← Back to homeSotogrande International School
Sotogrande, Spain · est. 1978 · Private
Illustration · Sotogrande
Sotogrande International School has been running since 1978 on Av. de la Reserva in Sotogrande, in the province of Cádiz, half an hour from Gibraltar and an hour from the airports of Malaga and Jerez. It is a day school with a boarding house, and it teaches the full International Baccalaureate continuum - the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes - with A Levels alongside the Diploma in the senior school. There are more than 1300 pupils, and teaching is in English; the school offers English, Spanish and Russian as first languages and English, Spanish, French, German and Mandarin as second languages. The stages run right through: a nursery from four months, primary from three to eleven, middle school from eleven to sixteen and high school from sixteen to eighteen. The school publishes its Diploma results: the class of 2026 had a highest score of 44 and an average of 34, and 35 per cent earned a bilingual diploma. Classes have no more than 24 pupils, with teaching assistants, and teachers stay at the school for 7 years on average. The school belongs to the Inspired group, and a parent should know that a group in itself confers no external recognition on a school. One distinct strength is elite sport: golf, polo, tennis, swimming and basketball run as separate programmes, and musicians are prepared for ABRSM, Rock School and Trinity examinations. In summer the campus hosts its own camp for children aged 4-16, both day and residential.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $11 117–31 921 a year
9 840–28 255 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · Cambridge · A-Level
Admits from
4 months · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Spanish, Russian, French, German, Chinese
Summer camp
Yes, open to all
About the fees Annual fees for 2026-27 by stage, from the school's own fee schedule: 9840 EUR for EC1, 10485 for EC2, 15650 for PYP1-PYP2, 16810 for PYP3-PYP6, 20575 for MYP1-MYP3, 23100 for MYP4-MYP5 and 28255 for the Diploma Programme. On top of the fee: a registration fee of 350 EUR for EC1-P6 and 550 for M1-D2; a membership fee per family of 3000 EUR for EC1-P6 and 4000 for M1-M5; and a deposit of 2000 EUR for day students in EC1-P6, 2500 for day students in M1-D2 and 5000 for boarders in M1-D2. Boarding: 22720 EUR a year for the standard pack, 18350 for weekly boarding from Monday to Friday, 26810 for the guardian pack for non-EU families, and 115 EUR for an extra night. All lunches and compulsory curriculum trips are included; devices, uniform, transport and external examination fees are not. Payment is either in full before 15 August or in three instalments - 15 August, 15 December and 15 March - and in two instalments in the Diploma Programme.
Admissions The school takes foreign pupils and openly invites them: its boarding house, it says, takes pupils from abroad, and for families from outside the EU there is a separate package with guardianship. Admission runs all year round as places become free, because families often move at short notice; the visit and interview can be held online. English is not required for entry: the school does not regard a lack of the language as a barrier and runs a paid English language acquisition programme, and it advises children without good English to take its summer school before starting. The procedure: an enquiry through the form, an application on the OpenApply platform with reports for the last two years translated into English, and a non-refundable registration fee of 350 euros in primary or 550 in secondary. In PYP5 and PYP6 the child takes an online cognitive test, from 11 to 15 a cognitive test and the iDAT test, for the Diploma and A Level tests of cognitive ability, English and mathematics, and for the Diploma also an interview with the IB coordinator. After a positive decision the family uploads copies of the passports of the child and the parents, their Spanish NIE numbers, a contract signed by both parents and an image consent form.
Stages and year groups Grades nursery from 4 months - high school, up to age 18. The stages are: Early Years - a nursery from four months to three years, primary on the PYP from three to eleven, middle school on the MYP from eleven to sixteen and high school from sixteen to eighteen. At 16 a pupil chooses from three courses: the IB Diploma Programme, A Levels and, according to the boarding page, the American system. The school day runs from 8:50 to 15:40 in the primary school and from 8:50 to 16:00 in the middle and high school. A class has no more than 24 pupils, and teaching assistants work in it alongside the teacher.
Address Av. de la Reserva, s/n, 11310 Sotogrande, Cádiz
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationInspired · 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), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). 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. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
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 →CambridgeA-Level
Programmes of the University of Cambridge: the school teaches to Cambridge syllabuses and enters its pupils for exams that Cambridge marks itself. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
What this means for this school. The papers are marked by Cambridge, not by the school, so a leaver's grade does not depend on how strict their own teachers are with them. To enter pupils for these exams a school has to be registered as a Cambridge exam centre; registration as a centre is permission to run exams rather than accreditation of the school, and it says nothing about the quality of teaching. IGCSE is taken at around Year 10 or 11 and A-Level in the final years, and it is the A-Level results that carry a pupil into British and many other universities.
Inspiredschool network
Inspired Education Group is a private school group founded in 2013. The group gives different figures on its own pages - 125 schools on some, "more than 100" on others - and we quote both: choosing for a group which of its own numbers is correct is not something we do. Its schools are in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and some of them keep their own historic names, such as King's College in Madrid and Riga. The group's site is inspirededu.com.
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
Average IB score
34 (world average 30.88)
Exam results Results of the IB Diploma Programme for the class of 2026: a highest score of 44, an average score of 34, and 35 per cent of leavers earned a bilingual diploma. The school does not give the share who obtained the diploma.
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 transport
✓Boarding
Campus: A campus in Sotogrande with views over La Reserva; a new building with modern learning spaces, STEM laboratories, art studios, spacious outdoor playgrounds, facilities for the elite sports pathways - golf, polo, tennis and swimming - and a Centre of Excellence for the Performing Arts. Boarding is a separate residence with shared ensuite rooms. School buses run on published routes.
Clubs and activities: Music · Expressive arts · Pre-engineering club · Chess · Sports clubs · Golf · Polo · Tennis · Swimming · Basketball
Summer camp: the school runs its own camp and takes children from outside as well
The summer camp runs on the school campus for six weeks, from 28 June to 8 August 2026. The younger Nanos and Megas group for children aged 4-7 has themed weeks, swimming, arts and crafts and games; the older Juniors and Masters aged 8-16 choose a day option or residence in the boarding house. The programme includes coached sport, coastal and wind sports, STEAM, English and Spanish, public speaking, excursions and evening activities; a full day of music, golf or tennis can be added. Groups have no more than 10 children, supervision is round the clock and the camp language is English. The all-inclusive price is from 2075 to 4070 euros; campers from abroad need a passport valid for at least six months and, where required, a visa.
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 publishes no number of teachers and no pupil-teacher ratio. A class, it says, has no more than 24 pupils, and besides teachers there are teaching assistants in the classrooms; the average length of a teacher's tenure at the school is 7 years, and the staff bring experience from schools in many countries. University entry and career choice are handled by dedicated teacher-counsellors. The leadership is named: the Executive Head Maryssa O'Connor, the Head of Primary Emma Butler, who moved the primary school from the British curriculum to the PYP and leads IB workshops, the Head of Secondary Kevin Stone with more than 30 years of experience, the Head of Boarding Charles Debenham, who teaches Diploma geography and holds a master's degree from the University of Exeter, and the Head of IT Carmelo Sánchez, who has worked at the school for 26 years.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
·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's Board of Governors, it says, oversees safeguarding, student wellbeing and academic progress in particular. The boarding house has 24-hour security, live-in staff, supervisors and a nursing team, and boarders have their own student council. For children with moderate learning difficulties or with emotional and social difficulties there is a learning support service, at extra cost. The school names no written child protection policy, no video surveillance and no psychologist 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%)99 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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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