← Back to homePhoenix International School
San Miguel de Salinas, Spain · Private
Illustration · San Miguel de Salinas
Phoenix International School is a small British school in the village of San Miguel de Salinas on the Costa Blanca, near Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa. It takes children from 3 to 18 years and is divided into a preschool department, primary and secondary school and a college. Teaching follows the British National Curriculum: in Early Years by EYFS, then Key Stage 1-3, in Year 10-11 International GCSE, GCSE and BTEC, in the college International GCSE and A Level. The school is inspected by NABSS and registered with the Pearson Edexcel examination board. What the school stresses most is small classes, usually no more than 15 pupils, and no entrance exam: children are assessed in the first days after arriving, and pupils of any ability and nationality are taken, including those with special educational needs and those for whom English is a second or third language. Before deciding, a child can spend a free trial day at the school. Spanish from the preschool department is taught by native speakers, and in secondary it runs up to the International GCSE examination. The college is open also to those who studied abroad, worked or took a break, and accepts private candidates for examinations.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $4 462–7 174 a year
395–635 EUR a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Programmes
Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Class size
usually no more than 15 pupils
About the fees The school publishes its fees on its site, monthly for 10 months from September to June, with no exceptions for holidays and study leave: Early Years 395 euros a month, primary school 595, secondary 635, college with 3 A Level subjects 465, with 4 subjects 615. For those studying in the college by separate subjects: 1 A Level subject 165 euros a month, 2 subjects 315, 3 International GCSE 200 and 50 for each further one.
Admissions There is no entrance exam: the child is assessed in the first days after arriving, once settled in. Admission is all year round, by application; parents are asked to bring the latest school reports and to be open about special educational needs, which do not prevent admission. A place is guaranteed after payment of the registration fee per family and the deposit per child. Before deciding, the child can be booked for a free trial day. The school writes that it accepts pupils of any ability and nationality; for the college a copy of the passport is attached to the application. The year group is set by age in September, but depending on level and previous school the child may be placed in another year after agreement with the family.
Stages and year groups Grades Early Years (3 years) - Year 13 (college). Early Years by the British EYFS with early Spanish and the Forest School approach; Reception for 4-5 years; Key Stage 1 (Year 1-2, 5-7 years) and Key Stage 2 (Year 3-6, 7-11 years) by the British National Curriculum with a Spanish programme; Key Stage 3 (Year 7-9) with art, drama, English, Spanish, geography, history, ICT, mathematics, music, PE, PSHE and science; Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) with International GCSE, GCSE and BTEC, examinations chosen after mocks in Year 11; college (Year 12-13) with International GCSE and A Level. The school matches the years to Spanish ones: Year 8 is 1º ESO, Year 11 is 4º ESO, college is 1º and 2º Bachillerato. Classes are usually no more than 15 pupils. Lessons run from 8:45 to 16:00.
Address Calle Albacete s/n, Urb. Las Comunicaciones, 03193 San Miguel de Salinas, Alicante
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Pearson · 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
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 →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
Exam results The latest results the school publishes are A Level 2018: 94% passed. The school writes that its results have been above the UK average for many years in a row.
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
✓CateringA school restaurant with hot and cold dishes that can be ordered in advance; healthy options are available, and food can be brought from home. College students have their own common room by the restaurant with free Wi-Fi.
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
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 writes that its whole staff is fully qualified; in Early Years there are early childhood specialists, qualified teachers and nursery nurses with many years of experience, who are selected and screened and sent on internal and external courses. Spanish is taught by native-speaker teachers. The number of teachers and their names the school does not publish.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school states that it is committed to safeguarding pupils and promoting their welfare; children are supervised at all breaks. All injuries are recorded and treated, medicines are given only on parents' written request. Primary pupils are released at the end of the day only to the adult responsible for them. There are written rules of rewards and sanctions for primary and secondary.
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 data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 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.
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