Bilingual Middle School in Bergamo
Most of the school day happens in English. At the end of Middle School students take the Italian state exam and move up to High School, where they choose between our Sports and International routes.
75% of the week is taught in English, 25% in Italian.
English, history, art and music are taught in English by native speakers. Maths, science, geography, technology and PE run in both languages, English and Italian. Italian itself, religion and theatre are taught in Italian, and a third language, Spanish or German, completes the week.
- The full Italian school programme, the same one every school in the country teaches
- In Italy this stage is called scuola secondaria di primo grado, or scuola media for short
- It closes with a national exam, the Esame di Stato, which every student in the country takes
BBS was founded in Bergamo in 2011 by Patrizia Canzoneri. It is state-recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education, a status known in Italy as paritaria: that recognition is what lets your child take the national exam and leave with the national qualification.
Everything an Italian school teaches, and Maths, Science and English twice over.
Those three subjects are taught to the Italian programme and to the English curriculum at the same time. The English one is written in England by Cambridge, and it approaches the same material with different methods and a different vocabulary, so your child covers more ground and goes deeper than either programme asks on its own.
- English as a first language for students coming up from BBS Primary, or as a second language for students who join at 11
- Mathematics
- Science
- Italian
- History and Geography history in English, geography in both languages
- A second foreign language Spanish or German, the student’s own choice
- Art in English
- Technology in both languages
- Music in English
- Physical Education in both languages
In Italy’s official school exams, every BBS student cleared the English target the Ministry sets.
Once a year the Italian Ministry sets the same tests, the INVALSI tests, for every school in the country, so results can be compared between them. A2 is the English level the Ministry expects by the end of this stage. These are our Middle School results, from 2021/22.
Source: our published results · See the full set
Students learn to argue a case out loud, in formal debates.
Debating is a fixture of British and American schools and it is a fixture here. A student has to research a position, organise it and hold it in front of the class, which is how critical thinking gets practised.
The rest of the teaching works the same way: a topic arrives as a problem to explore, and the student takes an active part in working it out.
The approach was designed by a team of pedagogy specialists and rests on two pillars, the humanities and the science and maths subjects.
One tutor sees the same small group of children, every day.
At eleven a child goes from one class teacher who knows everything about them to a different teacher for each subject. The tutor is the person who stays.
- Follows a small group day to day
- Their point of reference in the school, for schoolwork and for everything else that happens between eleven and fourteen
- A specialist who works with students, with staff and with parents
- Personal, social and emotional development is taught as a curriculum of its own, tied into the academic ones
- Parents can ask for one-to-one support in working out what to expect of their child
- Subjects in English taught by native English speakers
- Working with their Italian colleagues, so a topic covered in one language connects with the other
- Specialists in what they teach, kept current through workshops and open debates across the year
Homework is deliberately kept limited · free time is part of how learning settles
The choice of secondary school is prepared three years before it happens.
At the end of this stage every family in Italy chooses a secondary route. At BBS the work towards that choice starts in the first year, on three levels:
- Teachers, who see what a child is drawn to while teaching them, and start mapping a path from there
- School and family counsellors, who work with your child and with you on strengths, expectations and worries
- People who do the jobs, invited in to explain what their work involves, from long established professions to ones only now appearing, through projects with Confindustria and Confcommercio, Italy’s national associations for industry and for commerce
Students meet every week to make the school greener, and the school listens.
The violin from age eight, and a Christmas show that sells out in two hours.
Children coming up from BBS Primary have played the violin since they were eight, and the instrument changes as they move through the school. The Christmas show fills the theatre within two hours of tickets opening, with an audience that reaches well beyond the school community.
In Middle School the arts change shape to suit the age. What the school is after is creative thinking and the habit of thinking outside the box: former students name it as one of the things they came to value after leaving.
Eleven classrooms, three labs, a theatre and a recording studio, in Bergamo.
The Middle and High School building stands at via Angelo Goisis. Large windows and open space connect it to the courtyards outside, and classrooms, common areas and quiet study spaces run into one another.
- School buses serve the Bergamo, Brescia and Milan areas
- The campus is at via Angelo Goisis 96b, in Bergamo
- The canteen cooks with organic and locally sourced ingredients
- Dietary needs covered on medical certification
- Students wear the school uniform
- After-school clubs: dance, piano, violin, guitar, theatre and judo
- A summer camp entirely in English, with mother-tongue teachers, grouped by age and level
A transfer to any Italian school stays open, at any time.
Because BBS is paritaria, the ministerial objectives are covered in full. If your family moves city or your plans change, your child can transfer to any Italian school, state or private, at any point in the three years, and arrive having covered exactly what that school expects. Choosing BBS at eleven keeps every option open.
Verify it yourself: BBS on the Ministry of Education register (Scuola in Chiaro)
At the end of Middle School your child moves up to High School and chooses between our Sports and International routes.
At the end of the third year students take the Esame di Stato and receive the diploma di licenza media, the national certificate that closes this stage of school in Italy. Then they carry on with us, and choose.
- Five years of Liceo Scientifico, the science-focused Italian secondary route, with a sports specialism
- Ends in the Maturità, Italy’s secondary school leaving qualification
- An IB Diploma option after the first three years
- Four years: two years of IGCSE exams, then the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma
- An international qualification, read directly by universities worldwide
It starts with a conversation with our admissions team.
Coming from a school that teaches in Italian? A good level of English is expected on entry, and students arriving from an Italian-language school are brought up to it: a reinforcement course before the school year begins, then English lessons with a specialist teacher and a bilingual Italian and English tutor for Maths and Science through the first year.
The first step is a conversation about your child. Fees are on our Admission and Fees page.
Questions families ask.
Come and see it for yourself.
Tell us about your child, their current year and school, and our admissions team will arrange a visit: you will see the classrooms mid-lesson and hear what 75% in English sounds like on an ordinary morning.
Via Angelo Goisis 96b, Bergamo · bbschool.it
