← Back to homeESC American School
Villaviciosa de Odon, Spain · Private
Illustration · Villaviciosa de Odon
ESC American School is a private American school in Villaviciosa de Odón outside Madrid, and it runs the senior years only: Grades 7 to 12, that is roughly ages twelve to eighteen. The curriculum is wholly American, and leavers receive a US High School Diploma, which the school calls the only one in Spain that is fully homologable - recognised by the Spanish system. Its leavers go, by its own account, to universities in the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Teaching follows the school's own Student-Based Learning approach, classes hold 12 to 15 pupils and each has a Chromebook. The other half of its face is sport: a campus of 42000 square metres twenty minutes from central Madrid, high-performance football and basketball programmes with international coaches, a gym, weekly matches, national and international tournaments, injury recovery plans, athletic nutrition and its own medical and psychological department. The school has a residence, and living in it is optional: a pupil may apply as a day student or with boarding. The residence has round-the-clock security, doctors and housemasters, a buffet breakfast in the shared dining room, evening activities and a common room with a terrace. Admission is built around documents and an interview: two years of transcripts, three letters of recommendation and a Duolingo test result. The main thing missing from the site: the fees - no sum, no range, no tariff page.
Key facts
Programmes
American programme
Languages of instruction
English
Admissions Admission for 2026-2027 is open, and it can be completed as a local student or as an international one, with boarding in the residence or without it: the school takes foreigners directly and calls its community families and students of different nationalities. Five steps: a pre-registration form, after which the admissions office guides the family through the process; a visit to the campus in Villaviciosa de Odón with a tour of the facilities and a meeting with teachers, or, if a visit is not possible, a video interview and a video tour; a formal application with documents - a copy of the identity card, passport or birth certificate, academic transcripts for the last two years, letters of recommendation from the last year's homeroom teacher and two teachers, and Duolingo test results; an interview with the admissions committee; the committee's decision by letter and completion of enrolment.
Stages and year groups Grades Grade 7 - Grade 12, roughly ages 12-18. The school holds the senior stages only: Grades 7 to 12. Classes have 12 to 15 pupils. Every leaver receives an American High School Diploma, which the school calls fully homologable in Spain. A boarder's day runs like this: a buffet breakfast in the shared dining room, lessons, a club or training session of their choice after lessons, then free time and evening events organised by the staff.
Address Calle Duero 47, 28670 Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · 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
NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
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 →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 hall
·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
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Campus: A campus of 42000 square metres at Villaviciosa de Odón, twenty minutes from the centre of Madrid. The school calls its sports side one of the best in Europe: pitches and courts for football and basketball and a gym with new machines. There is a shared dining room with a buffet breakfast, a modern residence with round-the-clock security, doctors and housemasters, a common room and a terrace. Every pupil has a Chromebook.
Clubs and activities: High-performance football · High-performance basketball · Cultural excursions · International programmes · Themed cultural dinners
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 sizein the key facts above
The school describes its teachers as experienced and highly qualified, but names neither their number, nor their qualifications, nor whether they are native English speakers. There are 12-15 pupils in a class. The football and basketball programme, it says, has international coaches, and its own medical and psychological department.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
·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 residence has round-the-clock security, doctors and housemasters. The sports programme has its own medical and psychological department, which the school names outright in the list of what it gives its athletes. It publishes no child protection policy of its own.
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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data73 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country