← Back to homeEuropean International School of Barcelona
Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain · Private
Illustration · Sant Cugat del Valles
The European International School of Barcelona stands in Sant Cugat del Vallès at the foot of the protected Collserola natural park, ten minutes from Barcelona, and it is a large school: 16778 m2 of grounds, 1500 students from 68 nationalities, six languages, a pupil-teacher ratio of 8:1, four school psychologists and a full-time nurse. The school is thirty years old, and it takes children from nine months - at the Nursery stage - through to the baccalaureate, where it offers three paths at once: the national baccalaureate, the International Baccalaureate Diploma and an American high school diploma. It offers the IB Diploma with rare flexibility: it can be taken entirely in English, entirely in Spanish or in both languages at once, with a wide choice of subjects, a seminar format in small groups and personal support. Beyond lessons there are the PE4Life wellbeing programme, an edible ecological garden, green school status, a nutrition programme and a nursing room; on the academic side, language immersion, the European Engagement Programme, the International Homeroom, the "Explore Your Future" programme, a house points system, a community service programme and "Inclusionemos". Separate strands cover more than 35 extracurricular activities, extended learning, stays abroad, a language and support academy, and summer, winter and Easter camps.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · Cambridge
Languages of instruction
English, Spanish, Catalan
Admissions The school takes foreigners: it has pupils of 68 nationalities, and it writes that its programme adapts to each pupil regardless of the language, country or system they come from. Admission is set out by stage. First a visit to the school or a virtual visit, then registration of the child through the form on the site. Documents: special-needs reports, if any; copies of the passport, DNI or NIE of the child and the parents; the vaccination record and the previous year's report in English, Spanish or Catalan (from other languages only a sworn translation); from primary on, report cards for the last 2 years on the school's official letterhead, no screenshots. From primary on, all candidates take an academic assessment - at the school or remotely by video call. Enrolment is completed by paying the entry fee. Admissions has its own team: a separate officer for the nursery and a coordinator for the American diploma.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery from 9 months - baccalaureate. The stages run right through: Nursery School (from 9 months), Infant School, Primary School, Secondary School and the leaving stage, where the school holds the national baccalaureate, the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the American High School Diploma. The school states a pupil-teacher ratio of 8:1.
Address Avinguda Pla del Vinyet, 110, 08172 Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCIS · membershipCambridge · authorised programmeCognia · 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
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: DP (ages 16-19). 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 →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to this organisation but has not been through its accreditation. The difference matters: membership is usually paid for and has no external inspection behind it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 →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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: 16778 m2 of grounds in a natural setting at the foot of the Collserola park, ten minutes from Barcelona, free of noise and air pollution; the FGC Sant Cugat station and five bus lines are nearby, and the school runs its own bus. Among the rooms named are the EISB Library, a nursing room and an edible ecological garden.
Clubs and activities (8): Extracurricular activities (more than 35) · Extended learning · Internships abroad · Language support academy · EISB international camps · Summer camps · Winter camps · Easter camps
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
The EISB International Summer Camps are for children from 1 to 16 and run in July; the school has not yet set the dates for 2027: the school camp, sports, arts and intensive programmes and summer trips, with immersion in English or Spanish, the pool, science, dance, music and outings. They are run by the school's own teachers and coaches in English, Spanish and Catalan. Full day - from 8:45-9:00 to 16:45-17:00, half day - until 13:00-13:15, free childcare from 8:00 and until 18:00; a three-course lunch is cooked by the school's chef. On days without camp the Take It Easy Days programme runs with daily swimming. Besides the summer camps the school holds winter and Easter camps.
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
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 an educational-psychology unit with four school psychologists, a full-time nurse, a separate PE4Life wellbeing programme and a nutrition programme.
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%)82 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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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