Schools in Fethiye: Turkish state schools, the international options and UK university

Here's the honest answer: we couldn't find a British-curriculum or international school in Fethiye itself. Families choose between local Turkish schools, an international school in a bigger city, or learning at home on a British programme.

The short version

• School is compulsory in Turkey for children aged 6 to 18, the FCDO says [1]. It runs as 12 years in three stages of four: primary, lower secondary and upper secondary [2].
• Fethiye's schools are Turkish-medium, state or private. State schools are allocated by address through the Ministry of National Education's e-Kayıt system [3].
• The nearest international schools we verified are in Izmir, about 350 km (220 miles) away by road, and Istanbul. MEF International School Izmir charges in US dollars: a $1,250 application fee and a $3,500 registration fee for 2026–27 [4].
• UK university: the UCAS deadline for 2027 entry is 13 January 2027 for most courses, but home fees and student finance usually need three years' residence in the UK [6][7].

What's in Fethiye

Fethiye is a Turkish town of state schools and a handful of private schools (kolej) that teach the national curriculum with extra English. Some private schools market strong language teaching, but they're not English-medium international schools, and none we could find offers IGCSEs or A levels. We couldn't verify their 2026–27 fees on their own websites, so visit and ask for the fee list in writing. Private school fees across Turkey rise sharply each year with inflation.

British Council Türkiye has no office in Fethiye; its exams service in Istanbul handles IELTS and UK exams for the country.

Turkish state schools

The structure, set in 2012, is twelve years of compulsory schooling [2]:

Source: European Commission Eurydice overview of Türkiye, updated December 2025 [2].

How enrolment works:

1. Get your ikamet first. Your child's residence permit gives them a foreigner ID number, which the school system uses as their identity number.
2. Find your school by address. The e-Kayıt service, linked from the Ministry's e-Okul portal, shows which school your address is registered to for pre-school, grade 1 and grade 5 [3]. That's another reason to register your address properly with the authorities.
3. Book an appointment with the school through the portal's appointment system, or go in person with passports, ikamet cards and previous school reports [3].
4. Ask about placement. Older children coming from UK schools may need their reports recognised, and the school decides which grade they join. Bring translated reports.

Younger children often pick up Turkish surprisingly fast and make local friends, which many Fethiye families love. For a teenager, starting Turkish lise with no Turkish is tough, and entry to the better high schools runs through a national exam. The FCDO's Living in Turkey guide links to the Ministry's enrolment pages and to Eurydice's overview of the system [1].

International schools further afield

There's no international school in Muğla province that we could verify, including in Bodrum and Marmaris. A 2026 overview of international schools in Turkey lists schools in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya, and mentions Cambridge schools in Antalya without naming them [5]. We couldn't confirm an Antalya school's fees from its own site, so we've left them out.

MEF International School Izmir is an IB World School and Cambridge International School teaching in English, from kindergarten to grade 12 [4]:

• Curriculum: Primary Cambridge Programme, Cambridge Checkpoint in middle school, then Cambridge IGCSE and the IB Diploma Programme.
• Fees for 2026–27: charged only in US dollars. New pupils pay a one-off application fee of $1,250 (about £930) and a registration fee of $3,500 (about £2,600), both non-refundable, plus annual tuition from the school's fee table. The school's fee terms add that VAT on education is 10% for 2026–27 [4].
• English: pupils in primary and middle school are accepted without English; high school applicants take an English assessment [4].
• Day school only, with no boarding [4].

Because it's a day school, choosing it in practice means moving to Izmir, roughly four to five hours from Fethiye by road. That's why many British families with secondary-age children in Fethiye either stay put with local or online schooling, or relocate for the senior years.

Pound conversions of US dollar fees use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = USD 1.3476).

Home education and online British schools

The FCDO's wording is that children must "attend school or home school in Turkey" [1]. The Ministry's 2025 home education guidance, which the FCDO links, is aimed mainly at children who can't attend school for health reasons, so it isn't the same as home-schooling back home in England. Families using British online schools should check how the Turkish authorities view their child's status, and keep records of enrolment, reports and exam entries.

GCSEs and A levels taken as a private candidate need an exam centre; British Council Türkiye's exams team in Istanbul is the place to ask.

UK university from Fethiye

Applying

Students apply through UCAS like anyone else. For 2027 entry [6]:

All at 18:00 UK time [6].

Fees and student finance

This is the big catch for families abroad. To get student finance in England as a UK national, you normally need to have been living in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for three years before the course starts; holidays don't break that, but living in Turkey does [7]. Universities use similar residence tests to decide home or international fee status, and international fees are many times higher. A family who moved to Fethiye temporarily (for a job, say) may still count as UK resident, so contact the university's fees team early with your dates. Our guide to UK student loans while living abroad covers repayment for graduates who move overseas.

School choices are one of the most-discussed topics in our community group for Brits in Turkey, especially each spring as families decide on September.

Sources

1. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in Turkey (updated 31 December 2025)
2. European Commission, Eurydice: Türkiye, overview of the education system (updated 9 December 2025)
3. Ministry of National Education (MEB): e-Okul portal, including e-Kayıt and school appointments
4. MEF International School Izmir, Admissions FAQs and Tuition and fees 2026–2027
5. Rehberpanda: international schools in Türkiye, 2026 map (updated 6 November 2026)
6. UCAS: Dates and deadlines for 2027 entry
7. GOV.UK: Student finance, who qualifies

Keep reading

• Moving to Fethiye as a Brit: visa and residence routes
• Fethiye, Çalış and Hisarönü: choosing where to live
• Turkish residence permits for Brits: the ikamet
• UK student loans while living abroad