← Back to homeAmerican School of Madrid
Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain · est. 1961 · Private
Illustration · Pozuelo de Alarcon
The American School of Madrid is a private American school in Pozuelo de Alarcón, ten kilometres west of the centre of Madrid, running since 1961; it now has about 1040 pupils from some 60 countries, roughly equal shares of Americans, Spaniards and children from other countries. The curriculum is American from pre-school to Grade 12 and ends with an American high school diploma, teaching is in English, more than 90 per cent of the teachers come from English-speaking countries, and at the senior stage the school offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme - and publishes the results: in the class of 2026 the diploma pass rate was 92 per cent, the average score 32.97 against a global 30.88, with nearly forty per cent of leavers scoring 35 or more and several 40 or above. The school runs Spanish along two separate paths: as a foreign language, with placement by the Common European Framework levels, and as a native language, on a curriculum that meets the requirements of the Spanish Ministry of Education and carries homologation of the Spanish years of schooling. Its support service is a large one: four school counsellors - two in the Lower School and one each in the Middle and Upper Schools - two registered nurses with a health office open from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon, and the school writes plainly of strict child protection policies and proactive safety procedures across the whole campus. The campus covers 11 acres: a 600-seat auditorium and a separate black box theatre, two gymnasiums, a fitness and weights room, a health and yoga room, an all-weather track, a turf soccer field, tennis and basketball courts, a six-a-side soccer and baseball field, science laboratories, a robotics lab, two Learning Commons in place of libraries, a cafeteria, a purpose-built early childhood centre and two parks for the youngest. In summer the school runs an English camp for children aged 3-12. There are more than twenty clubs, from Model United Nations and the National Honor Society to philosophy and medical science. Leavers go far afield: the school counts its 2026 acceptances in twenty countries across five continents, and among the universities it names are Columbia, Cornell, the LSE, UCL, King's College London, Georgetown, NYU, Berkeley, UCLA, McGill, Bocconi and IE.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $13 752–28 325 a year
12 173–25 072 EUR
Programmes
IB · DP · American programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, Chinese
Students
about 1000-1060: lower school (EC - grade 5) 415, middle school (grades 6-8) 256, upper school (grades 9-12) 367
Summer camp
Yes, open to all
About the fees Annual fees at the regular rate: early childhood EC3-EC4 12173 euros, EC5 12653 euros, Grades 1-2: 17081 euros, Grades 3-5: 19177 euros, Grades 6-8: 23245 euros, Grades 9-12: 25072 euros. Corporate rates are higher at every stage, from 17563 to 33176 euros. On top of the fee: an application fee of 250 euros one time, a registration fee of 2000 euros one time (credited towards tuition but non-refundable), a capital fee of 8100 euros one time for grades EC5 to 12, and an annual matriculation fee of 950 euros. The bus is 2404 euros a year and the cafeteria 9.85 euros a day, invoiced monthly on actual use. Discounts: 10 per cent for a third child and 20 per cent for each further child, applied both to tuition and to the enrolment fees.
Admissions The school accepts pupils of all nationalities and names its order of priority for places outright: first US citizens, then expatriate families, then alumni and siblings of current pupils, then families who need American college preparation leading to an American diploma or the IB Diploma. Admission is rolling: usually the application is submitted in the autumn a year before the start of study and the answer comes between March and August, while families moving from abroad during the year can apply at any time and get an answer within two weeks of submitting their documents; there may be a waiting list. The application fee is 250 euros per child, non-refundable. Required are reports for three years in English, standardised test results if available, teacher recommendations on the school's form, a full vaccination record and, from grade 2, a handwritten essay in English. English requirements rise with age: in EC3-EC5 fluent English is not needed, in grades 6-8 level B2 is required, in grades 9-10 B2 and in grades 11-12 C1 by TOEFL or a Cambridge exam for those whose first language is not English. For the preschool stage the child must turn 3, 4 or 5 before 1 September and be toilet-trained. Families of children with special needs first send documents, and the school decides whether it can support them.
Stages and year groups Grades early childhood from age 3 - Grade 12, ages 3-18. The stages run right through in three divisions: Lower School from three to ten, Middle School from eleven to fourteen, Upper School from fifteen to eighteen. The pre-school stage is marked EC3, EC4 and EC5 and lives in a building of its own. The school runs the IB Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12. Spanish goes along two paths: as a foreign language with placement by Common European Framework level (four levels in the Middle School) and as a native language, on a curriculum that meets the requirements of the Spanish Ministry of Education.
Address Calle América 3, 28224 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · accreditationIB · DP · authorised programmeCIS · membershipschool 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
MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
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: DP (ages 16-19). 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 belongs to this organisation but has not been through its accreditation. The difference matters: membership is usually paid for and has no external inspection behind it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
32.97 (world average 30.88)
Exam results IB Diploma results for the class of 2026: 92.21 per cent were awarded the diploma, the average score was 32.97 against a world average of 30.88, the median 34, the mode 32 and the maximum 42. 81.69 per cent scored 30 points or more, 42.25 per cent 35 or more and 4.22 per cent 40 or more; 38.03 per cent received a bilingual diploma. The school gives no SAT or Spanish university entrance results, and it offers no AP courses.
Where leavers go: Columbia University · Cornell University · London School of Economics (LSE) · University College London (UCL) · King's College London · Georgetown University · New York University (NYU) · University of California, Berkeley · University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) · McGill University · Università Bocconi · IE University
The school counts the admissions of the class of 2026 in twenty countries on five continents; the list above gives the universities it names.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: An 11-acre campus in Pozuelo de Alarcón, ten kilometres west of the centre of Madrid. A 600-seat auditorium and a separate black box theatre, with art, music and drama classrooms. Two gymnasiums, a fitness and weights room, a health and yoga room, an all-weather track, a turf soccer field, a tennis and basketball court and a six-a-side soccer and baseball field. Modern Middle School science labs, science labs at the athletics complex and a robotics lab in the Innovation, Design and Education Hub. In place of libraries there are two Learning Commons, one for the Lower and one for the Upper School. A cafeteria serves the Upper School. For the youngest there is a purpose-built Early Childhood Center, the Don Quijote play landscape and the Sancho Panza playground; the Da Vinci Space, the Center for the Arts Plaza and the Middle School Commons are named separately. The school bus costs 2404 euros a year.
Clubs and activities (20): Model United Nations · Yearbook · Caring hands · Lancer leaders' council · Middle Earth Players drama studio · Middle school chess club · Running club · Alternative society · Arts leadership club · Public relations club · Eco club · Global citizens club · Journalism club · National Honour Society · Philosophy club · French Honour Society · Public speaking and debating club · Service society · High school executive council · Medicine and science club
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp and takes children from outside as well
The English summer camp for children aged 3-12 runs in July: games, projects, drama, music, art, sport, photography, technology, yoga, science, cooking and Spanish, with a new theme every week and groups by age and language level. Regular hours from 9:30 to 14:00: the first week of July (3 days) 155 euros, one week 285, two weeks 510, three 670, the full month 825 euros; extended hours until 16:00 cost another 100 euros a week (60 in the first week), and lunch is 30 euros a week. The price includes the 200 euro pre-registration fee, materials and medical insurance; there is a 20 per cent discount for the third and subsequent children. There is no bus to the camp.
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 sizenot stated
More than 90 per cent of the teachers come from English-speaking countries, mainly the USA; teachers of Spanish, French and Chinese are recruited in the countries where it is the native language. The school shows its staff by name, with profiles of sixteen teachers on its pages, but gives neither the total number of teachers nor the pupil-teacher ratio. Separately there are four school counsellors: two in the lower school and one each in the middle and upper schools; the IB programme has its own coordinator.
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 room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has two registered nurses and a health office open from 8:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday: first aid, the management of minor illnesses, daily medication for pupils with chronic conditions, routine vision and hearing tests for the Lower School and, on request, scoliosis screening in Grades 6-8. All medicines, homeopathic ones included, are given out at the nurse station; a pupil may carry an inhaler for asthma or medication for a life-threatening allergy only with written permission. Four school counsellors work separately, supporting pupils through stress, anxiety and other social and emotional health concerns, and the school writes plainly that the physical and emotional safety of its pupils is its highest priority and that strict child protection policies apply across the whole campus. Every school bus is accompanied by a monitor contracted by the school; new pupils are assigned a buddy.
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%)84 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%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data90 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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