← Back to homeMontessori Rivas American School
Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain · Private
Illustration · Rivas-Vaciamadrid
Montessori Rivas American School is a small private Montessori school in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, on Avenida de la Técnica. It takes children from 18 months to nine years and has three stages: Comunidad Infantil from 18 months to three, Casa de Niños from three to six, and Taller I, the first years of primary school. The school goes no further than nine, and a leaver finishes upper primary and secondary school elsewhere. It works to Montessori and positive discipline, and it states separately how it understands the start of school: not as adaptation but as a "period of bonding" - a child stays exactly as long as they need in order to feel safe, and the school says plainly that it is not in a hurry for them to "stay put" but waits for them to want to stay. The centre is bilingual, and English here is not a language lesson but a second language of the day: songs, books, materials and ordinary conversation. The rooms are matched to age: the youngest have bright rooms with direct access outdoors, where the yard works as an extension of the classroom, and there is a sensory environment and a large, safe psychomotor room which a child may enter on their own during the work cycle when their body needs movement, and then return to work. They go outdoors every day in any weather - the school treats this not as an extra but as part of the day. Lunches come from a catering service with balanced menus suited to children. There is also a coworking space for parents, to make it easier for families to combine work and school. What is worth knowing in advance: the school does not publish its fees, and it does not yet hold MSA accreditation - the school itself writes that it has been recognised as a candidate for accreditation and that this is only the beginning of the road.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Admissions Admission runs in four steps: a visit to the school on an open day or a tour booked separately, then the application form sent after that first meeting, then an interview with the family - which the school describes as checking whether there is mutual affinity between the family and the accompanying adult - and finally the admission decision with information on the next steps. There are no tests and no English-level requirements in the description of admission. The school does not write about foreigners or citizenship in its description of admission.
Stages and year groups Grades Comunidad Infantil from 18 months - Taller I, up to age 9. Three stages: Comunidad Infantil from 18 months to three years, Casa de Niños from three to six, and Taller I, the first years of primary school, up to nine. The school ends at nine: a leaver finishes upper primary and secondary school elsewhere. Groups are mixed-age, and the school describes neither marks nor an ordinary fixed timetable.
Address Avenida de la Técnica 43, 28522 Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · candidateschool 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
MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
What the badge means for this school. The school is a candidate for accreditation by this organisation: the route has been started but not completed. Candidacy speaks of an application made and a file accepted for consideration, not of the outcome of an inspection, and the organisations themselves usually require schools to say that it does not guarantee accreditation. The candidacy is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
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 transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The rooms are separated by age: the youngest have bright, safe rooms with direct access outdoors, where the yard works as an extension of the classroom, while the Montessori environment for three- to six-year-olds is arranged for independence and concentrated work. There is a separate sensory environment and a large, safe psychomotor room which a child may enter on their own during the work cycle when their body needs movement. The school treats the yard not as an extra but as part of the day: they go outdoors every day in any weather. Lunches come from a catering service with balanced menus suited to children. There is a coworking space for parents.
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)65 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 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