← Back to homeHighlands School El Encinar
Madrid, Spain · est. 1999 · Private
Illustration · Madrid
Highlands School El Encinar is a private Catholic school in La Moraleja on the northern edge of Madrid, opened in 1999 with 84 pupils and now holding more than 1300 pupils from 700 families. It belongs to the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and to the Highlands family of schools and the wider circle of RC schools in Spain and Italy. It takes children from the age of one and carries them to the second year of bachillerato, that is to eighteen. The programme is its own, stitched together from two: the British and the Spanish run side by side from the early years, and the school awards a double leaving certificate. In the primary school half the lessons are in English and half in Spanish, and from Year 4 three French lessons a week are added - the school calls itself trilingual. It is registered as a Cambridge International School: in 4º ESO pupils are prepared for IGCSE in seven subjects - Spanish, English, French, biology, history, business studies and mathematics - and sitting the official exams is optional. In the bachillerato there is a programme of its own, the "Leadership Baccalaureate", with a British A-level line. Language certificates are built into the pupil's route: B1 by the end of primary, B2 and C1 in English and B1 in French in the secondary school, C2 in English and B2 in French by the end of bachillerato. The grounds cover 22000 square metres with a swimming pool and sports pitches; 51 school teams play in competitions. Lunch is cooked in the school's own kitchens, and the bus runs eight routes across Madrid.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 518–12 303 a year
605–990 EUR a month
The year is counted as eleven payments a year - that is how many the school itself names.
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
English, Spanish
Students
more than 1300 pupils and 700 families
About the fees The fixed fee for 2026-2027 is stated in instalments: eleven of them - July and September to December 2026 and January to June 2027 - and ten in the second year of bachillerato, from July 2026 to May 2027. By stage: the youngest early years group from age one 605 EUR per instalment, early years ages 2-5: 637, primary 713, ESO years 1-2: 809, ESO years 3-4: 832, the first year of bachillerato 899 and the second 990. That comes to between 6655 and 9900 EUR a year. On the A-level line the bachillerato fee does not cover the AS and A-level examinations. The enrolment fee for new pupils is 700 EUR at any stage, and there is an annual re-enrolment fee of 150 EUR. A third child in the family gets a 24 per cent discount and a fourth or later child 80 per cent. Lunch is paid separately in ten instalments: 195 EUR per instalment for five days a week, 110 EUR for the one- and two-year-olds, 13 EUR for bachillerato pupils who bring food from home and 11.50 EUR for a single day. The bus is also paid in ten instalments: 160 EUR per instalment for El Encinar, La Moraleja and El Soto, 196 EUR for Valdebebas, Sanchinarro and Las Tablas and 215 EUR for the other districts, return journeys.
Admissions Admission runs in three steps: a first conversation with the family, which includes a tour of the buildings and an account of the educational programme; a second conversation with the child, at which the school sets tasks and looks at their school skills; and then enrolment through the school's own portal, where the documents are uploaded and the contract is signed electronically. The British bachillerato line (Sixth Form) has its own admissions policy: grade B or above in mathematics for A-level Mathematics and C or above for the rest of the programme, B or above in English as a first language or A or A* as a second language, and an applicant without GCSE courses shows a certified C1 level of English; the pupil sits psycho-pedagogical and academic tests and chooses subjects with the Head of Sixth Form. The school writes nothing separately about children from other countries.
Stages and year groups Grades early years from age 1 - 2º Bachillerato, to age 18. The stages run right through: early years from one to five, primary from six to twelve, then ESO and the two years of bachillerato. IGCSE is prepared for in 4º ESO, and the bachillerato has a Spanish and a British line, the latter with AS and A-level examinations. From the secondary stage the school offers a term, a school year or a summer programme at its own OAK Academies in the United States, Ireland and Switzerland, at the American high schools linked to them, and on exchanges to Austin, Saint Louis, Versailles, France and New Zealand, and it runs a catch-up programme so that a returning pupil rejoins at the same pace as their classmates.
Address Calle de San Enrique de Ossó 46, La Moraleja, 28055 Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeColegios RC · 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
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. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
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.
Colegios RCschool network
Colegios RC is the Regnum Christi network of private Catholic schools in Spain; the network's site is run by the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. According to the network, it has 7 schools in Spain and more than 7,800 students: in the Community of Madrid (Boadilla del Monte, Pozuelo de Alarcón, La Moraleja), in Barcelona (Esplugues de Llobregat and Sarrià), in Valencia and in Seville. They are Highlands School El Encinar, Highlands School Los Fresnos, Highlands School Barcelona, Highlands School Sevilla, Everest School, Cumbres School and Col·legi Reial Monestir de Santa Isabel. The site gives different figures for the international Regnum Christi network - 139 schools in 18 countries on the home page and "more than 140 schools" on the international page - and we quote both. The network gives no founding year and speaks of "more than 70 years" of experience; its site is colegiosrc.es.
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
Exam results The school publishes results of the Spanish university entrance examination: in the 2026 PAU, 30 per cent of its leavers scored above 8 out of 10 and 18 per cent scored above 13.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Campus: A campus in La Moraleja of more than 22000 square metres where, as the school puts it, nature and the city sit side by side: sports pitches, a swimming pool, a separate entrance for the early years, and a laboratory where the youngest children run a Preschool Science Week twice a year. Lunch is cooked in the school's own kitchens, the service is run by Scolarest, the menus are drawn up by a panel of nutritionists and there are separate menus for allergies; the quality management system is certified by AENOR and the menus are supervised by the Madrid health authority. The school bus runs eight routes - La Moraleja, Alcobendas, Mirasierra, Valdebebas, Chamartín, Barrio de Salamanca, Chamberí, and Argüelles or Bernabéu - and each bus carries a supervisor.
Clubs and activities: Padel · Swimming · Judo · Ballet · Contemporary dance · Flamenco · Theatre · Kumon · Robotics · Piano · Guitar · Football · Basketball · Volleyball
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 policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a psycho-pedagogical support service with a lead for pupils' mental health and emotional wellbeing, individual tutorials, a careers guidance programme, a programme of virtues and a course in affective and sexual education. For the British bachillerato line the school publishes a set of policies: child protection with a designated safeguarding lead, a compulsory online child protection course for all staff, an anti-bullying policy that includes cyberbullying, safe recruitment, first aid and the infirmary, supervision of recreational areas, off-site visits and complaints.
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%)85 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 data80 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country