← Back to homeAmerican School of Bilbao
Berango, Spain · est. 1967 · Private
Illustration · Berango
The American School of Bilbao is a private non-profit school in Berango, a coastal town fourteen minutes by car from the centre of Bilbao. It was founded in 1967 by a group of international families who had nowhere to educate their children in English, and it has been parent-owned ever since: it is governed by a board of trustees made up of current parents. The school is small on purpose - fewer than three hundred pupils from 29 countries, one teacher for every seven pupils. It teaches the IB programmes and runs all three in sequence, the PYP, the MYP and the Diploma, wholly in English; it calls itself the only school in northern Spain with the full IB continuum in English. Pupils study Spanish and Basque every day, and French can be added from middle school. The early years start at age two, with a dedicated teaching assistant in every classroom, and the school day runs from 8:15 to 15:30. The school publishes its Diploma results: an average pass rate of 97 per cent since 2015 and an average score of 34 against a world average of 30.3. Leavers go to universities in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Canada, from Cambridge and Imperial College London to Deusto and ESADE. Against bullying the school uses the Finnish KiVa programme, and phones are not used during the school day. In summer the campus hosts the Summer Experience English camp for children aged 4-15, open to pupils from other schools as well.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $8 089–17 224 a year
7 160–15 246 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, Basque, French
Students per teacher
7 pupils per teacher
Summer camp
Yes, open to all
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 are set out by stage, as an annual sum with a separate registration fee. Early years: 7160 euros for ages 2-3, and 7923 euros each for ages 3-4, 4-5 and 5-6. Primary on the PYP: 8770 euros for Grade 1, 9234 for Grade 2 and 9985 for Grades 3-5. Middle school on the MYP: 9985 euros for Grades 6-7, 10341 for Grade 8 and 10922 for Grades 9-10. Diploma Programme: 11980 euros for pupils already at the school and 15246 euros for those joining straight into the Diploma. Family discounts: 20 per cent off the fee for the third child and 25 per cent for the fourth and subsequent children. Registration and other fees are described separately.
Admissions The school accepts families from any country and all year round: admission runs throughout the school year, and the school says plainly that relocations do not follow the school calendar. The order is: an enquiry by form or email, a reply within 48 hours, a visit on any day or an online meeting, the application, and after admission a transition plan and a buddy from among the pupils. There is no entrance exam: for the early years and Grade 1 there is a readiness evaluation, and from Grade 2 an adaptive assessment such as NWEA MAP, which shows the child's level and English; pupils transferring directly from another IB school do not take it. To begin, the school needs reports for the last two years, a copy of the pupil's passport, immunisation records and school consents. The school puts new families in touch with those who have already been through such a move.
Stages and year groups Grades early years from age 2 - Grade 12, to age 18. Sixteen years under one framework: early years for ages 2-5 on the IB framework, the PYP from six to eleven, the MYP from Grade 6 to Grade 10, and the Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12, ages 16-18. Every stage is on one campus, and the school writes that older pupils mentor younger ones. The school day runs from about 8:15 to 15:30, with exact times depending on age; the academic year runs from early September to late June on the Basque Government's calendar.
Address Soparda Bidea 10, 48640 Berango, Bizkaia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationschool is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
34 (world average 30.88)
Exam results The average IB Diploma pass rate since 2015 is 97 per cent, with an average score of 34 against a world average of 30.3. The school stresses that these figures are verified by the IB organisation rather than self-reported. In Spain the IB Diploma is recognised as the full equivalent of the bachillerato, giving direct access to Spanish universities.
Where leavers go: Arizona State University · Bucknell University · Columbia University · Georgetown University · Georgia Tech · Michigan State University · NC State University · Syracuse University · UCLA · University of Arizona · University of Colorado · University of Connecticut
and others, 46 universities in the school's list in allThe school publishes the list of universities itself on its Diploma page, by country: the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Canada. It gives no shares and no yearly numbers of admissions. From Grade 10 a university counsellor works with the pupils.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The campus in Berango sits on a green edge of town, with hills, walking paths and the Bay of Biscay nearby. The permanent buildings went up in the 1980s and 1990s. Inside there are bright classrooms, a library, science laboratories, art spaces and sports facilities; outside, play areas and a school garden. The natural surroundings are part of the teaching - the youngest children are outdoors every day and older pupils use the setting for science fieldwork and CAS projects. Every age group shares the one site, from two-year-olds to Diploma students. Berango metro station on Line 1 is a short walk away, there is free parking on campus, and children arrive both by car and by school bus.
Clubs and activities: Model United Nations · Winter Experience
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp and takes children from outside as well
Summer Experience is a summer English camp on the Berango campus for children aged 4-15, in July and August, Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 14:00, in sessions of two to eight weeks. English comes only through activities: sport, art, cooking, outings and games, led by native speakers. The camp is open to children from other schools as well. The school does not publish the price. From October to May the same campus runs the Winter Experience - English on Saturdays from 9:30 to 14:00 or on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 18:00 to 20:00, for ages 4 to adult.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The school states the ratio itself: one teacher for every seven pupils. Every early years classroom has a dedicated teaching assistant, in middle school every pupil has an advisor - the homeroom teacher, with weekly sessions - and in the upper grades a university counsellor works with pupils. The school publishes no number of teachers and no qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school calls child protection its highest priority: it has a safeguarding policy, regular staff training and a clear procedure for reporting concerns, and every adult at the school is trained. Against bullying it uses the KiVa programme developed at the University of Turku. The school day is phone-free. A student support services team works together with families. The school does not separately name a psychologist, a medical room, security staff or video surveillance.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)95 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data64 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country