← Back to homeBritish College La Canada
Paterna, Spain · est. 2008 · Private
Illustration · Paterna
British College La Cañada opened in September 2008 in the natural setting of La Cañada in Paterna, ten kilometres from Valencia, and takes a child from three to eighteen on the British curriculum: Early Years, primary and secondary school, IGCSE and in the upper stage A-Level together with Spanish subjects through UNED, so that a leaver obtains both the British and the Spanish leaving qualification. There is also a BTEC line, a British vocational qualification. Lessons are taught in English by native-speaking teachers, while a separate Spanish department teaches Spanish language and the culture of Spain. The school is co-educational and non-selective, and by its admissions policy it takes children regardless of race, religion or nationality. It has been inspected by the British ISI inspectorate and holds British Schools Overseas status; it belongs to NABSS and names links with the British Council, Cambridge International and Edexcel. The school publishes its results itself: A-Level 2026 - 92.2 per cent of grades A*-E and 74 per cent A*-C, and an average university entrance examination score of 10.70 out of 14. The campus is large: 8000 square metres of sports grounds, swimming pools, two laboratories, a library, a theatre hall of more than 400 square metres and a dining hall with its own kitchen. A psycho-pedagogical office with speech therapy works inside the school, there are more than twenty extracurricular activities, and in summer the Cool Summer School runs with English, musical theatre and football.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 824–9 049 a year
6 040–8 010 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level · BTEC
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French
Registration fee
≈ $1 045
925 EUR
Summer camp
Yes, open to all
About the fees Fees for the 2026/27 school year depend on the stage: Nursery - Year 1 - 6040 euros a year (604 a month), Year 2-6 - 6720 (672), Year 7-9 - 7200 (720), Year 10-11 - 7330 (733), Year 12-13 - 8010 euros (801 a month). Paying the whole year at once gives a 3 per cent discount, and a third child gets a 35 per cent discount on tuition. On top of the fee come the registration fee, meals, transport and examinations.
Admissions The school admits foreigners: its admissions policy says it is a co-educational, non-selective school that takes pupils regardless of race, religion or nationality. No knowledge of Spanish is required. Children without adequate English are taken provided they receive additional support through the Induction to English programme at the parents' expense, and children with no English at all only into Nursery and Reception. In Year 1-2 age-appropriate English and numeracy are needed, in secondary school a personal interview and an English assessment are compulsory; all new pupils sit a literacy and numeracy test, and entry to Year 12 is highly selective, with tests in the chosen A-Level subjects. The procedure: an application through the form or by telephone on 96: 132: 40: 40, a visit to the school if places are available, entrance tests for primary and secondary school and then enrolment with documents. The registration fee is 925 euros; reserving a place in March costs 300 euros, which are deducted from the fee in September.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (3-5) - Sixth Form (16-18). The stages are Early Years from 3 to 5, primary from 5 to 11, secondary from 11 to 16 and Sixth Form from 16 to 18. In Year 12 pupils sit AS - half of the A-Level course - and take two Spanish Bachillerato subjects to be assessed through UNED; in Year 13 they complete their A-Levels and sit the Spanish part needed for entry to Spanish universities, gaining a double certification.
Address Calle 232 Nº 110, 46182 La Cañada (Paterna), Valencia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · A-Level · authorised programmeBSO · accreditationNABSS · school is part of the networkCertificate valid through August 2028 · BSO
school 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
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
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: A-Level (ages 16-18). A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
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 →BTEC
A British vocational qualification from Pearson: not an academic course with an exam at the end, but a programme of practical assignments in a particular trade, from engineering and business to art and sport.
What this means for this school. Teaching and assessment work differently from A-level: instead of written exams there is a run of practical assignments marked by the school, while Pearson checks the school itself and samples the work. British universities do accept BTEC, but not all of them and not for every course: level 3 carries the same UCAS points as A-level, and that is what a family aiming at a particular university should look at. For a child who needs the classic academic route, BTEC is not a replacement for A-level but a different path.
NABSSschool network
NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain) is not an owner of schools but an association of British schools in Spain, founded in 1978 by a group of leading British schools in the country. According to the association, it has more than 80 member schools, which educate more than 49,000 children and employ more than 5,000 teachers. Only schools officially authorised by the Spanish authorities as foreign schools teaching the British education system and certified by the British Council after inspections can be members; new schools that are still developing are not admitted straight away. The association represents the schools' common interests, encourages collaboration between them and holds an annual conference; its school finder places member schools in Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Andalusia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Murcia and other regions. The association's site is nabss.org.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school publishes its results itself. IGCSE 2025/2026, 55 pupils: geography - 93 per cent passing against 66 in the United Kingdom, English literature - 100 against 74, French - 91 against 74. A-Level 2026: 92.2 per cent of grades A*-E and 74 per cent A*-C. University entrance examination 2026: best score 13.77 out of 14, average 10.70 out of 14; best bachillerato mark 9.69 out of 10. GL tests in Year 6: 2026: English 106.3, mathematics 109, science 107.5 against an average of 100.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Campus: Separate modern buildings for Infantil, primary, secondary school and the bachillerato stand in the natural surroundings of La Cañada. There are 8000 square metres of sports grounds: multi-purpose pitches, basketball courts, a 7 by 7 football pitch and an 11 by 11 artificial grass pitch for football, rugby and badminton, and swimming pools. The secondary school has two laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology; the library is on the ground floor of the primary building; the theatre hall of more than 400 square metres has 8-speaker sound and a laser projector with a 10 square metre screen. The dining hall is separate, with its own kitchen. Playgrounds are divided by age, and the Foundation Stage building has its own outdoor area. There is a school bus and early morning and afternoon clubs.
Clubs and activities (22): German · French · Dance · Piano · Pequemas/UCMas · Football and futsal · Funk dance · Combined events · Roller skating · Magic tricks · Trinity Rock & Pop · Basketball · Pre-tennis and tennis · Rugby · Music ABC · Creative workshop · Tech workshop · Chess · Dance and musicals for primary school · Dance and musicals for secondary school · Cookery · Judo
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp and takes children from outside as well
The Cool Summer School runs at the school itself from 25 June to 24 July, full day from 9:30 to 16:30 or mornings from 9:30 to 13:00. There are three strands: English Immersion, Broadway Stars with performing arts and musical theatre, and the Dany Parejo Academy for football. Prices for 2026 range from 80 euros for taster days to 712 euros for the full immersion course, with weekly and multi-week options.
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
The school does not give the number of its teachers. The British curriculum at every stage, it says, is taught by native English-speaking teachers with the necessary specific qualifications, meeting the requirements of the UK Department for Education; Spanish language and the culture of Spain are taught by a separate Spanish department. Teachers and families are advised by the psycho-pedagogical office.
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
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a psycho-pedagogical and speech therapy department: it identifies special educational needs, carries out psycho-pedagogical assessment, works with external services - paediatricians, child and adolescent mental health units, neuropaediatricians, speech therapists and psychomotor therapists - advises teachers and parents, and runs workshops on bullying, self-esteem, social skills, addiction and social media.
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%)82 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 data60 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