← Back to homeSEK International School Santa Isabel
Madrid, Spain · est. 1973 · Private
Illustration · Madrid
SEK International School Santa Isabel is a private secular school of the SEK group in the very centre of Madrid, in the Barrio de las Letras, operating since 1973. It runs only a kindergarten and a primary school, from three to twelve, and its whole curriculum is the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP); afterwards pupils move on to SEK-Ciudalcampo or SEK-El Castillo, where the MYP and the Diploma Programme are taught. Teaching is bilingual with native-speaker teachers: half the day is in English, from the first grade French or German is added, and Chinese is offered as a club. For children whose second language is Spanish there is an immersion programme in the language and culture. The school regards the whole historic centre as its campus: the Prado, the Reina Sofía, the Thyssen, the Botanical Garden and the Retiro are nearby, and through the Learning Outside-In project with Harvard University's Project Zero pupils follow learning paths around the school. Inside there are recently rebuilt open spaces, its own gym and two yards with a climbing wall, and PE also takes place at the sports centre in the Retiro park. The newspaper El Español placed the school sixth among the best schools in Spain, and Forbes included it in its top hundred. Lessons run from 9:00 to 16:40 in kindergarten and to 17:00 in primary school, with extended care from 7:30 to 18:15.
Key facts
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Languages taught
French, German, Chinese
Admissions The school takes children from abroad: for international families it has a separate immersion programme in Spanish language and culture for pupils whose second language is Spanish, the admission page has information on how the Spanish LOMLOE system corresponds to other education systems, and the interview for those who cannot come is held online. Places are offered all year round, admission criteria depend on the stage, and places are limited. The procedure: an enquiry through the site, by email or by telephone, a visit to the school, an interview and an entrance assessment through the MY SEK Admisiones platform, where before the interview the family uploads the identity documents of the parents and the child, a birth certificate, marks for the previous and current year and other documents depending on the stage. The decision is communicated by the admissions committee; the admissions policy can be downloaded from the site.
Stages and year groups Grades Educación Infantil (ages 3-6) - Educación Primaria (ages 6-12). The school runs the PYP in two stages: kindergarten from three to six and primary school from six to twelve. The middle and upper stages - the MYP and the Diploma Programme - are taught at other schools of the group, SEK-Ciudalcampo and SEK-El Castillo in Madrid. In the first two years of kindergarten half the lessons are in English, and from the third year and in primary school half the school day. Lessons begin at 9:00 and run to 16:40 in kindergarten and to 17:00 in primary school; extended care adds an hour before and after lessons, from 7:30 to 18:15.
Address Calle San Ildefonso, 18, 28012 Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationIB · PYP · authorised programmeSEK · 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
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 →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: PYP (ages 3-12). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →SEKschool network
A Spanish organisation, founded in 1892; the site calls it Institución Internacional SEK, and signs the network of schools and universities "SEK-IES", International Education Systems. The numbers diverge: the home page names 26 schools, 2 universities, 17 countries and more than 25,000 pupils, while the "Red educativa internacional" page lists the same 26 schools - 14 "Colegios SEK" and 12 "Colegios IES" - and three universities. The Portuguese school stands among the "Colegios IES"; the history page puts its purchase in 2022. Whether the organisation owns the schools or manages them is not said. Not to be confused with SEK Education Group: that one has its own site, sek.es, and Portugal is not in its list of countries.
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 poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·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
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The building in the Barrio de las Letras has recently been rebuilt: open and glazed flexible spaces for collaborative work and the units of inquiry. Its own sports facilities, a gym and two yards with a climbing wall; PE also takes place at the La Chopera sports centre in the Retiro park, and the group has the UCJC sports club in Villafranca del Castillo with a pool, tennis and riding. Meals are provided by a catering service with a quality certificate, catering for special diets. Four bus routes across Madrid. The school also counts the city as its campus: the museum triangle, the Royal Academies, the Botanical Garden and the Retiro.
Clubs and activities (9): Forest School · Play Music · Ski week · Passion Pursuits · Talent development programme · Learning Hub Library · Chinese · Family Learning Paths · Academic trips to Ireland, France and around Spain
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp; whether it takes children from outside is not stated on the website
The school has Summer SEK summer courses: the group, it says, has run them for more than 65 years, with an emphasis on teamwork, leadership, creativity, technology and new places. The school gives no dates, ages, location or price on the page, and does not say whether the courses are open to children from other schools.
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
The school publishes no number of teachers and no pupil-teacher ratio. All languages, it says, are taught by native-speaker teachers, and each stage has its own counsellors from the psycho-pedagogical service, who identify special educational needs and giftedness and advise teachers and families. Teachers also accompany children on the school buses and supervise them in the dining hall.
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
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a psycho-pedagogical service with counsellors at each stage: they identify learning difficulties and giftedness, run the Estrella programme for gifted children and teach children mediation, social skills and conflict resolution. Emotional intelligence is built into the curriculum following Yale University's RULER model, and there is a health and wellbeing programme. The dining hall runs under teachers' supervision, and the bus route supervisors are the school's teachers. The school names no written child protection policy, security staff or medical worker on its pages.
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%)72 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%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 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.
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