← Back to homeThe British International School of Marbella
Marbella, Spain · Private
Illustration · Marbella
A British school in Marbella with the full cycle from Pre-Nursery at 2 years to Year 13 at 18. Teaching follows the National Curriculum of England and Wales, predominantly in English, towards GCSE and A Level; pupils sit their exams with Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel. Alongside, subjects of the Spanish programme not covered by the English one are available, so the education is recognised both in the United Kingdom and in Spain. The school writes that it has over 650 pupils from more than 50 countries and that it was founded 15 years ago on a small campus by a handful of pupils and parents. The school is recognised by the UK Department for Education through the British Council and by the Spanish Ministry of Education through the Department of Education of Andalusia; it is a member of COBIS and NABSS and is inspected by NABSS, COBIS and ISI. Teachers are fully qualified, mostly from the United Kingdom. In primary and secondary school, besides the core subjects (English, mathematics, Spanish, science), there is a modular Extended Curriculum with compulsory and elective modules; classes have no more than 24 pupils, and from Year 5 every pupil has a mentor. The school day runs from 8:30 to 16:30, everyone has lunch at school, and phones are not allowed on campus. Its strengths are sport (football, basketball, swimming, athletics), music with individual lessons following the ABRSM grades, annual productions and an outdoor adventure programme with the International Duke of Edinburgh's Award. The school does not publish its fees; they are given by the admissions office.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, Chinese
Students
over 650 pupils from more than 50 countries
Class size
no more than 24 pupils
About the fees The school does not publish tuition fees on its site: it asks families to obtain current amounts from the admissions office.
Admissions Applications are accepted at any time; most pupils join at the start of the school year, and mid-year if a place is available. The procedure: an application with the latest school report, a family interview, an assessment of the child (in the early years a teacher assessment, in primary and secondary a written assessment) and the school's decision. If the family is not in Marbella, the interview and assessment are held online. After a place is offered, the enrolment fee must be paid within 7 days. Children of more than 50 nationalities study at the school; it names no citizenship or residence requirements.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-Nursery (age 2) to Year 13. The early years (Pre-Nursery, Nursery, Reception) follow the British EYFS on a separate campus; primary school is Years 1-6; Lower Secondary, Years 7-9, has an exam in each core subject every term with retakes; Upper Secondary, Years 10-11, leads to GCSE (English, mathematics, Spanish and at least one science are compulsory); the sixth form, Years 12-13, takes modular A Levels, usually three or four subjects. For GCSE the school lists mathematics, further mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, English language and literature, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, drama, history, geography, economics, business, sociology, computer science, art, media, music and physical education. Subjects of the Spanish ESO programme not covered by GCSE are also taught.
Address Calle Teba 4, 29602 Marbella
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
COBIS · membershipCambridge · A-Level · authorised programmeNABSS · school is part of the networkschool 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
COBISCouncil of British International Schools
An association of British schools abroad with a quality inspection of its own. It has nine membership categories, and the word "accredited" appears in seven of them, although COBIS does its own inspection in one: in the rest it recognises an accreditation granted by somebody 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 →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 →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 A Level: A*-A 35 per cent in 2026, 34 in 2025 and 23 in 2024; A*-B 76, 72 and 46 per cent; A*-C 92, 88 and 75; pass rate (A*-E) 100 per cent in all three years. GCSE: A*-A 56 per cent in 2026, 65 in 2025 and 61 in 2024; A*-C 91, 95 and 96 per cent.
Where leavers go: University College London · University of Warwick · University of Exeter · Loughborough University · Queen Mary University of London · Royal Holloway, University of London · City St George's, University of London · University of Sussex · University of Reading · University of the Arts London · University of Westminster · University of Hertfordshire
and others, 31 universities in the school's list in allThe school publishes a list of universities entered by its last three graduating classes: the United Kingdom, the USA, Spain and other countries of Europe and the Middle East. By field over the same three classes: business and management 12 pupils, law 7, computer science 6, economics 5, fashion 3, media and communication 3, biomedicine, sports science and finance 2 each, and the rest one each (medicine, neuroscience, pharmacy, aerospace engineering, mathematics and others).
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
✓Theatre or assembly hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Playground
Campus: The main campus is a modern, spacious building with a large auditorium, an indoor sports hall, a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, a football field, an outdoor multi-purpose pitch, a gym, its own kitchens, two dining areas and playgrounds; it houses the primary and secondary schools. The early years campus, a few minutes' walk away, was built specifically for young children: bright classrooms open onto a large garden with play equipment, and a large hall serves as dining room, sports hall and stage.
Clubs and activities: Football · Basketball · Swimming · Athletics · Handball · Cricket · Netball · Dance · House Sports Competition · Instrumental Programme (ABRSM) · School Choirs · Music Ensembles · Primary Production · Secondary Production · Outdoor Expeditions · International Duke of Edinburgh's Award
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 writes that all teachers are fully qualified and experienced, most of them from the United Kingdom and some from other English-speaking countries, with extensive experience of the English curriculum, GCSE and A Level; language teachers are qualified in their own countries. In the early years every class has a teacher and an assistant, and sport, music and Spanish are taught by specialists; in secondary school all subjects are taught by subject teachers. The school does not publish the number of teachers.
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 trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school publishes policies on safeguarding, online safety, safe recruitment, anti-bullying, non-discrimination, health and safety, complaints and exclusion, as well as a parent code of conduct. Phones are not allowed on campus. The school does not describe security guards, video surveillance or a medical room on its site.
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 data65 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 median67 "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