The short version. NAIS Manila admission is five steps: enquire, tour, apply with documents and a fee, sit an English assessment, accept the offer within two weeks. Before any tuition, a new family pays an application fee, a PHP 50,000 refundable deposit and a non-refundable enrolment fee — roughly PHP 322,000 in one-off charges. The school publishes two different sets of figures for two of those, and the newer document is the higher one.
For the address, phone numbers and profile, see our Nord Anglia International School Manila page. This post is about how you actually get in and what it costs to do so.
First, a correction worth making
The school's current site describes sixth form as international A-Levels, not the IB Diploma. Students typically take four AS-level subjects in Year 12 and carry three forward to A-Level in Year 13. The published fee schedule backs this up: it refers to Year 11 students sitting IGCSE examinations, and Year 12 and Year 13 students taking A-Level and BTEC, billed at actual cost by Cambridge and Pearson.
If you have read elsewhere — including in our own older directory description — that NAIS Manila runs the IBDP, treat the school's own pages as the source. If the IB matters to you specifically, our IB schools in the Philippines list is the better starting point, and our British curriculum schools guide covers the A-Level route.
The five steps
- Make an enquiry. Fill in the online enquiry form or email admissions. The team then contacts you to discuss requirements and arrange a tour.
- Take a tour. In person, or a virtual meeting if you are not in Manila yet.
- Apply. Complete the online application form, pay the application fee, and send the supporting documents.
- Assessment. The school invites your child to sit an English language assessment. Format depends on age; secondary applicants must show a higher standard than primary applicants, because the whole curriculum is taught in English.
- Offer and acceptance. The school sends a formal offer letter with terms and conditions and a confirmed start date. You accept and pay the enrolment fee within two weeks.
The school accepts applications all year round and says new students can start at any point in the academic year. For a relocating family, that is a genuine practical advantage over schools with fixed intakes.
What you submit
- A copy of your child's birth certificate or passport.
- Copies of your passports and visa information.
- Your child's most recent school report.
- Your child's vaccination record.
- Where applicable, learning support documents that explain your child's additional needs.
That last one is not optional in spirit. Learning support at NAIS Manila is priced as a separate charge in three stages, and the stage is set by the school based on previous reports, professional evaluations and its own assessment. Withholding a report does not avoid the charge; it just moves the conversation later.
Which year group your child joins
Placement is by age, and the school publishes a comparison table across the Japanese, Australian, UK and US/Philippine systems. The pattern that catches Philippine families out: the UK year number is one ahead of the Philippine grade number from Grade 1 onward. A child in Philippine Grade 5 (age 10-11) enters Year 6. A child in Grade 9 (age 14-15) enters Year 10.
| Age | UK year at NAIS | Philippine equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 3-4 | Nursery | Nursery |
| 4-5 | Reception | Pre-kindergarten |
| 5-6 | Year 1 | Kindergarten |
| 6-7 | Year 2 | Grade 1 |
| 10-11 | Year 6 | Grade 5 |
| 12-13 | Year 8 | Grade 7 |
| 14-15 | Year 10 | Grade 9 |
| 16-17 | Year 12 | Grade 11 |
If your child is moving from a Philippine school, the practical effect is that they may repeat a year of content or skip one depending on birth month. Ask the admissions team to confirm placement in writing before you accept. Our guide to local versus international school for expat kids covers the wider trade-off.
The one-off costs, and the figures that disagree
This is the part to read twice. NAIS Manila publishes its one-off charges in two places, and the two do not agree.
| Charge | Tuition Fees web page | Schedule of Fees PDF (2 July 2026, FINAL Release) |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee, non-refundable | PHP 28,413 | PHP 29,806 |
| Admission deposit, refundable | PHP 50,000 | PHP 50,000 |
| Enrolment fee, non-refundable | PHP 231,530 | PHP 242,875 |
The PDF is the newer and more formal document — it is the Schedule of Fees incorporated by reference into the school's terms and conditions — so it is the one likely to be charged. But the web page has not been updated to match, which means a family budgeting from the website will be roughly PHP 12,700 short. Get the current figures confirmed in writing by the admissions office before you transfer anything.
On the deposit: PHP 50,000 per student, refunded on completion of Year 13. Withdraw earlier and you must submit written notice through the school's withdrawal form by the deadline for that term. For 2026-2027 those deadlines are 11 August 2026 to leave at the end of Term 1, 5 January 2027 for Term 2, and 13 April 2027 for Term 3. Miss the deadline and the refund logic works against you.
The enrolment fee applies to all new students entering Primary (Years 1-6), Secondary (Years 7-11) or Sixth Form (Years 12-13), and to existing Early Years students moving from Reception into Year 1. That second clause surprises families who assumed the fee was a one-time entry charge — if you start your child in Reception, expect it again at Year 1.
Then tuition starts
The published tuition for 2026-2027 runs from PHP 529,072 for Pre-Nursery to PHP 1,824,389 for Year 13 on the annual discounted plan, before a capital development fee of PHP 197,999 and a compulsory lunch fee of PHP 77,255 that apply at every level. Annual totals therefore run from about PHP 804,000 to about PHP 2.1 million. A termly plan is available at a higher total.
Two charges can be added as a condition of admission, both paid in full at enrolment and both non-refundable: English as an Additional Language at PHP 118,051 a year for Years 1-6 and PHP 209,868 for Years 7-11, and Learning Support at PHP 118,051, PHP 209,868 or PHP 327,920 depending on the stage the school assigns. Neither can be pro-rated whatever your start date.
Uniforms, examination fees, camps, trips, bus transport, instrument lessons and some extracurricular activities are all charged separately. Late payments attract a cumulative 3% per month penalty after 30 days, and students in arrears at the end of a term are not issued reports, transcripts or diplomas and are not re-admitted the following term.
For how this sits against the wider market, our best international schools roundup and the cheapest international schools in Manila list give both ends of the range.
The first-year bill, worked through
It helps to see the arithmetic once, because the one-off charges and the recurring ones get quoted separately and families add them up too late.
Take a child entering Year 7 in 2026-2027 on the annual plan, using the Schedule of Fees figures. Tuition is PHP 1,260,684. The capital development fee adds PHP 197,999 and the compulsory lunch fee adds PHP 77,255, giving PHP 1,535,938 for the year. On top of that, as a new family, you pay the application fee of PHP 29,806, the refundable deposit of PHP 50,000, and the enrolment fee of PHP 242,875 — PHP 322,681 in one-off charges, of which PHP 272,681 is money you do not get back.
So the first-year outlay is roughly PHP 1.86 million, of which about PHP 1.54 million recurs annually. Add EAL at PHP 209,868 if the assessment calls for it at that year group, or learning support at PHP 118,051 to PHP 327,920 if a stage is assigned, and neither can be pro-rated no matter when in the year you start. Uniforms, exam entries, trips and bus transport sit outside all of it.
The practical implication of the year-round intake is worth spelling out too: joining in January does not halve the year's cost the way it might at a school with a rolling assessment, because the one-off fees are charged in full regardless of entry date, and the school says so explicitly.
Who this school suits
A family that wants the English-medium British route — IGCSE then A-Level — with the flexibility to arrive mid-year, and can absorb a first-year figure in the region of PHP 1.8 to 2.1 million per child. The year-round admissions and the age-based placement table make it a practical choice for a relocation that does not line up with a Philippine or a UK calendar.
It suits you less if you specifically want the IB Diploma, if your child would need heavy EAL or learning support and you are budgeting tightly, or if you need a DepEd senior high strand on the record for a Philippine university application.
What to ask before you pay anything
- Which application and enrolment figures apply to your intake, in writing, given the two published sets.
- Whether the enrolment fee will be charged again when your child moves from Reception to Year 1.
- What stage of learning support, if any, the school expects to assign after reviewing your child's reports, and the cost of that stage.
- Whether an EAL charge is likely, and at what point it would be reassessed or dropped.
- The Special Study Permit cost for a non-resident child, which the school describes as a set fee but does not publish.
Sources
- NAIS Manila — Entry Requirements
- NAIS Manila — Tuition Fees
- NAIS Manila — A-Levels
- NAIS Manila, Schedule of Fees 2026-2027, issue date 2 July 2026, linked from the school's Tuition Fees page
Looking at other schools nearby? Our Parañaque schools listing has them.
