← Back to homeColegio Internacional de Sevilla - San Francisco de Paula
Sevilla, Spain · est. 1886 · Private
Illustration · Sevilla
Colegio Internacional de Sevilla - San Francisco de Paula is a private international school in the historic centre of Seville, founded in 1886 by Francisco de Paula Ruiz Estévez; eleven years later it passed to the Rey family, which still runs it, and the school calls itself the oldest private school in Spain and the only private school in Seville to remain on its original site. About a quarter of current pupils are children of alumni. The school operates under foreign school status and runs the full continuum of IB programmes from 3 to 18, the only one in Seville to do so: PEP-PYP in kindergarten and primary, PAI-MYP in secondary, and the Diploma Programme with an American High School diploma at graduation; it has run the American curriculum since 2001 under Cognia accreditation. Teaching is bilingual, in Spanish and English: in the PEP lessons are split equally between Spanish and English teachers, native English speakers work with children from 12 months and native Chinese or Arabic speakers from 2 years; the school says it was the first in Spain to bring Chinese and Arabic into the curriculum. Children are taken from birth: a crèche and day care for children aged 0-1, EPS for two-year-olds, and PS, PK and K from 3 to 5. The school has a large guidance service and two full-time nurses, and its city-centre campus has, it says, the largest school library in Spain, a 12-metre climbing wall and a separate sports complex. There are about thirty extracurricular activities, from climbing and judo to an escolanía choir and flamenco, and through the international mobility programme children from all over the world study at the school while living with host families. The school does not publish its fees on the site.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · American programme
Admits from
a few months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Languages taught
Chinese, Arabic, French
About the fees The school does not publish tuition fees on its site: instead of prices the admissions page has a form, after which the admissions team contacts the family. The early-morning group from 7:30 and evening supervision until 19:00 from PS onwards are, the school says, already included in the fee.
Admissions The school accepts international pupils: through the international mobility programme children from all over the world study there, placed with host families, the admission form has a separate question on whether the family needs help with accommodation for the child, and the language of contact can be Spanish, English or Chinese. The process starts with the form on the site, then a videoconference or a visit, at which the admissions team tailors the study plan to the child. For newcomers arriving mid-year the school chooses a suitable group, assigns two student mentors and, if needed, provides individual or group lessons to catch up with the class and the languages; a dedicated member of staff accompanies the family until it has fully settled. The music school takes children from 4 by an entrance audition. The school names no deadlines, documents or entrance exams for the main school on its site.
Stages and year groups Grades crèche (from age 0) - Y12. The school labels its stages itself: a crèche and day care for children aged 0 and 1 (no more than 6 children per member of staff), EPS for two-year-olds, PS, PK and K from 3 to 5, primary school on the PEP-PYP programme from Y1 to Y5, secondary on the PAI-MYP programme from Y6 to Y10, and the final stage from Y11 to Y12 with the IB Diploma Programme and the American High School diploma. Thanks to foreign school status, studies up to Y10 are automatically recognised in Spain, and the school itself arranges recognition of Y11 and Y12. In some subjects classes are split into small groups, and for instruments into groups of three or four pupils.
Address Calle Alcázares, 4, Sevilla
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cognia · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP · 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
CogniaCognia, formerly AdvancED
The widest-reaching American accreditation: some forty thousand schools in over a hundred countries. It accredits both individual schools and whole school systems. It also sells a paid membership with no inspection behind it, and that membership is often passed off as accreditation.
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 →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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. 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. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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
Average IB score
33.37 (world average 30.88)
Exam results The latest results the school shows on its home page: 96 per cent obtained the IB Diploma, the average score was 33.37 against a world average of 30.58, the maximum 43 out of 45, and 33.41 per cent scored above 38. In the Spanish PEvAU university entrance exam everyone passed, with an average of 8.37 in the general part and an average final mark of 11.05, and 31.25 per cent scored above 12 overall. The school also reports good results in Cambridge English, DELF French and HSK Chinese exams.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓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 · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school stands in historic buildings in the centre of Seville, on Calle Alcázares, and calls itself the only private school in the city to remain on its original site. It says it has the largest school library in Spain and the best historic collection in its category, the best school laboratories in Andalusia, and separate music, drawing and technology rooms. For sport there is a 12-metre climbing wall, a sports complex of 1300 square metres in La Encarnación and a 250-square-metre tatami for judo and jiu-jitsu. The kindergarten has its own yard. Lunch is cooked in its own kitchen, and food can be brought from home; there are school buses. The early-morning group from 7:30 to 8:45 and the evening supervision from 17:00 to 19:00 are included in the fee from PS onwards.
Clubs and activities (30): Athletics · Basketball · Handball · Dance and ballet · Climbing · Mini-football · Artistic gymnastics · Judo · Multi-sports · Tennis · Table tennis · Volleyball · Arabic · English with Cambridge exam preparation · Chinese with HSK preparation · French with DELF preparation · Science club · Speedcubing · Chess · First Lego League · Photography club · Video club · Theatrical improvisation · Theatre club in English · Jazz combo · Escolanía choir · Instrumental studies · Sevillanas and flamenco · Sinfonietta · Yoga
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
In summer the school runs a music camp: in 2026 from 29 June to 3 July, for pupils from Y2 to Y10 (ages 7-15) who play an instrument; the price is 310 euros, with lunch optional. The school describes no other summer programmes on its site.
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 describes its staff through its structure: every class has a tutor, above the tutors are heads of individuation teams, a post the school devised itself, and a guidance service of four counsellors and two assistants; according to the school, there are six times fewer pupils per guidance staff member than the Spanish average. Native English speakers work with children from 12 months, native Chinese or Arabic speakers from 2 years; foreign school status allows it to hire teachers from outside the EU. Twelve of its teachers hold the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert title. 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 room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has two full-time nurses with long experience, its premises are equipped with defibrillators, and everyone connected with the school takes a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course every year. The school has a reporting channel for misconduct and a guidance service of four counsellors and two assistants that follows pupils with difficulties. The school names no security guards, no video surveillance and no separate anti-bullying policy.
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%)97 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%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median84 "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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