← Back to homeKensington School
Barcelona, Spain · est. 1966 · Private
Illustration · Barcelona
Kensington School is a British school in Barcelona, in the Pedralbes district, one of the oldest British curriculum schools in Spain: it was founded in 1966 by the Cambridge graduate Edward Paul Giles, and today it is run by his sons, themselves former pupils. It began with a group of older pupils preparing for O and A Level exams, the primary department opened in 1968, and in 1988 the school moved into its current purpose-built building, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Spain. In 1979 the school became one of the founders of NABSS, the association of British schools in Spain. There are about 270 pupils, from three to eighteen, all on one site; classes are deliberately small, and the school names a ratio of 1 teacher to 9 pupils. Teaching is in English under the English National Curriculum, with IGCSE/GCSE and A Level exams of the Edexcel board, of which the school is a centre. There is no academic selection, and many pupils study in their second or third language. Spanish is taught in all years, French from the last year of primary school, Catalan and the Medi course for some children. In April 2026 the school passed an NIS inspection and received approval for the full four-year period.
Key facts
Programmes
Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, Catalan
Students
About 270 pupils from 3 to 18; the building is designed for about 270.
Students per teacher
1 teacher to 9 pupils
Class size
about 10 pupils in the Spanish and French groups in Years 7-9 (Forms 1-3)
Admissions The school accepts children regardless of background, nationality and ability and calls itself non-selective; many pupils study in their second or third language, and children with insufficient English receive English as an additional language in small groups. Admission has four steps: an enquiry form with copies of the latest school reports and a conversation about the child's needs, a visit to the school with a tour and a meeting with the headmaster, an offer of a place, after which the family sends copies of the child's and parents' passports and pays the enrolment fee, and confirmation. A trial day at the school can be arranged. If a year group is full, the child is put on a waiting list. A Level mathematics requires grade 7 at GCSE, and without a GCSE an entrance exam.
Stages and year groups Grades Nursery (3 years) - Upper Sixth (18 years). The junior school follows the English National Curriculum: the Early Years Foundation Stage from 3 to 5 (Nursery and Reception), Key Stage 1 from 5 to 7 (Junior 1 and 2) and Key Stage 2 from 7 to 11 (Junior 3-6). The senior school: Forms 1-3 (Key Stage 3) with a broad range of subjects, then Forms 4-5 with IGCSE/GCSE exams of the Edexcel board, usually in nine subjects, at 16. The Sixth Form is two years of Edexcel AS and A Level, usually four subjects: biology, chemistry, English literature, French, geography, history, mathematics and further mathematics, art, physics, Spanish. Sixth formers attend full time, with supervised study periods.
Address Carrer dels Cavallers 31-33 (Pedralbes), 08034 Barcelona
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Pearson · 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
PearsonPearson Edexcel, a British exam board
It gives a school approved centre status: that means Pearson exams can be sat in the school itself. What is checked is the premises, the equipment, the secure storage of papers and the presence of trained invigilators.
What the badge means for this school. The school can run Pearson exams on its own premises. The status says nothing about teaching, about results or about the school itself: any school able to run an exam securely holds it. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which Pearson qualifications this school is approved for is not stated here.
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 A Level 2026: 19 per cent of grades A*, 55 per cent A* or A, 85 per cent A* to B, 93 per cent A* to C; Russian 100 per cent A*, history 67 per cent A*, all French students at A* or A, mathematics (20 students) 35 per cent A*. GCSE 2026: 32 per cent of grades at the top grade 9, 56 per cent 8-9, 72 per cent 7-9, 98 per cent 4 and above; in Spanish 77 per cent received 9.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming poolSwimming at the municipal pool Can Caralleu, reached by bus.
✓Sports hallA gymnasium and a multi-purpose sports pitch on site.
✓LaboratoriesSeparate physics, chemistry and biology laboratories on the third floor.
✓Theatre or assembly hallA theatre area on the ground floor.
✓LibraryA library on the senior school floor.
✓CateringA dining hall; lunches are cooked on site by the supplier Ametller Origen from fresh local produce, lunch is optional.
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: A building constructed for the school in 1988, on four floors in the Pedralbes district, near exit 9 of the Ronda de Dalt ring road; designed for about 270 pupils, with each year group having its own space for breaks.
Clubs and activities: Art Club · Ballet · Crafts · Digital art · Drama · Fencing · Musical theatre · Sports clubs · Model United Nations · The Kensington Award · Student council
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
Summer programme away from campus:
Residential summer camps for junior and senior pupils take place every June in the Pyrenees or on the Costa Brava: climbing, rafting or kayaking, archery, beach games, boat trips with snorkelling, slacklining, team challenges and evening games. The school gives no prices or dates.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: UK-qualified teachers; native English speakers in the junior school
The school publishes its staff by name: the headmaster, the heads of the junior and senior school, junior class teachers, senior subject teachers, a teacher of English as an additional language, learning support coordinators, one of whom is a psychologist, and a school counsellor. According to the school, the junior school is taught by fully qualified native English-speaking teachers, the Sixth Form by experienced UK-qualified teachers, and staff turnover is very low. French is taught by two native speakers. Spanish and French in Forms 1-3 are taught in groups of about 10.
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
A pastoral team provides personal support for pupils; the school has a learning support coordinator who is also a psychologist and a school counsellor for older pupils. The school's policies are published in the school life section. The NIS inspection, which assesses among other things the health, safety and welfare of pupils, gave the school approval for the full four-year period in 2026 without significant recommendations.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data90 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median61 "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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country