← Back to homeBahía Montessori International School
El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain · Private
Illustration · El Puerto de Santa Maria
Bahía Montessori International School is a private Montessori school in El Puerto de Santa María near Cádiz, at Calle de la Verónica 23. The Consejería de Educación has authorised it as a private foreign school, and the school is enrolled in the recognition programme of the American NEASC. It has two stages: Casa de niños y niñas from three to six and Taller from six to twelve; for the younger children practical life, sensorial work, mathematics, language, cultural areas, art and music, for the older ones arithmetic and algebra, geometry, language, cosmic education (biology, geography, history), art, music and physical education. The school has no secondary stage: after twelve children go on to Spanish state and private schools, to American institutions or, thanks to its foreign-school status, to other international schools. Its pupils come from different parts of the world, and the school calls its environment multicultural: the children hear both English and Spanish from one another, and the school sets bilingualism as its goal while taking each child's emotional needs into account. The team is 12 people, among them Montessori guides, teachers of English and music and two psychologists. Its clearest strength is safety: a child protection policy grounded in national and international law, protocols for accidents and illness, emergency plans, drills and access control.
Key facts
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Admissions The school admits foreigners: by its own account its pupils come from different parts of the world, and it is a private foreign school authorised by the Consejería de Educación. In March, during the new enrolment period, the school holds an open day, and it arranges personal meetings on request; applications are made through a link to the Transparent Classroom platform. Before the year starts there is a group meeting for families with the team, and an individual meeting if needed, and the school plans the settling-in period for each child individually. The admission criteria: mixed and balanced groups without discrimination, priority for current pupils and their siblings, the family's agreement with the Montessori philosophy, and a prior assessment of whether the school has the resources for the child's wellbeing. The school does not name citizenship, a residence permit or knowledge of Spanish as a condition of admission.
Stages and year groups Grades ages 3-6 - ages 6-12. Two stages: Casa de niños y niñas from three to six and Taller from six to twelve. In Casa de niños y niñas arrival is flexible from 9:00 to 9:30 and pick-up from 13:30 to 14:00; in Taller the day runs from 9:00 to 14:00; there is early care from 8:00 to 8:30 and late care until 15:00. A group has up to 30 children: in Casa de niños y niñas with at least 3 adults, in Taller with at least 2. The school ends at twelve.
Address C. de la Verónica, 23, 11500 El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · 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 →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities
The school does not describe its premises on its website.
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 team is published by name, 12 people: the director, the primary lead guide and a Taller guide, early years teachers - two of whom are also educational psychologists, a teacher of English and Spanish, an early years and English teacher, a primary teacher specialising in music, two psychologists (child and adolescent psychology; a master's in neuropsychology and education), a naturopath and kinesiologist, and a secretary. A group has up to 30 children: at least 3 adults in the younger group and at least 2 in the older one.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access control
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
A full child protection policy based on national and international law; families may request the full text from the head's office. Separately described are protocols for accidents, illness and situations of risk with immediate notification of families, periodic review of emergency plans, staff training and drills, and safety measures at entrances and in the buildings. Visitors must be accompanied and follow the centre's rules; entering with weapons or objects imitating them is forbidden. The team includes two psychologists and two educational psychologists.
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%)60 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 Value for money (6%) scored at the median74 "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 7 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.
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