← Back to homeCity Country School
Madrid, Spain · est. 2012 · Private
Illustration · Madrid
City Country School is an American bilingual Montessori school in Madrid's Moncloa-Aravaca district. It was founded in 2012 by Sarah Cardelus, a Spanish-American mother of twins, so that children from three to sixteen could grow at their own pace. There are three stages, each with its own building: the Children's House for ages 3-6 at Calle Isla Nelson 12, the elementary school for ages 6-12 at Calle Isla Soledad 2 and the adolescent stage for ages 12-16 at Avenida Juan Andres 19. Languages are divided by stage: in the Children's House the environment is predominantly English, with a native English-speaking lead teacher and a native Spanish-speaking assistant; in lower elementary there is a single bilingual class, in upper elementary children alternate between a Spanish and an English environment; at the adolescent stage all subjects except Spanish language, literature and culture are taught in English. The school teaches without screens, with Montessori materials and a three-hour work cycle, and runs practical life through the kitchen and garden, a clay studio, aikido, music and science experiments. Its accreditations are the American Montessori Society, by the school's account the only one in Europe for all three programmes, and the Middle States Association; it is also recognised by the Community of Madrid. Its families come from Spain, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, England, Libya, Australia, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland, and the school helps families moving to Madrid settle in. The school ends at grade 10, and it does not publish its fees.
Key facts
Programmes
Montessori · American programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Spanish
Admissions Admission is rolling, in six steps: an open house or a tour, reading the school handbook (in English and Spanish), an application online or on a PDF form for the relevant stage, an interview of the head with the child and the parents, the school's answer within a month and, after admission, two weeks for the documents, signing the contract and paying the non-refundable enrolment fee. There is one condition: parents must understand the school's mission and pedagogy and be ready for a long commitment to Montessori education. The school takes foreigners: children of families from thirteen countries study there, and for families moving to Madrid it keeps a separate page offering help with the transition; it does not require Spanish on entry, and gives children for whom the language of the lesson is not native support through sheltered instruction.
Stages and year groups Grades PK3 from age 3 - grade 10, to age 16. Three stages on three sites: the Children's House - ages 3-6, the elementary school - ages 6-12 with a three-hour work cycle, the adolescent stage - ages 12-16 with a leadership programme, where mathematics and language are done in class, while the humanities and sciences come through work on the land, cooking, entrepreneurship and contact with society. The school starts at PK3 and ends at grade 10. Arrival is from 8:30 to 9:00, dismissal from 15:50 to 16:00.
Address Calle Isla Soledad 2, 28035 Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · 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
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 →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.
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
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
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: Three separate buildings in the Moncloa-Aravaca district, one per stage: the Children's House at Calle Isla Nelson 12, the elementary school at Calle Isla Soledad 2 and the adolescent stage at Avenida Juan Andres 19, all with the postcode 28035. The Children's House is a two-storey building with a full set of Montessori materials, an outdoor practical life area and a garden with a sandpit, a climbing frame and fruit trees. There is a kitchen classroom, a garden and a clay studio; lunch and snacks are organic and cooked from scratch every day in the school kitchen. The school has no transport of its own: city buses 64, 82 and 137 and metro line 7 serve it.
Clubs and activities (10): Aikido · Clay and ceramics · Free play · Violin · Piano · Theatre · Robotics · Cooking and gardening · Music · Science experiments
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Montessori-trained teachers; lead teachers are native English speakers, assistants and teachers of the Spanish environment native Spanish speakers
In the Children's House a class is led by a Montessori teacher whose mother tongue is English and an assistant whose mother tongue is Spanish; in lower elementary native English- and Spanish-speaking teachers work together. All adults in the classrooms, the school says, are Montessori-trained, and each speaks to the children in one language only, without translating. The school does not publish the number of teachers, class sizes or the pupil-teacher ratio.
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 data65 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