Tarabya British Schools (TBS) Istanbul
Reviews & Information

2.1 from 14 reviews
School Overview Reviews

About Tarabya British Schools (TBS)


Tarabya British Schools (TBS) is the pioneer in Turkey that combines the Turkish national curriculum and British national curriculum. All subjects, except for Turkish Language and Cultural lessons are taught in English. Our students get an amazing opportunity to enter universities and colleges all around the world.

Our international qualifications are part of the international educational curriculum offered by the University of Cambridge in more than 10,000 schools in over 160 countries. Cambridge International Education qualifications are recognised as excellent preparatory training for international University education.

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Curriculum

English, Turkish

Primary Language

English

Ages

3 to 18

Max Class Size

Unknown

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14 Reviews of Tarabya British Schools (TBS)

Average Ratings

Overall 2.09
Facilities 2.78
Academics 2.78
Teachers 2.89
Sports 2.78
Music & Arts 2.78
Science & Tech 2.78

Reviewer Nationalities

American (1) Iranian (1) British (3) Turkish (4)

How would you rate Tarabya British Schools (TBS)?

Anahita , 01/02/2024 @ 07:04:36
Relationship   Parent

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My daughter used to be a student in Tarabya British school for two years and I'm so regretful to waste two years of her life in such a terrible school. TBS is awfully poor in both educational and behavioral parts. Last year they changed main class teacher four times! so the kids almost lost the year academically, although the education level was way behind of Cambridge programme which was claimed by the school as their curriculum, Meanwhile my daughter got injured several times by specific kids and the manager's response was that they were all accidents!!! On the other hand the school staff didn't know how to treat kids properly which is strange since they are dealing with kids and they are supposed to know the basic knowledge of child psychology. Lastly, the school put a lot of pressure on parents from the first months of the academic year in order to get money from them for the next year so I fully paid them for 2023-2024 academic year in November 2022 but the strange thing is that they have refused to pay my moneys back up until now and it's something really unacceptable for a so called educational organization!! (Emails and documentations are available) I finally had to start the legal process in order to get my right. If you are looking for a school for your loved ones don't even think of this school as there is absolutely no positive point in there. By the way I saw a couple of familiar names who are all TBS's staff posting positive comments about their school which is shameful! Don't be fooled by them.

Zeynep, 09/07/2023 @ 12:57:30
Relationship   Parent

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Instagram picture perfect school ! Very unprofessional management, uncontrolled educational process, teachers coming and going through the school year, children doing nothing most of the time. School is accepting everyone who can pay. Very poor school facilities, no efficient and useful Library, P.E Gym is just a joke. Not recommending at any cost.

Arben, 09/06/2023 @ 08:10:47
Relationship   Pupil

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This school is really good

Sercan Senyuz, 08/06/2023 @ 17:40:38
Relationship   Teacher

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During my seven-year tenure at TBS, I have had the opportunity to explore various roles, culminating in my current positions as Headteacher and Director of Administration. One of the primary focuses of our school is to equip students with the necessary skills to thrive in the global workplace, empowering them to forge successful career paths through the selection of optimal subject combinations. Our medium of instruction is English, and we ensure that all students complete the Cambridge International Curriculum. TBS holds the distinguished honor of being the sole school in Turkey to achieve the highest level of COBIS accreditation, known as the esteemed Patron's Accredited Member status. This accreditation serves as a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence. Feel free to reach out should you have questions or doubts

Rita, 01/06/2023 @ 07:37:30
Relationship   Other

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This school is one of the most corrupt and fake schools. They threaten their teachers and steal their money. They bring you from your leading country and then try to keep you illegally without a permit. Students are so disrespectful, spoiled, and bully. The quality of education is so bad, and it is not legally an international school according to Turkish government regulations. In general, it is so wrong idea to work or take your kids there.

Luke, 07/11/2022 @ 09:26:43
Relationship   Other

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Very transparent and easy to deal with as an agent. Clear communication and the teachers I've sent give glowing feedback!

STEVE PHILLIPS, 05/11/2022 @ 07:17:56
Relationship   Other

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I’ve been visiting the school, primary and secondary now for many years, involved with teacher development and arranging student visits to the UK. This is a great place to work and study. The teachers are all very professional and genuinely care about the work they do. The students are all incredibly engaged in their studies and you can see for yourself the universities they go to when they graduate, very successful

Mohammed , 26/11/2021 @ 15:50:57
Relationship   Parent

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We really weren't happy with this school and we are not recommending this school for your children. They are not responsible of behaviors and they are young girls and have not enough experience about children. We have very bad times in that period and we leave this school, my son now is very happy .

Mojdeh, 22/11/2021 @ 20:49:58
Relationship   Other

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If I could I would give a zero star. They simply took advantage of a new immigrant family with assuring them that they can handle the kid at grade one who doesn’t know the language just to convince them and take their money. There hasn’t been any contract or paper to sign for the amount of money paid to the school which they wanted it to be in US dollars or any information of the terms of cancellation. On the first day of school they asked them to take the kid at 1:00pm instead 3:00pm (which is the official school time). Then sent an email to only bring the kid 3 days a week instead of 5. And just in less than 1.5 months the school advisor asked the parents to enrol their kid to another school. They were not answering them on request for returning their money and after lots of frustrating follow ups they only returned 60% of their money in lira (not considering the exchange rate when they have asked the family to pay them US dollars) with no receipt or details of how they have calculated to take 40% of their money for only 15 school days. And now when they went to the school they didn’t let them in and not answering their emails.

Reviews from Google

Recent reviews posted on Google.

Google logoRating: 

yasemin ozhatay, 2 years ago


mediocre at best. I'm a student there, and my experience wasn't good nor bad. The only major complaint I have is about the attitude of some of the teachers have towards learning. It's like a few students don't even't exist in their eyes.

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Eren, a year ago


As an ex student in this school, I would not recommend it in the slightest. The only reason why this school isn't demolished yet is the way it is marketed to the parents of potential "money bags" (at least that's how the founder of the school would put it). The staff is genuine for the most part, didn't have a bad time with the majority of them. I do know, however, that they were deprived from their hard earned paychecks while I was enrolled there. Which leads me to the main reason why you absolutely shouldn't enroll anyone you know of here. They care about money, not students or how their qualities are. If they are smart, they are privileged to pay less. If they have a twisted personality, it can always be covered with some banknotes. I'm still waiting to get my money back for the year I DIDN'T study there. Puddings were decent, but I hope that's not the only thing you are looking for in a school. If so, please feel free to send your kid here :)

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Lisa Koepfgen, 8 months ago


I am an experienced American teacher who has taught in three different countries. I accepted a job offer to teach Pre K at Tarabaya British Schools’ Yeniköy campus and moved from Thailand to Turkey. Upon arrival, I discovered that I was the fourth teacher that my Pre K class had seen and it was only 6 months into the school year. I later discovered why. They signed a contract with me through August and despite finishing out the school year, they failed to pay me. The school also claims they use British curriculum, but this is far from the truth. When I arrived there wasn’t a curriculum to follow and I was told to steal my curriculum by searching for images and worksheets on Google, removing any copyright info and then to copy and paste it onto a word document with a Tarabaya School header. The parents pay an expensive tuition for British Curriculum, but never receive it. In April there was another teacher who was promised a work permit, residency, insurance, but the school gave her the run around and would not fulfill their promise despite her teaching for four months. She then returned to the UK and they stiffed her in her earned pay. I then was asked to teach her entire class without any help from the Turkish teachers. I was more than happy to help, but thought the classes should be split up among the three remaining Pre K teachers equally. I was then bullied and harassed as they requested Pre K meetings 10pm at night. In the midst of the pandemic and the lockdowns, they showed up at my home unannounced and demanded I go with them. They asked me to get into a car with them to meet Mehmet. Again there was no appointment and with the stay at home order I was not even properly dressed to leave the house. Yet they insisted I go and violate social distancing orders which I could be legally fined for. I no longer felt comfortable in my home as they thought they could stop by at any time and order me to go places with them. Despite this, I finished the school year online and had great reviews from my parents. Mehmet, the school owner promised me that the rumors of other teachers not receiving their pay was not true and that the school is in great financial condition and will fulfill their end of the contract. Then I found an article in the newspaper that states they have not paid the school’s rent in more than two years. There are also many reports that other teachers have made about not receiving their pay all over Istanbul’s Green List and Black List groups as well as pending lawsuits. When I messaged Mehmet to tell him I did not receive my paycheck, he blocked me. I messaged Melis and received no reply. I learned that this practice is the very reason why my class had four teachers in one year. The school is involved in many illegal operations. Please be careful if you wish to place your son or daughter in a class there.

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Ahmed Candan, 10 months ago


My kids would come back complaining every day about the school and the teachers. Wouldn’t recommend

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Louie Moore, 2 years ago


wonderful advertising, zero substance! Everything they do is just for show and they don't care about the well being of the students, nor the teachers. For more information read the yelp reviews for this school.

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