← Back to homeIES Fernando de Herrera
Sevilla, Spain · State
Illustration · Sevilla
IES Fernando de Herrera is a state secondary school on the Avenida de la Palmera in Seville, named after a 16th-century poet, with Horace's motto 'sapere aude'. It is a plurilingual centre, and its main feature is older than the IB programme: since 1998 the school has taught on a model in which Spanish is combined with French as a second language and English as a third; at that time Andalusia and the French government named it one of the region's two pilot bilingual centres. Since 2019 these lines have been plurilingual with English as the third language: in each year of compulsory secondary school, ESO, there are four groups, two of them plurilingual, and in them all non-language subjects are taught in French or in English. The institute is an official DELF examination centre. The institute runs the IB Diploma Programme with one group per year, alongside the national bachillerato, so a pupil receives both qualifications; there are 35 places in the first year of the programme each year. Tuition, as in all state schools in Andalusia, is free. Among the achievements the school is proud of are a silver medal in the national physics olympiad, second place in the national economics olympiad and a place in the international one, awards for the best university entrance mark and extraordinary bachillerato prizes. Pupils come to the institute from the six primary schools assigned to it in the district.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Spanish, French, English
About the fees Tuition is free: the institute is a state school, and the admission policy refers directly to the right of everyone from three to eighteen to a free place in ESO and bachillerato; the IB Diploma Programme is also free of charge. Families pay only the school insurance and the bachillerato textbooks.
Admissions The institute is a state school and admits by the general rules of Andalusia: everyone from three to eighteen has the right to a free place, and nobody may be refused admission on grounds of birth, race, sex, religion or any other personal circumstance. ESO takes first of all pupils from the six assigned primary schools, and there is a transition programme for them with a visit to the institute. The IB Diploma Programme takes those who hold the ESO leaving certificate: applications are made from 1 to 31 March at the secretariat or through Andalusia's online secretariat, and two schools may be named. Selection is by the average mark of the last ESO year; of the 35 places five are kept for those choosing French as language B, five for Latin, 12 for pupils of this institute and its assigned schools, and the rest for leavers of other schools. Provisional lists come out at the end of May, final lists by 19 June, and enrolment is from 1 to 10 July. The admission policy separately repeats the IB rule that nobody is excluded on grounds of nationality or origin. Since teaching in the DP is in Spanish as language A, an applicant needs Spanish.
Stages and year groups Grades 1º ESO (age 12) - 2º Bachillerato. Stages: four years of ESO with four groups per year, two of them plurilingual, French-English; the national bachillerato with four groups in the first year and three in the second, in the humanities and social sciences and the science and technology branches; the international bachillerato with one group per year covering both branches. In the Diploma Programme there are six subjects, three or four at higher level of 240 hours and the rest at standard level of 150 hours, plus theory of knowledge, the extended essay and CAS. Subjects: Spanish language and literature, English and French at higher level, Latin, history at higher and standard level, business management, biology at higher and standard level, physics, chemistry, mathematics analysis and approaches at higher and standard level and applications and interpretation. Lessons run from 08:15 to 14:55, six periods with two breaks; for the Diploma Programme the first lesson starts earlier, at 07:45. The school does not state class sizes.
Address Avenida de la Palmera, 20, 41012 Sevilla
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · 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: 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 →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
Where leavers go: Universidad de Sevilla
The institute keeps no list of leavers' universities, but in its achievements section it names pupils who received awards for the best entrance mark: to the faculty of geography and history of the Universidad de Sevilla and to the double degree in physiotherapy and sports sciences, as well as a prize for an excellent entrance mark and extraordinary bachillerato prizes. Diploma Programme leavers enter Spanish universities with the IB diploma taken into account together with the specific part of the PEvAU examination.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Campus: A three-storey building on the Avenida de la Palmera. Inside there are 25 classrooms, one per group, and four more for split classes, a multi-purpose hall, an assembly hall, a library, a gymnasium, three laboratories for physics, chemistry and natural sciences, a music room (at present used as the home room of an ESO group), rooms for drawing and technology, a computer room and English rooms with equipment, a staff room and a room for the parents' association. In the inner courtyard there is a garden and multi-purpose sports courts, in the outer courtyard a garden and car parks, and a separate parking area for motorcycles and bicycles.
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 sizenot stated
The institute has eleven departments: drawing, biology and geology, mathematics, language, physics and chemistry, French, English, history, philosophy, classical languages and physical education. In the plurilingual groups subject teachers prepare their own materials in French and English, helped by native-speaker language assistants; one French teacher is accredited by the French ministry of education as a DELF examiner up to level B2. There is a Diploma Programme coordinator, a guidance counsellor who is also responsible for the transition from primary school, and a coordinator for wellbeing and child protection. Among its former teachers the school names the philologist Rogelio Reyes Cano, who received the Bandera de Andalucía award in 2026. The school does not publish the number of teachers, their qualifications, the pupil-teacher ratio or class sizes.
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 policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The institute has appointed a coordinator for the wellbeing and protection of children and adolescents, as Spanish law on protecting children from violence requires; the role is held by the deputy head of studies. The coordinator is responsible for the coexistence plan, peaceful conflict resolution, protection of vulnerable pupils, contact with social services and the police when a child is at risk, and training staff, pupils and families to recognise violence. A protocol for action in cases of bullying and cyberbullying and an equality plan are posted separately. The school names no security guards, no video surveillance, no medical room and no psychologist; a guidance counsellor works with pupils.
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 data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 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 data55 "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.
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