← Back to homeInstitució Les Alzines
Girona, Spain · est. 1976 · Private
Illustration · Girona
Institució Les Alzines is a state-funded private school (escola concertada) in the La Creu de Palau district on the edge of Girona. It was founded in 1976 by families who wanted to run schools with a strong educational model themselves, and today it belongs to an educational group of thirteen schools in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The school has 1187 pupils from 947 families and 102 staff; the school always refers to its pupils in the feminine, and 29 per cent of them are daughters of alumnae. A girl is taken from the nursery at four months to the bachillerato, and each has her own tutor: more than 5700 hours of personal conversations a year. According to its language project the main language of the school is Catalan, yet it is trilingual: part of the subjects is taught in Spanish, and English is not just a subject but a language of daily life. Immersion begins in the nursery; in Infantil Arts & Crafts and Phonics are taught in English, in primary school natural science and physical education, in secondary school geography and history. As a second foreign language pupils can take French or German, and as clubs Chinese and Russian. The upper stage splits into routes: the national bachillerato or the IB Diploma, and a timetable to choose - compact from 8:00 to 14:15 or standard from 9:00 to 16:45. The school states its results itself: all pupils in the second year of the bachillerato obtain the leaving certificate, and 98 to 100 per cent pass the university entrance examination. The international programme offers nine weeks with Irish families and schools, a stay at the English boarding school Fyling Hall and exchanges with France and Germany. In summer the school runs a Summer Camp in English.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Admits from
4 months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Catalan, English, Spanish
Languages taught
French, German
Students
1187 pupils from 947 families.
Summer camp
Yes, open to all
Admissions The school admits children who have come to Catalonia from elsewhere and describes how it receives them: its language project says that newly arrived pupils entering school for the first time receive special attention so that within two months they understand spoken and written language well enough to follow lessons, and their curriculum is adapted for the first two years, for three if they come from a distant culture. Admission itself begins with a request for information and a personal interview with a visit to the school, in person or online; for this there is a form, the telephone 972: 98: 06: 07 and a separate WhatsApp line for new families. The school holds open days. It publishes no documents, deadlines or entrance tests.
Stages and year groups Grades Llar d'Infants (from 4 months) - 2nd year of the Batxillerat. The stages run all the way through: the Llar d'Infants nursery, Infantil, Primària, Secundària and the Batxillerat; English immersion begins at 4 months. Lessons in Infantil run from 9:00 to 17:00, in primary and secondary school and the Batxillerat from 9:00 to 16:50, and the compact Batxillerat from 8:00 to 14:15 with four free afternoons a week; extended care runs from 7:45 to 18:00 and for a fee until 19:00. In the Batxillerat pupils choose between the national programme and the IB Diploma. Mobile phones are banned for pupils at school.
Address Camí Vell de Fornells, 2, 17003 Girona
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · 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
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.
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 All pupils in the second year of the bachillerato obtain the leaving certificate, and 98 to 100 per cent pass the university entrance examination; on its figures page the school reports 100 per cent passing and five special distinctions for excellence, and gives its academic level rating as 8.59. In English, 96 per cent of pupils in grade 6 and 91 per cent of pupils in the 4th year of ESO reach the top band of the assessment tests.
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
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: The school stands in natural surroundings on the edge of Girona, and its facilities page names a forest, a vegetable garden, an atelier and sports courts. The dining hall is run by Bell-Lloc, with separate menus for the nursery, Infantil and older pupils and menus for pupils with allergies. The school bus runs 10 routes through 36 towns around Girona, and there is a shuttle between the sites.
Clubs and activities (13): Multi-sports · Basketball · Basketball school · Rhythmic gymnastics · Tennis and padel · English Drama Club · French · Piano · Violin · Handicrafts and sewing · Needlework and scrapbooking · Origami · Typing
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp and takes children from outside as well
Summer Camp Les Alzines runs at the school itself and at the pool, in English. For the youngest nursery groups it runs from 1 to 24 July, for Infantil, primary school and secondary school up to the 3rd year of ESO from 22 June to 24 July. The programme includes sport, swimming, creative work and art, and lunch; piano can be added for 15 or 20 euros. The sports camp for the 2nd-3rd years of ESO costs 85 euros a week without lunch or 126 with lunch. Children from outside the school are taken too: new families first need an interview.
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 school has 102 staff. The team page names the leadership - a director and four deputies by stage - 14 nursery educators, 12 Infantil teachers, 21 primary teachers, 21 secondary and 6 Batxillerat teachers, as well as a psycho-pedagogue and coordinators. 68 per cent of the teachers, the school says, took training in the last school year. Each pupil has her own tutor: conversations with the pupil every two weeks and with the family once a term.
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 diversity support department (Departament d'Atenció a la Diversitat) accompanies pupils, teachers and families and, the school says, looks after the pupils' social and emotional wellbeing; the team includes a psycho-pedagogue, and the BADyG test is used to assess aptitudes. Mobile phones are banned for pupils, and absences are reported before 10:00 through the Alexia Família app. The school names no medical room, security, video surveillance or written child protection policy; among its documents are an equality plan and the school's rules of organisation and operation.
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 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 data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 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.
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