← Back to homeMadrid Active School
Madrid, Spain · est. 2010 · Private
Illustration · Madrid
Madrid Active School is a micro-school of active pedagogy on Calle María Zayas in the Tetuán district of Madrid; it now has, it says, about 65 pupils living all over the Community of Madrid. It has been working since 2010: first as the Nidia project, then under its present name. The school calls itself the first active school in Spain accredited by the American NEASC and explains that accreditation means a continuous external audit of quality and extensive child protection rules. It is authorised by the Community of Madrid and teaches the second cycle of kindergarten, primary school and ESO from the first to the fourth year under its own curriculum, in which emotional well-being and relations between children stand beside the subjects. Teachers here are called accompanying adults. The children's common language, the school writes, is Spanish, and English it reinforces with games and songs for the youngest and increasingly complex activities for the older ones; the bilingual programme adapts to each child. From the third year of ESO those who wish may prepare for the IGCSE as private candidates through Cambridge University Press & Assessment: the examination is sat outside the school. The school expects families to take part: meetings about once a month, cleaning on a rota and work in committees. On Tuesdays a play group for children from 1 to 3 years meets at the school.
Key facts
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish
Students per teacher
14 children to 2 adults in the kindergarten, 20 to 2 in primary, 28 to 2 in secondary
Admissions Admission is open all year and goes in six steps: the school sends general information, the family fills in a data form, then a meeting in person or by video if the family has not been to an open day, an observation day on which the parents watch an ordinary school day, a conversation with one of the accompanying adults, and a joint decision on enrolment: the school takes the child if it considers it can meet the family's expectations and needs. The youngest are introduced to the school gradually, together with their parents, with no fixed time limit. The school expects families to take part: meetings about once a month, 4 hours of cleaning every 2 months and on average at least 1 hour a week in working committees. There is no school bus of its own; families arrange lifts among themselves. The school writes nothing about children from other countries or about recognition of schooling abroad.
Stages and year groups Grades second cycle of kindergarten - ESO year 4. The school teaches the second cycle of kindergarten, primary school and ESO years 1 to 4; it has no bachillerato. From ESO year 3 those who wish are offered preparation for the IGCSE as private candidates through Cambridge University Press & Assessment. The school day runs from 8:45 to 14:45 and can be extended to 16:00 if needed. When a child moves to another school it issues, like any private school in Spain, a transfer certificate and sends on the pupil's record.
Address Calle María Zayas, 8, 28039 Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationschool 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
NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
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 →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
The school does not describe its premises on its website.
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 calls its teachers accompanying adults: they are responsible for the children's physical and emotional safety, they observe, record experiences and give a child what they need. Four people are named on the site: two founders, both trained as Montessori guides, and two teachers, one of whom has accompanied children since 2014. The school publishes the ratio for September 2024 by stage: 14 children to two adults in the kindergarten, 20 to two in the primary school and 28 to two in the secondary school.
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 trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
As a school accredited by NEASC it keeps, it says, extensive child protection rules, and the accompanying adults are responsible for the pupils' physical and emotional safety. The school names no security staff, no video surveillance, no medical worker and no psychologist.
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 data55 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 data55 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 Value for money (6%) scored at the median67 "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