← Back to homeGSD International School Buitrago
Buitrago del Lozoya, Spain · Private
Illustration · Buitrago del Lozoya
GSD International School Buitrago is the international school of the Gredos San Diego cooperative in Buitrago del Lozoya in the north of the Community of Madrid, and the main thing about it is that it is a boarding school: it has its own residence for Spanish and international students, with a daily routine, a programme for weekends and holidays, trips and its own counselling service. There are several academic routes. The Foundation Year is an intensive course in Spanish language and culture: twenty hours a week in small groups alongside ordinary subject lessons with Spanish students, with an official SIELE certificate from the Instituto Cervantes at the end; after it a student moves on to the International Baccalaureate Diploma, the national baccalaureate or vocational studies. The school builds the IB Diploma on active, experience-based learning in constant contact with its local and global environment. There is a language-immersion baccalaureate in which Spanish language and culture run alongside the studies, and dual vocational training at intermediate and advanced level with international traineeships. Beyond lessons there is a sports club with its own activities, including swimming and football, extracurricular activities in the boarding house, short-stay programmes and summer activities. The school puts its international character first: "students from different countries provide the centre its international character".
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Admissions The school does take foreigners and builds its admission around them: its residence is meant for Spanish and international pupils, and for those who do not know Spanish there is a preparatory Foundation year with intensive Spanish. The IB Diploma Programme takes pupils aged from 16 to 19 with Spanish and English at no less than level B1. The Spanish national baccalaureate requires a secondary school leaving certificate from the pupil's own country and Spanish at no less than B1; those without that level can bring their Spanish up during the one-year Foundation programme. Language certificates can be sent as scans by e-mail, and for those without them the school checks the level with its own tests. The school does not set out a step-by-step admission procedure, deadlines or rules for obtaining a visa.
Stages and year groups Grades upper stage: Foundation Year, baccalaureate, IB Diploma and vocational cycles. The school lists its own academic routes: the Foundation Year (intensive Spanish alongside ordinary subjects), the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a language-immersion baccalaureate and dual vocational training at intermediate and advanced level. There is both a local day school and long-term programmes for students from abroad, as well as short stays. The site names no age limits for the stages.
Address Av. de Madrid, 16, 28730 Buitrago del Lozoya (Madrid)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeGredos San Diego · school is part of the networkschool 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 →Gredos San Diegoschool network
Gredos San Diego (GSD) is the school network of Gredos San Diego Sociedad Cooperativa Madrileña, a co-operative founded in 1985 by 18 members. It is a worker co-operative whose members are the teachers, administration and service staff themselves; according to the network, it employs more than 1,700 people, 1,100 of whom are co-operative members. The co-operative runs ten schools in the Community of Madrid: GSD Alcalá, GSD International School Buitrago, GSD El Escorial, GSD Guadarrama, GSD Las Artes, GSD Las Rozas, GSD Las Suertes, GSD Moratalaz, GSD Valdebebas and GSD Vallecas. Outside Spain the network names GSD International School Costa Rica, opened in 2018, and GSD International School in Pouma, Cameroon, a social responsibility project of the GSD Foundation and Fundación Abriendo Caminos. The network describes its schools as secular. The network's site is gsdeducacion.com.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
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 pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Campus: A boarding school: it has its own residence for Spanish and international students with a described daily routine, a programme for weekends and holidays, and trips. The school names sport as one of its strengths - there is a sports club and "magnificent installations", and among the activities it names swimming and football. The site gives no list of teaching rooms.
Clubs and activities (7): Sports club · Swimming · Football · Extracurricular activities in the boarding house · Outings · Short stay programmes · Summer activities
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 roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has its own counselling service in the boarding house - a separate "Counseling" page in the Boarding life section.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 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 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