← Back to homeNovaschool Sunland International
Cártama, Spain · est. 2001 · Private
Illustration · Cártama
Novaschool Sunland International is a private British school in the Guadalhorce valley north-west of Málaga, near Cártama Estación, on a 40000 square metre country estate where, the school says, 890 trees grow. The school was founded in 2001 and belongs to the Novaschool educational group of the company Novasoft, which has four private schools in Málaga, Granada and Almería and nursery schools in Málaga, Granada and Lanzarote. It takes children from three to eighteen on a British international curriculum that meets the requirements of the Spanish ministry at every stage, so pupils obtain a double qualification: IGCSE and A-Level from Cambridge and the Spanish certificate giving access to Spanish universities. The language of instruction is English, taught by native speakers; Spanish is taught at every stage, with a choice of a third language - French or German. The school is a member of NABSS, a Cambridge and Edexcel examination centre, a UCAS centre for entry to the UK and since 2022 a Cambridge admissions testing centre for its own pupils. The campus has a swimming pool, two science laboratories, a library, a computer room with 25 places, an artificial grass football pitch, basketball and volleyball courts, a cross-country circuit and a dining room with its own kitchen; next to it is a 20000 square metre plot with a nature classroom where pupils from Year 4 spend two days with an overnight stay. For children under three the group has the Novaschool Baby Sunland nursery in the Málaga Technology Park. The school publishes its fees itself, in euros, and lunch is included in them.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 095–8 622 a year
6 280–7 632 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, French, German
About the fees The school publishes its fees itself, for the 2026-2027 school year, in euros per year: Preschool and Reception 6280 euros, Year 1-2: 6550, Year 3-4: 6970, Year 5-6: 7240, Year 7-9: 7520, Year 10-11: 7580; the last column of the table, which a footnote links to the sixth form, is 7632 euros. The fees include lunch worth 1870 euros a year, activities at the Novaschool farm and nature classroom, and access to learning platforms. Payment runs from September to June between the 1st and 5th of the month, Year 11 and the sixth form in nine payments to May. Paying the whole year by 30 June gives a 4 percent discount, by 5 September 2 percent; third and further children get a 44 percent discount excluding lunch.
Admissions The school writes that it takes children from 3 to 18 whose needs it can meet, regardless of race, nationality or religion. The decision is made by the principal together with the heads of primary and secondary; it is based on reports and references from the previous school, a statement from the parents and, from age 8, an essay by the child, and every applicant spends a trial day at the school, sometimes more. Foundation children are taken without English; in Year 1 the level of English matters less if reports are sound, and from Year 2 English must be enough for all lessons, otherwise the child cannot be admitted. Children whose first language is not English and who are older than 10 take an oral and written test; English support is available at extra cost for a limited number of pupils. Admission runs all year round subject to places, on a first-come basis, with priority for siblings.
Stages and year groups Grades Preschool (3 years) - Year 13 (18 years). Foundation is Preschool at 3 and Reception at 4, equivalent to the second cycle of Spanish infant education; for children under three there is the group's separate Novaschool Baby Sunland nursery. Primary is Year 1-6 on the British national curriculum with the Spanish programme as required by the ministry. Secondary is Key Stage 3 (Year 7-9) with Cambridge Checkpoint tests and Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) with Cambridge, Edexcel or Oxford AQA IGCSEs; English, mathematics, science, ICT and Spanish are compulsory, plus three options, as well as Spanish language and social science. The sixth form is Year 12-13 with Cambridge AS and A-Level; at the end of Year 12 the pupil chooses a route to a foreign or a Spanish university, for which there is the BIBE route with preparation for the Spanish access examination. Lessons run from 9:30 to 16:00 for Foundation, to 16:15 in primary and to 16:30 from Year 7.
Address Crta. de Cártama Estación a Pizarra, 29580 Cártama Estación, Málaga
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeNABSS · 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
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 →NABSSschool network
NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain) is not an owner of schools but an association of British schools in Spain, founded in 1978 by a group of leading British schools in the country. According to the association, it has more than 80 member schools, which educate more than 49,000 children and employ more than 5,000 teachers. Only schools officially authorised by the Spanish authorities as foreign schools teaching the British education system and certified by the British Council after inspections can be members; new schools that are still developing are not admitted straight away. The association represents the schools' common interests, encourages collaboration between them and holds an annual conference; its school finder places member schools in Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Andalusia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Murcia and other regions. The association's site is nabss.org.
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
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 pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: A 40000 square metre country estate in the Guadalhorce valley, 15 minutes from Málaga and 5 minutes from the Technology Park. Primary and secondary share the campus in separate buildings, and Foundation has its own building; secondary is mostly in the building by the pool. There is a library, two science laboratories, a computer room with 25 computers, interactive whiteboards in every classroom, an art and design room, a music room, a multi-purpose hall, a swimming pool, volleyball and basketball courts, an artificial grass football pitch, a cross-country circuit, a dining room with its own kitchen and a café. On the neighbouring 20000 square metre plot is the Novaschool nature classroom. The school bus carries pupils within about 30 kilometres.
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 sizenot stated
English and the British curriculum, the school says, are taught by native teachers, with assistants; Spanish follows the ministry's requirements. Secondary has a coordinator who runs the pupil support system, and the sixth form has tutors for university entry. The principal is Rachel Evans. The school does not publish the number of teachers or class sizes; for the whole Novaschool group it gives 300 professionals for 1700 pupils.
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 safeguarding policy for parents: it names the designated safeguarding lead, Katharine Sutton, and the child protection lead from the leadership, Rachel Evans, and sets out commitments to training and supervision of all staff, an online safety policy, procedures for allegations against staff and maintaining an anti-bullying environment. The school calls its campus spacious and secure.
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 data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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