Colegio Internacional El Valle de Alicante
Alicante, Spain · PrivateColegio Internacional El Valle de Alicante stands on Avenida La Condomina in Alicante and trades as El Valle International College. It is a non-denominational school, independent of political and social groupings, and its distinctive feature is the full International Baccalaureate continuum: the PYP from three to twelve, the MYP from twelve to eighteen and the Diploma Programme from sixteen to eighteen. The school states plainly that for it the PYP is not an addition to an ordinary curriculum but the only pedagogical framework up to the end of primary school: "sin anadidos ni metodos paralelos". A leaver receives both the IB diploma and the Spanish bachillerato, so they can sit the EBAU and go to any Spanish university, not only abroad. The school calls itself bilingual and writes that practically all subjects are taught in English; German as a second foreign language starts in the fourth year of primary school. Beyond lessons, languages are also offered as extracurricular courses - English, German, Chinese and Spanish for foreigners appear in the list of clubs.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeWhat stands behind each entry
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 →The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.