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Tortosa, Spain · State
Illustration · Tortosa
INS Dertosa is a state secondary school in Tortosa, in the Terres de l'Ebre, and it keeps its IB Diploma Programme on a subdomain of its own, ib.insdertosa.cat. The arrangement is the same as at other state institutes in Catalonia: the Diploma Programme does not replace the national bachillerato but sits on top of it, so a leaver gets two documents at once - the Spanish LOMLOE certificate and the IB diploma - and the school stresses that the two qualifications are independent and that one can be had without the other. It is not an English-medium school and says so plainly: lessons are in Catalan and Castilian, while English is taken as language B and taught at higher level to everyone, which adds two hours a week on top of the ordinary bachillerato. The subjects are named one by one: literature as language A, English as language B, philosophy, biology or physics, mathematics ("Analysis and approaches") and chemistry, plus the core of theory of knowledge, CAS and the extended essay, which also serves as the Catalan research project; on top of that, for the Spanish certificate, come Spanish language and literature, physical education and the history of Spain. The choice offered to a student is a real one: physics or biology in group four, and two higher-level subjects out of literature, physics or biology, mathematics and philosophy - English is higher level for everybody, chemistry standard level. One thing marks the school out: the Fundació per als Estudis Internacionals Dertosa, a private foundation set up precisely so that the Diploma Programme should stay in the Terres de l'Ebre and families should not have to leave the region for an international diploma, and so that work a state school may not do itself gets done for the programme.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Catalan, Spanish
About the fees Tuition is free, and the school says so plainly: "L'ensenyament a l'INS Dertosa és gratuït". A student pays for two things only: the IBO's fees and charges, which at state centres in Catalonia are spread over monthly payments of 95 euros, and their own learning materials. The school names no other payments and has no registration fee.
Admissions Selection for the Diploma Programme is separate from ordinary admission and runs in two phases. The first is the entrance tests together with the average mark for years 1 to 3 of ESO, and the school advises having more than an eight; the application must include a certificate of that average and the first-assessment report from year 4 of ESO. The second phase is a personal interview for those who pass the first. The school publishes the calendar for 2026-2027: an open day on 17 February 2026 at 18:30, registration for the tests from 23 February to 5 March, the tests themselves on Saturday 7 March, a contingency test on 18 March for anyone kept away for a duly justified reason, and interviews on dates yet to be confirmed. There are two tests: from 9:30 to 10:45, reading comprehension, written expression and critical thinking - a text, questions on it and an essay of about two hundred words; from 11:15 to 12:45, mathematics on the ESO syllabus and problem solving. Papers are anonymous: no name goes on the booklet, only a code issued on the day, and identity documents are checked at the door. The only items allowed into the test are a blue or black pen, correction fluid, a ruler, a set square, a compass, a protractor and a calculator, with pencil and eraser for graphs in the mathematics paper only; phones and smartwatches are banned, and anyone breaking the rules may be disqualified. The school names no separate procedure for children from abroad.
Stages and year groups Grades 1st-2nd year of bachillerato, the two senior years. The Diploma Programme takes the two years of bachillerato and runs in parallel with the national curriculum, with two independent documents at the end: the Spanish certificate on the institute's own assessment and the IB diploma on external assessment. Pupils enter it after the fourth year of ESO: the application requires the average mark for the first to third years of ESO and the report of the first assessment of the fourth year. There are two more hours a week than in the ordinary bachillerato: most subjects count towards both documents, but Theory of Knowledge is needed only for the IB diploma, and Spanish and physical education only for the Spanish certificate. Of the six subjects three are taken at higher level and three at standard level. The Diploma Programme site says nothing about the stages below bachillerato.
Address Av. de l'Estadi, 14, 43500 Tortosa
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
The institute's general site on the agora.xtec.cat platform is closed to reading; the school writes about its Diploma Programme on a separate site, ib.insdertosa.cat.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
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 hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school gives no list of its premises on the Diploma Programme site: it names only the assembly hall (Sala d'Actes), where the open day takes place, and promises to show the premises on a tour the same day.
Teaching staff
The institute's general site on the agora.xtec.cat platform is closed to reading; the school writes about its Diploma Programme on a separate site, ib.insdertosa.cat.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The institute's general site on the agora.xtec.cat platform is closed to reading; the school writes about its Diploma Programme on a separate site, ib.insdertosa.cat.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
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 data65 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country