← Back to homeLady Elizabeth School
Benitachell, Spain · est. 1987 · Private
Illustration · Benitachell
A British international school on the Costa Blanca, in the Cumbre del Sol estate near Benitachell, an hour's drive from Valencia and Alicante. It was founded by Veronica Barnes on 14 September 1987 in Jávea with 14 pupils; in 2000 the school was authorised to deliver the British curriculum from nursery to A Level, in 2007 it was acquired by LAUDE, and in 2014 it joined International Schools Partnership. Since 2010 the primary school, and since 2018 the secondary school too, have worked on the new campus in Cumbre del Sol. The school teaches from two to eighteen: EYFS in the early years, the International Primary Curriculum in primary, the English National Curriculum with IGCSE in secondary and A Level in the sixth form; Spanish pupils can take subjects of the Spanish curriculum and the PCE entrance exams to Spanish universities. The language of instruction is English, Spanish is taught by level from the early years, and French, German, Russian and Chinese are also taught. Children of more than 60 nationalities study here, about 20 percent of them Spanish, and for 80 percent of graduates English is not the first language. From 13 pupils can live in the school's boarding house in Calpe. The school is a LAMDA exam centre and runs the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Model United Nations and the programmes of the ISP network. Lessons in primary run from 8:55 to 16:00, in secondary from 8:50 to 16:05, an hour shorter on Fridays.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 434–16 833 a year
6 580–14 900 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese
Class size
On average 20 pupils or fewer at all stages
About the fees The school publishes its fees itself, in a table in euros, per year and in ten monthly payments. Early years: Pre-nursery 2: 6580 euros, Foundation 1: 7690, Foundation 2: 7970. Primary: Year 1 and 2: 8680, Year 3 and 4: 8860, Year 5 and 6: 8990. Secondary: Year 7: 10480, Year 8: 12610, Year 9: 13070, Year 10: 13620, Year 11: 13980. Sixth form: Year 12: 14300, Year 13: 14900. Paying the whole year in advance before 30 June gives a 5 percent discount on tuition; the third child of a family gets a 15 percent discount, the fourth and further children 50 percent. Lunches are compulsory and charged separately. Boarding fees are published in a separate document.
Admissions The school accepts pupils from all over the world and all year round, subject to places; families abroad are offered a virtual meeting, and multilingual support is available. The steps: an enquiry, a tour or video call, reports from the previous school and placement tests if needed, sometimes a taster day, then a written offer of a place held for 5 to 10 days while registering. Entry to the Sixth Form requires at least 5 GCSEs, the Spanish ESO certificate, a 10-year Attestat or an equivalent, and English at B2 or above. For children whose first language is not English or Spanish there are EAL and Spanish as a second language programmes.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-nursery 2 (age 2) - Year 13. Early years from two to six following EYFS. Primary school from Year 1 to Year 6, ages 6 to 11, following the International Primary Curriculum and the British curriculum. Secondary from Year 7 to Year 11, ages 11 to 16, following the English National Curriculum leading to IGCSE, with an optional Spanish curriculum for Spanish speakers. Sixth form Year 12 and Year 13, ages 16 to 18: 3 to 5 A Level subjects out of more than twenty, AS Level and the Spanish PCE entrance exams.
Address Entrada Norte de la Cumbre del Sol, 03726 Benitachell, Alicante
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Pearson · authorised programmeCambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeInternational Schools Partnership · 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 →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 →International Schools Partnershipschool network
A group of private international schools, founded in 2013 by five leaders from international education. The numbers diverge: the home page gives 121 schools in 26 countries and "132,000+" pupils, the "About us" page - 106 schools in 25 countries, the "Who and where we are" page - 121 schools in more than 26 markets and 118,000 pupils. The site writes that schools keep their own character, brand and curriculum when they join ISP, but does not say whether ISP buys the schools, manages them under contract or brings them together by membership.
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 2025: 31 percent of grades A*-A, 52 percent A*-B, 72 percent A*-C; in German and Chinese 100 percent A*-A. IGCSE 2025: 17 percent of grades 9 and 45 percent 7-9; everyone passed English Literature. On a separate page the school gives figures from earlier years: 15 percent A* at A Level, 36 percent of grades 9-7 and 77 percent 9-4 at GCSE.
Where leavers go: University College London · University College Dublin · University of Amsterdam · Maastricht University · University of Groningen · IE University · Universidad de Valencia · University of Leeds · Loughborough University · University of Nottingham · University of Reading · Lancaster University
and others, 20 universities in the school's list in allOf the 2023-2024 leavers 43 percent entered Spanish universities, 30 percent went to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
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 in Cumbre del Sol, in the Granadella natural park with sea views: several science laboratories, ICT rooms, an art studio, a theatre with stage and lighting, a dance room, a photography lab, three recording studios, three dining rooms, two indoor swimming pools, two sports halls, basketball and football pitches, an astroturf and playgrounds. Buses run on 14 routes through 27 towns of the Marina Alta. The boarding house for pupils from 13 is in Calpe.
Clubs and activities: Badminton · Basketball · Football · Hockey · Karate · Swimming · Volleyball · Dance · Coding Club · Chinese · Dutch · LAMDA Drama Club · LAMDA Public Speaking Club · Showstoppers · Movie Makers · LES Times · LES Eco Guardians · LES Interact Volunteers · Model United Nations · Duke of Edinburgh Award · ISP Chess Masters · ISP Scientists · ISP Filmmakers · Saturday Russian School · Saturday English 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 and certified, with the highest level of English, many of them native speakers, subject specialists experienced in international curricula. The school has two full-time counsellors and a department supporting children with additional educational needs.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access control
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school publishes a child protection policy updated every year and a safeguarding team with designated safeguarding leads for primary and secondary. Staff are hired under ISP safer recruitment rules: criminal record, identity and reference checks, and mandatory child protection training. Two full-time counsellors, the MyConcern and INeedToTalk systems for reporting concerns, attendance tracked in iSAMS, weekly PSHE lessons. Access to the premises is monitored by receptionists and the facilities team. The boarding house follows UK boarding standards.
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 data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 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