← Back to homeInstitució La Vall
Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain · est. 1973 · Private
Illustration · Cerdanyola del Vallès
Institució La Vall is a state-funded private school (concertada) in Bellaterra, in the Vallès Occidental district near Barcelona. It has been working since 1973 and belongs to Institució Familiar d'Educació, a group of schools set up on the initiative of parents inspired by Saint Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei; the school's project is built on Christian humanism and personal accompaniment of every pupil and family. It takes children from the nursery (Llar 0) to the end of the Bachillerato: the nursery and kindergarten are for boys and girls, while the school writes about its primary, secondary and baccalaureate stages as a school for girls. The school names Catalan, Spanish and English as its languages of instruction: English is taught by immersion from kindergarten, in primary and ESO some subjects (science, art, PE) are taught in English by the CLIL method, and every primary class stages a play in English. German and French can be started in primary and secondary school. The school is a Cambridge English examination centre (First and Advanced), and there are exchanges with schools in Oxford, Manchester, Virginia, Poland and Germany and a term in Dublin for year 6 and 1 ESO. By its own figures: 1490 pupils, 146 teachers, three years in a row everyone passing the university entrance exams (PAU), 94 and 95 per cent of pupils in the top band in English in year 6 and in 4 ESO. The school does not publish its fees on its site.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Catalan, Spanish, English
Languages taught
French, German
Students
1490 pupils from 1015 families
Admissions The school writes nothing about admitting international pupils or the conditions for them. Families who wish to apply are offered an individual information interview and a visit, booked through a form or a separate telephone line for new families; details are on a separate admissions portal. The school's pages give no entry requirements, entrance tests or deadlines.
Stages and year groups Grades nursery (Llar 0) - 2nd year of Bachillerato (age 18). Stages: nursery (Llar 0-2), kindergarten (I3-I5), primary school (6 years, four classes per year), compulsory secondary ESO and Bachillerato. In kindergarten the Visible Thinking and Reggio Emilia methods, the Hooray programme with English, psychomotor work, Tomatis, a 'classroom in the forest'; in primary robotics, the ENTUSIASMAT mathematics project, the Connecta+ safe internet programme, theatre in English; in the upper years Thinking Based Learning, laboratory work and careers guidance. The Spanish national curriculum with ESO and Bachillerato certificates.
Address Ctra. Sabadell a Bellaterra km 4,6, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · authorised programmeInstitució Familiar d'Educació · 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. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Institució Familiar d'Educacióschool network
Institució Familiar d'Educació is a group of schools in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands founded in 1960 on the initiative of a group of families; its first school, La Farga, opened in October 1969. According to its site, the group now has 8 schools, 8,000 students, 5,000 families and 700 staff. The schools are in Sant Cugat del Vallès (La Farga), Bellaterra (La Vall), Terrassa (Airina), Girona (Les Alzines), Alpicat near Lleida, Jorba near Igualada, Constantí and La Canonja near Tarragona, and Palma. The schools are state-funded under agreement; the group says the Opus Dei prelature offers spiritual guidance to students and families who want it. The legal entity named on the site is Institució Familiar d'Educació, S.A.; the group's site is institucio.org.
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 By the school's figures: three years in a row all pupils pass the university entrance exams (PAU), an average academic level of 8.52, two special Bachillerato awards, 94 per cent of pupils in the top band in English in year 6 and 95 per cent in 4 ESO. The school is a Cambridge examination centre where First and Advanced are taken.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·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 · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school is in the centre of Bellaterra, with premises for all ages: classrooms, a playground, the Atelier creative workshop, sports courts; in the upper years laboratory work in science. A canteen with its own daily menu. Nearby is the FGC Bellaterra station with direct trains from Barcelona, Sabadell, Terrassa and Sant Cugat; school buses: the transport page names 11 routes, the figures page 12, across Barcelona, the Vallès and other towns in five districts.
Clubs and activities: Dance · Multi-sports · Basketball · Violin · Robotics · Theatre in English
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
In summer the school runs a summer course for kindergarten and primary, open also to children from other schools: sport, games, the pool, crafts, activities in English and music, from 09:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 16:45, with lunch and early care from 07:45. The school's page gives the details for an old season, with no current dates.
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
By the school's figures it has 146 teachers, and 68 per cent of them took training in the last school year; the school calls continuous training and teamwork the basis of its style. The team page names the management, nursery and kindergarten staff, primary class teachers (four classes per year) and teachers of English, music, sport and French. The school publishes neither qualifications nor 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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Every pupil has a tutor (preceptor): by the school's figures, more than 5800 hours of individual conversations a year. There is the Connecta+ programme on safe use of the internet and the Troia programme on managing emotions. The school names on its site no CCTV, no security guard, no nurse, no psychologist and no published child protection policy.
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%)60 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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data76 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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.
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