← Back to homeVirtus College, The British Sixth Form
Alcobendas, Spain · est. 2016 · Private
Illustration · Alcobendas
Virtus College is a private British sixth form school in La Moraleja (Alcobendas, Madrid) that runs only the last two years of secondary education, Year 12 and Year 13, for pupils aged 16 to 18. It was founded in 2016 by graduates of Oxford and Imperial College; in 2023 the school moved to a new campus built for the sixth form. Teaching follows International A-Levels: each pupil chooses four subjects out of fifteen, exams are taken in modules in January and May of both years, with the Edexcel and Cambridge examination boards. Classes have no more than 10 pupils, 5 on average, there is one member of staff for every four pupils, and about 90 pupils in all. Each pupil has a personal mentor with weekly one-to-one meetings, the enrichment programme offers courses in engineering, humanities, finance and entrepreneurship and medicine, with separate preparation for Oxbridge and the Ivy League. The school calls itself fully independent and is in partnership with the British organisation The Schools Trust. Lessons run Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:20. The school belongs to one group with the Think Ahead tutoring academy and the examination centre on the same campus.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $27 678 a year
24 500 EUR
Programmes
Cambridge · Pearson Edexcel
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
French, Spanish
About the fees Fees are published on the site: Year 12 and Year 13 at 24500 euros a year each. Payment can be made for the year before the start or in three equal parts before each term. The fee includes A-Levels, the mentoring system, the enrichment programme, preparation for university admission tests and interviews and IELTS preparation. A 5 per cent discount for families with two or more children at the school; the DRIVE scholarship reduces the fee by 15 per cent for both years and is given to two pupils at the start of Year 12.
Admissions Admission in four steps: an application form, a meeting at the school, a personal interview and tests, then a report on the pupil profile and the decision of the admissions committee; the tests, the school says, are not for selection but for choosing subjects. Minimum requirements: at least six (I)GCSEs at grade C (4) or above, mathematics and English language compulsory, grade 6 (B) in the subjects the pupil takes at A-Level, 7 (A) for mathematics and sciences and 8-9 for further mathematics. Pupils from other systems (MYP, Spanish, American, French) are accepted if they have native English or level C2 and meet the academic requirements; such cases are reviewed individually. International pupils come and live in the partner residence. Admissions are open until 31 March, places often run out by December, there is a waiting list; applying in Year 11 is advised.
Stages and year groups Grades Year 12 - Year 13. Only the two-year A-Level cycle: Year 12 and Year 13, ages 16-18. International A-Levels (IAL), four subjects per pupil out of fifteen: biology, business, chemistry, economics, English language, English literature, French, further mathematics, geography, history, mathematics, media studies, physics, psychology, Spanish; Spanish A-Level is compulsory for native Spanish speakers.
Address Calle Salvia 46, 28109 Alcobendas, Madrid
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Pearson · authorised programmeCambridge · authorised programmeschool 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 →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. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results A-Level in June: 42 per cent of grades at A* and A against a UK benchmark of 28.5 per cent, 90 per cent of pupils achieved at least one A* or A; further mathematics 67 per cent A* and A, mathematics 64 per cent A*-B, French 100 per cent A*-B. On ALPS value-added measures the school is in the top 10 per cent of British schools worldwide.
Where leavers go: London School of Economics and Political Science · King's College London · University of Edinburgh · UC San Diego · University of Amsterdam · Durham University · Eindhoven University of Technology · Erasmus University Rotterdam · University of Southampton · Northeastern University · Oxford Brookes University · Les Roches
and others, 21 universities in the school's list in allAccording to the school, 92 per cent of the year group entered their first-choice university, 65 per cent study abroad, 32 per cent go to the United Kingdom, and of them 91 per cent to Russell Group 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
Campus: A campus in La Moraleja opened in 2023: light glass-panelled classrooms, independent study areas, communal spaces, rooftop terraces and wellbeing areas, energy-efficient systems.
Clubs and activities: Model United Nations · Formula 1 in Schools · Physics Olympiad · Young Enterprise · Oxbridge and Ivy League programme · Student council · Basketball · Football · Volleyball · Padel · Tennis · Gymnastics
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Teaching qualifications from Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and Birmingham
All teachers obtained teaching qualifications at leading universities, the school names Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and Birmingham; they have many years of experience teaching A-Level, and each is also a mentor to pupils and leads courses of the enrichment programme.
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 policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
All staff receive comprehensive safeguarding training, the school works with the STEER Education wellbeing programme, and each pupil has weekly meetings with a mentor. Phones are handed in in the morning and returned at the end of the day, and pupils iPads carry safeguarding software limiting external access. The school publishes its safeguarding policies as a separate document.
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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 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