← Back to homeDeutsche Schule Santa Cruz de Tenerife - Colegio Alemán Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain · est. 1909 · Private
Illustration · Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Deutsche Schule Santa Cruz de Tenerife (DST) is a private, independent German school abroad, recognised as such by the Spanish state and supported in staff and funding by the German Foreign Office; as a German school abroad it has been recognised by the KMK since 1963, and since 2021 it has held the official quality mark of the German inspection. In 2026 the school passed the BLI state inspection, by its own account with outstanding results. The school began in 1909 when German and Swiss families came together to create a small private school in Puerto de la Cruz; its path was not easy - in 1945 the school was closed and confiscated under Allied pressure, and in October 1951 it reopened, at first in a garage. The stages run from the first cycle of pre-school education at 1 year of age through to the bachillerato; the tenth year is a double one, both the end of secondary school and the start of the bachillerato. There are four languages: German and Spanish from the beginning, English from the third year of primary school and French from the third year of ESO. Each year the school produces between 30 and 40 bachillerato graduates and runs EBAU courses for validation of access to Spanish higher education. A distinctive feature of its music teaching is wind instrument lessons in years 5 and 6. Teaching is full-day: lessons from 8:00 to 13:10 and from 14:00 to 15:40, followed by voluntary activities and homework help. The school now has more than 700 pupils and more than 60 teachers. It does not require Spanish for admission: newcomers go through an integration phase in Spanish.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $4 632–5 829 a year
410–516 EUR a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Programmes
German programme
Languages of instruction
German, Spanish
Languages taught
English, French
About the fees The school publishes its fees for the 2026-2027 school year monthly. The "Küken" nursery from 1 to 2 years - 11 payments of 410 euros; nursery and kindergarten from the second year - 465 euros a month, 11 months in the nursery and 10 in the kindergarten. In the school: Grades 1-8 - 10 payments of 425 euros, 4250 euros a year; Grades 9-11 - 10 of 465, 4650 euros; Grade 12 - 9 of 516, 4644 euros. Payments are made by bank transfer on the 5th of each month from September to June. A fee reduction can be requested by a separate application under the school's assistance rules.
Admissions Registration for the kindergarten is open all year, by age and subject to places; the family can visit the school in person or online. Children from the school's own kindergarten move up to primary automatically. For entry to Grade 1 and above sufficient German is required: the school leadership decides after reviewing each case, the grade is set by a placement test where needed, and the application is made with an expression of interest form. The school does not require Spanish for admission: the pupil learns it as a new foreign language with support in the IPS integration phase, at 15 euros an hour, and parents, in the school's words, need not speak either German or Spanish. For validation of Spanish access to higher education the school runs separate PAU courses.
Stages and year groups Grades first cycle of Infantil from age 1 - bachillerato to age 18. The stages run right through: the first cycle of Educación Infantil from one year of age, the second cycle from three to five, Primaria years 1-4, Secundaria I (orientation years 5-6 and intermediate years 7-10, that is ESO 1-4) and the bachillerato (years 10-12, that is ESO 4 and the two bachillerato years). The tenth year is a double one: it is both the last stage of secondary school and the introductory phase of the bachillerato. Lessons run from 8:00 to 13:10 and from 14:00 to 15:40; at every stage pupils may stay on after lessons for voluntary activities and homework help.
Address Calle Drago, 1, 38190 Tabaiba Alta (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
ZfA · 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
ZfACentral Agency for German Schools Abroad
A German federal agency. It recognises a school as a German school abroad, funds it and grants the right to award the German leaving certificate. Quality is examined by a state inspection about once every six years, and schools that pass receive the mark of an excellent German school abroad.
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 →German programme
The German school programme. Recognised German schools abroad award the Deutsches Internationales Abitur, the German leaving certificate used for entry to universities in Germany. Behind the recognition stands the federal agency ZfA.
What this means for this school. ZfA recognition comes at levels: a school that takes pupils through to the German leaving certificate is one thing, a school with the DSD language diploma, where German is taught as a subject, is another. Which level this school holds is not stated here.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results Each year the school produces between 30 and 40 bachillerato graduates. Separately it runs EBAU courses for validation of access to Spanish higher education. The school publishes no marks or average scores.
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
Campus: The school stands on a large site in Tabaiba Alta, about 10 kilometres south of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, above the TF1 motorway at around 350 metres above sea level, among the subtropical vegetation of the eastern side of the island and with a wide view of the ocean. Its new school buildings opened in December 2010. The school describes its classrooms as modern, with technology at the service of learning, a working and learning platform and a communication platform. It has its own dining hall with a published menu. Public transport: Titsa buses from the Santa Cruz interchange, lines 138 and 139, stop 1165.
Clubs and activities (9): Drawing and painting · UCMAS: abacus and mental arithmetic · Hip-hop · Chess · Games, sports and themed workshops · CreaMúsica · Karate · School band (from grade 6) · Football
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
In the school's words, more than 60 teachers teach more than 700 pupils. The staff is published as lists of the management, the teachers, the board and the administration, with teachers' consultation hours; the school gives no qualifications, no share of teachers from Germany and no class size.
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
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a modern, fully equipped enfermería led by a school nurse. In its section on inclusion it names an interdisciplinary team: educators, pedagogues and school psychologists work together with the children and their parents.
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 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 data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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 8 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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