← Back to homeSierra Bernia School
L'Alfàs del Pi, Spain · est. 1973 · Private
Illustration · L'Alfàs del Pi
A private co-educational British school on the outskirts of L'Alfàs del Pi, near the coast between Benidorm and Altea. Founded in 1973, it calls itself the longest-established British school on the Costa Blanca; the site has a page on its fiftieth anniversary. It teaches children from 3 to 18 following the British National Curriculum: infants, junior school, secondary with IGCSE and the sixth form with A Level, and in parallel runs the three Spanish subjects needed to validate the Spanish certificate: Spanish language, social studies and Valencian. The school states that it is authorised by the relevant ministries to teach both foreign and Spanish nationals, is regularly inspected by NABSS and is an associate member of COBIS and NABSS. Classes are small, about 12 pupils on average. Pupils are brought by the school's own minibuses from Calpe to Benidorm. The school is fully independent and lives only on parents' fees.
Key facts
Programmes
Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, Catalan
Class size
On average about 12 pupils per class
About the fees The school does not publish its fees on the site, saying only that it lives solely on parents' fees.
Admissions The school accepts children of all nationalities; according to its figures, about 38 percent of pupils are British, 32 percent Spanish and 30 percent from mixed families. Registration is open all year: the family contacts the school and comes for a meeting. Registration requires a copy of the parents' DNI or NIE (a passport for the sixth form), the family book, vaccination and medical certificates, 4 photographs, and from school age also the previous year's reports and a transfer certificate from the previous school; for the sixth form also a document showing completed secondary education. Foreign pupils are taught Spanish as a second language at different levels.
Stages and year groups Grades Infants (age 3) - Year 13. Infants learning through play, the junior school with emphasis on mathematics, languages, humanities and sciences, secondary: Key Stage 3 (Year 7-9) with English language and literature, mathematics, science, history, geography, computing, art, music, sport and PSHE, Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) with 8-9 IGCSE subjects, then the sixth form with GCE A Level. Spanish is taught to Spanish requirements at all stages.
Address Avenida Sant Rafel 8, 03580 L'Alfàs del Pi, 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
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
✓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 · Playground
Campus: The school has a science laboratory, an art room, a library and a computer suite, playgrounds for all ages, shaded areas and sports facilities. Hot lunches are served daily in the junior and senior schools, and pupils may bring a packed lunch. The school's own minibus routes serve the Marina Baixa: Benidorm, L'Alfàs del Pi, Altea, Calpe and Albir.
Clubs and activities: Art · Drama · Swimming · Sport · Karate · Ballet · Football · Russian · German
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 does not publish the number of its teachers. According to the school, its teachers are qualified and experienced, Key Stage 3 lessons are taught by subject specialists, and each class has a tutor responsible for pastoral care and for pupils with special educational needs. There is a fully qualified support teacher for children with learning difficulties and an extension programme for high achievers.
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%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 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.
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