← Back to homeBegoñazpi Ikastola
Bilbao, Spain · Private
Illustration · Bilbao
Begoñazpi Ikastola is an ikastola in Bilbao, that is a private school teaching in Basque, and its website is entirely in Basque: there is no Spanish version at the usual address. The school traces its history to the post-war ikastola movement, when teaching in Basque was forbidden and punished and survived under the protection of the Basque Catholic Church; in June 1977 its first thirteen pupils completed the OHO course, and the celebration was led by the auxiliary bishop of Bilbao. As pupil numbers grew the building on Karmelo street was no longer enough, and the school built a new one - the present one at Jesus Galindez Etorbidea 15, served by the Bilbobus 03 and 38 city buses. Its middle stage is an IB programme, which it calls by its own name BIP and runs up to year four of DBH with a personal project at the end; first-year DBH pupils swim at the Derio pools. For 2026/27 the school reports that it has improved its spaces and facilities. The main thing a parent needs to know: the language of the school is Basque, and it publishes neither fees, nor pupil numbers, nor its teaching staff. The school's language is Basque: it is the language of communication across the whole school from two to eighteen, and from primary the model is trilingual, Basque, Spanish and English. About 36 per cent of weekly hours are taught in English - science, Science Bits, Art English, robotics, technology and sciences in secondary, and musicals in the nursery. French and German are optional, since 2019-2020; the school aims for C1 in Basque, B2 in English and B1 in French. Outside lessons the school runs language and arts programmes, from English and music to bertsolaritza and Basque dances, and a sports programme from taekwondo to volleyball.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Basque, English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, German
Admissions The school does not set out an admission procedure, deadlines, documents or criteria on its site: on its page for new families it invites them to see the school, to request a call back through a form or to phone, and names its open days - 12 December, 17, 23 and 25 January, for families with children of two and three. The youngest children are taken from the age of two. The school says nothing about foreigners, citizenship or knowledge of Basque as a condition of entry.
Stages and year groups The school runs stages from kindergarten to the baccalaureate - its extracurricular programmes are split into 'DBH and baccalaureate' and the younger years - and keeps the IB programme at the middle stage: BIP runs up to year four of DBH, and at the end a pupil completes a personal project. The school gives no exact age boundaries or grade grid on the pages read.
Address Jesus Galindez Etorbidea 15
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP · authorised programmeschool 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
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: MYP (ages 11-16). 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.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 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
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Campus: The school stands in its own building at Jesus Galindez Etorbidea 15 in Bilbao, to which it moved when the old building on Carmelo street ran out of room. On its facilities page it shows separate playgrounds for the nursery, for primary and for secondary with the bachillerato, a laboratory, a library, classrooms and the sports areas of the upper school; it has its own dining hall and school buses, and pupils are insured by the school. First-year secondary pupils swim at the Derio pools.
Clubs and activities: English · Basque (Euskera) workshop · Music · Painting · Children's ballet · Basque folk dance (Euskal Dantzak) · Theatre in English · Bertsolaritza (improvised sung verse) · Ice skating · Contemporary dance · Taekwondo · Basketball · Mini-football · Active games · Chess · Athletics · Volleyball
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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%)72 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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country