← Back to homeIES Cardenal López de Mendoza
Burgos, Spain · State
Illustration · Burgos
The Instituto Cardenal López de Mendoza stands on Plaza Martín Santos in Burgos, and in age it is unlike any other school in this batch: it writes that it is celebrating 180 years as a secondary establishment and 40 years of teaching the international bachillerato. The IB has been running here longer than most Spanish schools have had it at all, and it runs at two levels: the Middle Years Programme (PAI) and the Diploma Programme (DP) stand together in the same menu of educational provision. Beyond them the institute keeps compulsory secondary education with a bilingual section, a daytime bachillerato and - unusually - an evening and a distance bachillerato. What is truly its own are its collections: a botanical garden and a natural history museum, a weather station and the status of "Espacio Cardioprotegido"; the school shows the building in a virtual tour. There is plenty of out-of-class activity and it is academic in kind: a theatre group, a debating league, athletics and cross-country, school sport, the "Radio Mendoza" school radio and eTwinning projects.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · MYP, DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Spanish
Admissions For compulsory secondary school and the ordinary baccalaureate the institute admits through the common procedure of the Castile and León Department of Education: its site carries the points table and the allocation of places. Admission to the IB Diploma Programme is separate and independent of the ordinary baccalaureate; applications to the two programmes are made separately, and enrolling in one gives up the place in the other. The condition is an average grade of 7 or above in the 4th year of ESO (grades from the 3rd year can be used when applying, with preference for those who reach it in the core subjects too), and an interview with the student and parents to judge whether the programme suits them. There are 15 places in each of three streams - sciences and engineering, health sciences, humanities and social sciences, 45 in all. Applications by online form or by telephone to the coordinator are accepted until 30 April, with an answer by 15 June; after 1 June students are taken only for the remaining places. Lessons and exams in the Diploma Programme are in Spanish. The institute says nothing about foreigners.
Stages and year groups Grades 1º ESO - 2º Bachillerato, plus an evening and a distance bachillerato. Compulsory secondary education from the first to the fourth year, including a bilingual section; a daytime bachillerato as well as evening and distance ones; and two IB levels - the Middle Years Programme (PAI) and the Diploma Programme (DP). Admission to the Diploma Programme runs as a separate procedure with its own "Admisión BI" page. On the page that was read the school gives no grid of classes by age and no number of groups.
Address Plaza Martín Santos s/n, 09002 Burgos
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · MYP, DP · authorised programmeschool 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: MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. 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 →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.
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
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A building on Plaza Martín Santos in Burgos, which the school shows in a virtual tour. Its own features are a botanical garden and a natural history museum, a weather station and an "Espacio Cardioprotegido". It runs its own school bus routes: it publishes the 2026/27 transport timetable as a separate document. The site does not list the full set of rooms.
Clubs and activities (5): Theatre group · Debating league · Athletics and cross-country · School sport · Radio Mendoza
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 an "ORIENTACIÓN ACADÉMICA" section with careers guidance and material about the PAU, vocational education and the ORIENTA programme, and it separately names an "Espacio Cardioprotegido" - a space with a defibrillator. On the page that was read it names no psychologist, medical room or security staff.
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%)88 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 data65 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