non-refundable and non-transferable if the child does not enrol for the year applied for. Do not treat an acceptance as a free option to hold.
Application status is tracked on Pinnacle, and the admission or denial decision is final.
What Keys does not publish
No tuition, no assessment fee amount, no reservation fee amount, no learning support fee schedule. For a school in this bracket that is the single largest gap, and it is the first thing to raise on the tour. Ask for the full annual assessment in writing, including whether learning support and the after-school Chinese class are billed on top.
For context on where IB schools generally sit on cost, see international school fees in the Philippines and the list of IB schools in the Philippines. For nearby alternatives, browse schools in Mandaluyong.
Sources
- Keys School Manila, Admissions overview — keys.edu.ph/admissions
- Keys School Manila, Apply — keys.edu.ph/admissions/apply
- Keys School Manila, FAQs — keys.edu.ph/admissions/faq
- Keys School Manila, School Tour — keys.edu.ph/admissions/school-tour
- Keys School Manila, Programs — keys.edu.ph/programs
All five pages were read directly in September 2026. Tour dates and deadlines change each cycle; confirm with admissions before planning around them.
