Entrepreneurial attitude, social skills, understanding the relevance of subjects, actual engagement, and beautiful products are just a few of the benefits that learning through authentic projects leads to. At REAL School, learning becomes real through projects with clear goals and visible outcomes.
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Browse the student projects below to better understand what we mean.
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We call the project-based learning process “Dream to Reality” (D2R). Children grow up experiencing that they indeed can imagine a better world and can develop the skills to build it. They do this every 6-12 weeks, over many years. This has a profound impact.
An example
Art for social justice project
REAL driving question: How can art influence social justice?
REAL people: The children co-created artworks with visually-impaired artists from Kézzelfogható Alapítvány and exchanged art pieces with children in two NGOs, Kompánia Tanoda and Igazgyöngy Alapítvány.
REAL places: Students scouted Budapest for social justice-related art dating from the World War II era. Their art exhibition was at Virág Judit Gallery, the city’s top contemporary art gallery.
REAL products: Students produced high-quality artwork on a social or environmental issue they felt passionate about.
Art for social justice exhibition
What do parents say?
Wish there was this school when I was growing up! For anyone who’s looking to make a dent in the world, this is the place to make change happen for a new world for our future leaders.
REAL School follows the British curriculum. With expert educators, personalised support and meaningful assessment, students are equipped with essential knowledge, skills, and cultural insights to understand and engage with the world.
The love of learning is fostered through a rigorous yet creative curriculum. Literacy is strengthened through solid schemes and dynamic stations, while numeracy is mastered via a hands-on, Montessori-inspired learning ladder. Science and the humanities come alive through interdisciplinary projects.
Your child’s growth is referenced against the English National Curriculum and REAL School’s own competencies, with progress shared in end-of-term reports.
Your child will focus on applying knowledge in real-world contexts. Maths is taught through three interconnected areas: core skills, problem solving, and applied maths. Where possible, literacy is woven into D2R projects to give meaning to written expression. When not, it’s taught as a standalone subject. Science is both project-based and standalone, with an emphasis on thinking, feeling and acting like a scientist.
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To support different learning needs, we combine live teaching with flipped classroom strategies and AI-powered tools.
Learning happens everywhere, so why limit our children to four walls? The city is our classroom, the island is our backyard. On Wednesdays, the children deep dive into nature, because we will only protect what we love, and we will only love what we connect with. The students sometimes go to the city, not only because it is filled with learning opportunities, but also because it is a core area for sustainability challenges. These trips are always purposefully connected to our projects.
Come and see for yourself!
Visit the REAL School campus with a lead educator or our Founder. You will have the chance to see the school in action, understand how its mission comes to life, and learn about its pedagogy and curriculum. Due to small groups, you will also have the opportunity to get all your questions answered.
We love nature—and we love tech. Our approach to technology is intentional and age-appropriate: no devices in the Lower School, and purposeful, values-driven use in the Upper School. Your child will learn to engage with technology ethically, creatively, and critically.
Our goal is to nurture emotionally intelligent, healthy, resilient individuals who build strong relationships and thriving communities. We teach conflict resolution, listening and sharing skills. Wellbeing is part of our way of life, and it is also a subject with a purposeful curriculum.
Physical education
REAL School is surrounded by some of the best natural resources in Budapest. The school is next to a large green field, where the children spend most of their break times—playing football or having a healthy snack. The PE programme also empowers older students to swim, skate, and wall-climb in various locations beyond the campus.
Art & Makerspace
Art helps children thrive with distinctly human qualities in the age of artificial intelligence. Making is key to building confidence that my ideas matter, because I can bring them to life. I matter. Children have dedicated Makerspace/Art lessons. These are also woven into projects, whether to help create a student product or enrich their learning experience.
Children are empowered to think innovatively, collaborate effectively, and solve problems practically and ethically. They develop relevant skills and mindsets for life, instead of the next test. Now more than ever, we need young people who are ready, willing, and able to tackle the challenges of their lives and the world they will inherit—and nothing prepares them better than project-based learning.
REAL School's ambition is for children to be equipped with knowledge, mindsets and skills to live sustainably and actively regenerate communities and ecosystems.
Do you have burning questions?
Call the Family Ambassador at +36 1 901 0695,
Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon Central European Time.
We structure learning around the REAL Way — a flexible approach that adapts to students, not the other way around. We use Learning Forms, structures that guide how children engage with materials and which competencies they develop. These forms embrace diverse learning styles and keep education relevant, personal, and alive. No forced curricula. No one-size-fits-all. Just learning that matters.
Download the 2025/26 Academic Calendar
Community
Time dedicated to building relationships, social-emotional and cultural engagement through discussion, songs and rituals.
Academics
A learning form for Literacy, Maths, Science, Humarnies and anything that needs a structured, practice-based learning experience using the National Curriculum in England.
Dream to Reality
Real-life project work for entrepreneurial skill and mindset development, incorporating cross-curricular subject knowledge. This learning form follows a robust project-based process with a real contribution to the world.
Excursions
Learning happens everywhere. So each week we spend a day out in nature or in the city, exploring and getting our hands dirty.
Real Zone
Opportunity to continue project work, or join a language class, arts and music courses, game clubs or sports.
To put it simply, student agency gives students voice and choice in how and what they learn. It results in activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners. It is driven by their interests, often self-initiated with appropriate guidance from teachers. As our children grow and mature, they need less and less scaffolding. They need to take their lives into their own hands. In a world that is guaranteed to change very fast, our children will need to continuously adapt. That means continuous learning and reinvention. This is why the skills and motivation for lifelong learning are key.
We ask 18-year-olds to make huge decisions about their career and financial future, when a month ago, they had to ask to go to the bathroom.
- Adam Kotsko
REAL School students have successfully moved on to British, American, Hungarian, and national high schools with strong academic foundations and a powerful set of 21st-century skills. They leave as adaptable, confident learners with a portfolio of real-world projects—ready to thrive in any high school and beyond.
How do students transition?
In our experience, there are only a few areas that students transitioning out of REAL School find challenging. These include standardised tests, not knowing why they need to learn something (“because it’s in the curriculum”), and a teacher-student relationship that might not be built on mutual respect. Young people are inherently adaptive. Our job is to keep and nurture this core mindset.
What would they need to get used to?
Transitions into different systems at age 14
And other international schools around the world.