← Back to homeKing's College, The British School of Madrid
Tres Cantos, Spain · est. 1969 · Private
Illustration · Tres Cantos
The oldest school of the King's group: it was founded in 1969 by Sir Roger Fry, in 1978 it moved to Soto de Viñuelas near Madrid, and in 2019 it joined the Inspired education group. The school is British, lessons are in English under the national curriculum of England, from the nursery from 16 weeks to the sixth form at 18. In secondary pupils sit IGCSE, and in the sixth form they choose between A-Level and the IB Diploma Programme. Spanish nationals in parallel follow the compulsory course of Spanish language, literature and social sciences under the programme of the Ministry of Education. Children of 50 nationalities study here, and the school is designed for more than 1600 pupils. It is one of the few British schools in Spain with boarding: up to 60 pupils aged 11 to 18 live in Tenbury House. The campus covers 12 acres on the edge of the Sierra de Guadarrama, with an indoor swimming pool, a riding arena with stables and a 400-seat hall. School buses serve more than 20 areas of Madrid and its surroundings.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $8 134–22 538 a year
7 200–19 950 EUR
Programmes
IB · DP · Pearson Edexcel · IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
4 months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, German
About the fees The school publishes its fees itself, in euros, per term, with three terms a year. The fee covers tuition, books and materials; lunch is charged separately. Tuition per year: Nursery 7200, Reception 7740, Years 1-6 from 8295 to 10110, Years 7-11 from 12960 to 15270, Years 12-13 on A-Level 16125, on IB 19950. Lunch costs from 425 to 560 euros per term. The Baby Unit and pre-nursery cost 664 euros a month, meals for them 102 euros. Boarding together with tuition costs from 36540 euros a year in Year 7 to 39780 in Years 12-13 on A-Level and 43680 on IB. Family discounts: 10 per cent for the third child, 15 for the fourth, 20 for the fifth and further.
Admissions The school admits pupils all year round and says plainly that no Spanish is required on entry: children without Spanish receive Spanish as a second language from Key Stage 1. Children with weak English are placed on a paid English programme. The steps: an enquiry, a visit or online interview, the application with documents (birth certificate or passport of the child, parents' documents, reports for two years, references from Year 6), entrance tasks, an offer of a place and a non-refundable enrolment fee. In Years 1-3 reading, writing and numeracy in English are checked; from Year 4 pupils sit the CAT4 test and a written English exam for 30 euros; from Year 11 and for boarders an interview is added. Overseas applicants may sit the tests at their current school. The nursery takes babies from 16 weeks, pre-nursery children who turn two before 31 December of the year of entry.
Stages and year groups Grades nursery (from 16 weeks) - Year 13. Stages: early years from 16 weeks to 5, primary from 5 to 11, secondary from 11 to 16 with IGCSE, sixth form from 16 to 18 with a choice between A-Level and the IB Diploma Programme. All Spanish pupils in secondary follow a course of Spanish language, literature and social sciences to validate their studies in Spain.
Address Paseo de los Andes, 35. Soto de Viñuelas, Madrid 28761
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
BSO · accreditationIB · DP · authorised programmePearson · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeInspired · 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
BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 →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. 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 →Inspiredschool network
Inspired Education Group is a private school group founded in 2013. The group gives different figures on its own pages - 125 schools on some, "more than 100" on others - and we quote both: choosing for a group which of its own numbers is correct is not something we do. Its schools are in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and some of them keep their own historic names, such as King's College in Madrid and Riga. The group's site is inspirededu.com.
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 The school's 2026 results: at IGCSE 51 per cent of grades A*, 66 per cent A*-A, 82 per cent A*-B. At A-Level 42 per cent of grades A*-A, in Economics 78 per cent A*-A, in Business 48, in History 100 per cent A*-B. Under the IB heading the school repeats the same A*-A shares, although IB has no such scale, and it publishes no IB average score and no IB pass rate.
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · Imperial College London · University College London · Stanford University · Harvard University · University of California, Berkeley
The school writes that all Year 13 leavers enter the university of their choice. For the class of 2026, 86 per cent gained a place at their first-choice university, another 5 per cent at their second choice, and 93 per cent of those going to the UK entered Russell Group, 1994 Group and other leading universities. Among universities the school names Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, UCL, Stanford, Harvard and Berkeley, as well as private and public universities in Madrid.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: The campus covers 12 acres at the edge of the Sierra de Guadarrama. It has 10 science laboratories with two technicians, a learning resource centre, a library, outdoor classrooms and an allotment. Sport: an indoor swimming pool used all year, a sports hall with a fitness centre, a full-size artificial pitch, a multi-sports field, a riding arena and stables. A 400-seat hall for assemblies, concerts and productions, dance, ballet and music studios. A separate playground for the youngest, a sixth form centre with common rooms, a peace garden, its own kitchen and canteen. The Tenbury House boarding residence for 60 with en-suite rooms.
Clubs and activities: Art · Ballet · Book Club · Chess · Choir · Drama Club · Orchestra · Photography · Rock Bands · TEDx · LEGO League Robotics · Maths Society · STEM Society · Engineering Club · Athletics · Rhythmic Gymnastics · Judo · Rugby · Duke of Edinburgh's Award · Hockey · Horse Riding · Basketball · Swimming · Water Polo · Skiing · Model United Nations · Debate Society · Oxbridge Society · Investment Club · Academic Decathlon · Coding
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
The school runs summer camps: on the home page they stand among its programmes, and a separate page announces English and international summer camps in Madrid for 2026-2027. Dates, ages and prices are not given in the text of the site.
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
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 policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school publishes a child protection policy, an anti-bullying policy and separate medical policies: first aid, medication, anaphylaxis, asthma, diabetes. Under the child protection policy a designated safeguarding lead is responsible, staff are trained on induction and then at least once a year, and on hiring the school requires a British DBS criminal record certificate. Bus drivers are vetted and monitors ride on the buses. In the boarding house at least two staff are always on duty and one more on call, and the house staff live on site. Security guards, video surveillance and a medical room are not described on the school's pages.
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%)89 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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data95 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