← Back to homeLycée International Barcelona - Bon Soleil
Gavà, Spain · est. 1969 · Private
Illustration · Gavà
Bon Soleil has run since 1969 in Gavà, a southern suburb of Barcelona, on a single site on Camí de la Pava, and in recent years it has changed its name to Lycée International Barcelona - Bon Soleil. The school is private, co-educational, French in curriculum and recognised by three authorities at once: the French education ministry, the Spanish ministry and the Education Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It names about 1400 pupils from 30 nationalities (the AEFE registry credits it with 1240) and four languages of instruction. The main thing a parent needs to understand about the senior stage: Bon Soleil's French homologation stops at seconde - première and terminale are not homologated - and it runs the last two years not as an ordinary French lycée but through the Bachibac, the dual diploma awarding the French and the Spanish baccalaureate at once, and through the International Baccalaureate programme. So a leaver comes out not with a single French certificate but with two national ones or with an international diploma. The school calls sport a priority and keeps a separate "sports school" for it on its own subdomain; there is a canteen with published menus, school transport, an infirmary, a uniform shop and a summer camp. Of its internal documents the school publishes its internal regulations and a protocol for the protection of minors.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · French programme · National programme
Languages of instruction
French
Languages taught
Spanish, English
Admissions The school admits pupils under its own admission policy: within the places available, applications are ranked - first children with brothers or sisters already at the school, then French nationals, then children of former pupils, then Spanish and third-country nationals in order of application. In every case the family agrees in writing to the internal regulations. For pupils joining mid-way the school looks at the family and personal project, the language profile and academic aptitude, putting effort and responsibility above grades. The upper school has its own thresholds: the Bachibac double diploma needs French at B2, the IB Diploma Programme needs French and English at B2, confirmed by the DELF and Cambridge FCE exams. External candidates for the lycée are admitted to the places left after the school's own pupils, by decision of the admissions committee, sometimes after an interview and further tests. Applications are made through a form on the site that asks for the nationality of the child and the parents.
Stages and year groups Grades petite section from age 3 - final year, age 18. The stages run straight through: kindergarten, primary school, collège and lycée. Thirteen levels are homologated - from petite section to seconde; première and terminale hold no French homologation, and the school runs the last two years through the Bachibac and the International Baccalaureate. On its home page the school says it takes children from two, and on its admissions page from three.
Address Camí de la Pava 15, 08850 Gavà, Barcelona
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
AEFE · accreditationIB · DP · authorised programmeschool 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
AEFEAgency for French Education Abroad
It runs the network of French schools worldwide, while the accreditation itself, the homologation, is granted by the French education ministry and inspected by French state inspectors. A leaver from a homologated school moves into a school in France without an entrance examination. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
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 →French programme
The state programme of France. A school is homologated by the French ministry of education, and a leaver may move into a school in France without entrance tests. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
What this means for this school. Which year groups of this school are covered by homologation - only the primary ones, or all the way to the final year - is not stated here. The difference matters: it decides whether the school takes a child through to the French baccalaureate or hands them on to another school halfway.
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.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
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: A single site in Gavà, at Camí de la Pava 15, about twenty kilometres south of central Barcelona. It has its own canteen with published menus, school transport, an infirmary and a uniform shop. The school calls sport a priority and keeps a separate sports school for it on its own subdomain. The description of the buildings and grounds could not be read: the facilities page did not open.
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 room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has an infirmary of its own - a separate service in its own menu. Of its internal documents it publishes internal regulations and a protocol for the protection of minors. The contents of both documents could not be read: the pages of the domain did not open.
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%)84 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country