← Back to homeColegio Hispano Británico
Tías, Spain · est. 1976 · Private
Illustration · Tías
Colegio Hispano Británico is a British school on Lanzarote founded in 1976 by Roger Deign: he is still its director, and the school is owned by Djek Deign and Tchay Deign. It began with three teachers and thirty children, became one of the founders of the NABSS association of British schools in Spain and is the only school on the island with British Schools Overseas status; the BSO inspection of January 2024 found that the school meets all the standards and rated the quality of education, safety and the campus as outstanding. Teaching follows the national curriculum for England, in English, with Spanish language, history and geography of Spain added, and from the second year German and Chinese. The main feature is the breadth of the programme: lessons of 40 minutes, up to nine subjects a day; at GCSE the school expects 14 subjects from everyone, able pupils sit 17-18, and in the sixth form many take four or five A Levels instead of the usual three. There are 360 pupils, 13 per class on average; most are Spanish, and there are British, Chinese and other children from Europe and every continent. The school is an examination centre for Cambridge, Pearson and Trinity, works with UCAS, the Open University and the Goethe-Institut, has trained British graduate teachers since 2014 and since 2020 may run BTEC courses up to second-year university level. Its leavers have studied at Oxford (the first in 1986), Cambridge, Imperial College, LSE and UCL; one leaver became the youngest doctor in British history. The 54000 m² campus in Moorish style stands next to the golf course in Puerto del Carmen.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, German, Chinese
Students
360 pupils according to the BSO inspection report published on the school's site: 183 boys and 177 girls; 61 children aged 3-5, 170 aged 6-11, 114 aged 12-16 and 12 aged 17-18. The final year usually has 14-16 pupils.
Admissions The school takes children from three to eighteen and, it says, the Spanish ministry of education has authorised it to give a British education to children of any nationality; its pupils include Spanish, British, Chinese and children from many countries. There are no entrance examinations; the one condition is that children over six must have a reasonable command of English. The school accepts children with special educational needs but teaches them in an ordinary class and decides on each case separately; it reserves the right not to admit or to exclude a pupil. There is no deadline: the school takes new pupils throughout the year while there are places, and accepts children who are on the island for a few months, with the fee calculated accordingly. To secure a place the family books a visit, completes the registration form and pays a deposit.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (age 3) - Year 13 (A Level). The school follows British stages: the Early Years Foundation Stage for ages 3-5, Key Stage 1 - Years 1 and 2 (5-7), Key Stage 2 - Years 3-6 (7-11), Key Stage 3 - Years 7-9 (11-14), Key Stage 4 - Years 10 and 11 (14-16) with GCSE and IGCSE examinations, then the sixth form with A Levels. Lessons last 40 minutes, up to nine subjects a day; from age 12 teaching hours are extended to fit 15 IGCSE subjects, all the sciences and four languages. The core day runs from 9:25 to 15:30, some senior classes start at 8:45 and stay until 16:15 two days a week. There are 13 pupils per class on average; on its home page the school gives 16. Pupils are divided into three houses - Kings, Wilberforce and Cervantes - which compete for points all year.
Address Camino Mosegue 2, 35572 Tías, Lanzarote (Las Palmas)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeBSO · accreditationNABSS · school is part of the networkCertificate valid through August 2027 · 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: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. 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 →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
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · Imperial College London · London School of Economics · University College London
The school writes that usually its whole final year is offered university places, and its strongest pupils go to Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, LSE and UCL; the school's first pupil entered Oxford in 1986, and three leavers studied at Cambridge at the same time - one for a doctorate and two for master's degrees. Most go to study in the United Kingdom through UCAS, but there have been entries to universities in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, the USA, Italy, Poland and Australia. The school's education is recognised in Spain, and its pupils may enter a Spanish university without the EBAU examination, through UNED.
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 campus covers 54000 m² in the centre of the island, next to the golf course in Puerto del Carmen - the largest school grounds on Lanzarote. Of this, 14000 m² is for sport, including the island's only 400-metre eight-lane running track. The buildings are in the local Moorish style, without corridors: 30 classrooms in three blocks, each around its own inner courtyard. The youngest classes open onto terraces and large outdoor play areas. The upper block has 12 classrooms, a senior library of 12000 books, a junior library and two computer rooms; the third has well-equipped laboratories. There are temporary buildings for four Key Stage 2 classes and a large marquee used as the dining room. The school transports pupils by its own bus.
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
According to the BSO inspection report, teachers have British qualifications and experience for their age groups, all staff undergo checks for working with children - the British DBS, ICPC or equivalent - and recruitment is rigorous. Subjects are taught by specialists; support for pupils with special needs and for those with English as an additional language was rated good. Since 2014 the British government has authorised the school to train graduate teachers in their postgraduate year, and some former pupils have returned to teach at the school. There are 13 pupils per class on average. The school does not state 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 control
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school's policies are posted on its site: school rules, classroom management, anti-bullying, online safety, pastoral care and a smoke-free policy. The BSO inspection rated welfare, health and safety as outstanding: child protection systems follow British practice, all adults are trained, rare cases of bullying are dealt with quickly, visitors are overseen, fire evacuation and lockdown drills are held, and there are risk assessments for all activities including trips. All staff are checked for working with children. The school does not separately name a medical room, a psychologist or security guards.
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%)85 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 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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