← Back to homeInternational School of Madrid
Madrid, Spain · est. 1971 · Private
Illustration · Madrid
A family-owned British school in the Chamartín district of Madrid, working since 1971 and owned by one family from the start. It teaches more than 800 children from 20 months to 18 years from more than 40 countries on the English National Curriculum: the early years on EYFS, primary, secondary with IGCSE and the sixth form with A Level. Lessons are taught in English by native-speaking teachers, and pupils also study Spanish language and literature and Spanish culture to validate their education in the Spanish system, and in the upper years can sit the Spanish PCE entrance exams. The school is a founding member of NABSS, the association of British schools in Spain. Since 2009 its pupils have received 104 Cambridge Outstanding Learner Awards for the best results in the world and in the country, and the school states that it receives more of them than any other school in Spain. According to a parent survey it cites, 92.2 percent are satisfied with the quality of teaching and 97 percent feel their child is safe and happy at school. Religion is optional: Catholic, with preparation for First Communion and Confirmation, or citizenship lessons instead.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 355–15 675 a year
5 625–13 875 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
20 months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French
Students
more than 800 pupils
Class size
In the sixth form about 9 pupils per class on average
About the fees The school publishes its fees itself, in a document of rates for the 2025-2026 school year, in euros per term, with three terms. Per term: Pre-Nursery 1875 euros, Nursery 1975, Reception 2030, Year 1 and 2: 2795, Year 3 and 4: 3250, Year 5 and 6: 3355, Year 7-9: 3800, Year 10 and 11: 4235, Year 12 and 13: 4625; per year this is from 5625 to 13875 euros. The third and further children of a family get a 20 percent discount on tuition. Lunch is compulsory and charged separately.
Admissions The school accepts children of Spanish and foreign families from more than 40 countries all year round, with separate admissions directors for primary and secondary. The steps: an enquiry, a school tour or a virtual tour, entrance tests, an application and a deposit. In the early years no English is needed, in the upper years a level sufficient for the curriculum is required; children accepted on condition of catching up in English are taught on the paid Induction English course. From Year 7 to Year 13 entrance tests may be required and the latest report from the current school is needed. Enrolment for the 2026-2027 school year is open.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-Nursery (20 months) - Year 13. Early years from 2 to 5: Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Reception in a separate building. Primary Year 1-6, ages 5 to 11. Secondary Year 7-11, ages 11 to 16, with IGCSE at the end of Year 11. Sixth form Year 12-13, ages 16 to 18: usually 4 A Level subjects from the list (English literature, mathematics and further mathematics, business, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, art and design, history, geography, sociology, French, Spanish) and Spanish subjects for the PCE entrance exams. Cambridge C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency can be taken.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeNABSS · 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. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →NABSSschool network
NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain) is not an owner of schools but an association of British schools in Spain, founded in 1978 by a group of leading British schools in the country. According to the association, it has more than 80 member schools, which educate more than 49,000 children and employ more than 5,000 teachers. Only schools officially authorised by the Spanish authorities as foreign schools teaching the British education system and certified by the British Council after inspections can be members; new schools that are still developing are not admitted straight away. The association represents the schools' common interests, encourages collaboration between them and holds an annual conference; its school finder places member schools in Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Andalusia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Murcia and other regions. The association's site is nabss.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 Results for 2025 in the school's table: A Level 38 percent of grades A*/A, 79 percent A*-C, 99 percent passed; IGCSE 58 percent A*/A, 84 percent A*-B, 99 percent A*-C. In the text of the same page the IGCSE A*/A share is given as 46 percent, and almost three quarters of A Level grades as A*-B.
Where leavers go: University of Bath · University of Edinburgh · Imperial College London · London School of Economics · University College London · King's College London · Queen Mary University of London · Lancaster University · University of Exeter · Universidad Politécnica de Madrid · Universidad Complutense de Madrid · Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
and others, 18 universities in the school's list in allAbout 30 percent of graduates go to universities in the United Kingdom, 50 percent enter Spanish universities, 20 percent universities in other countries. According to the school, all graduates of 2023 are at university.
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
Campus: The school occupies three buildings in Chamartín: a purpose-built building for the early years and primary school, a middle school building on the same street and an upper school building. A three-course lunch is cooked on site every day following Madrid nutritional guidelines, with menus for special diets. Ten bus routes across Madrid are run by an independent company.
Clubs and activities: Swimming · Ballet · Modern Dance · Judo · Football · Basketball · Volleyball · Chess · Robotics · Computing · Arts & Crafts · Cookery · Drama · Choir · Yoga · Roller Skating · Rugby · Zumba · Storytelling & Book Club
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 sizein the key facts above
The school does not publish the number of its teachers. According to the school, its teachers are qualified, experienced native British English speakers, and staff turnover is low. In Pre-Nursery a class is led by three qualified teachers, one adult for every four children. In the sixth form every pupil has a personal tutor.
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
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a learning support and special educational needs department: a school psychologist, a school counsellor and a speech therapist, as well as outside specialists including an occupational therapist; they carry out screening, assessments and individual sessions. Class tutors work with the leadership, and the school has a system of four houses and mentoring of younger pupils by older ones. The school names no published child protection policy, security or nurse.
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%)85 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 data60 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 "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