← Back to homeWaldorf International School Madreselva
Ciudad Real, Spain · est. 2013 · Private
Illustration · Ciudad Real
Madreselva is a Waldorf school in La Poblachuela outside Ciudad Real, grown out of an association that eight families formally established in 2013; the association now has forty families and more than eighty members and collaborators, and works through committees - management, organisational, economic and maintenance. It belongs to the Waldorf Centres Association of Spain, which regulates how Waldorf pedagogy is implemented in the country. The main thing a parent needs to know about its recognition: the school works with NEASC and is evaluated by it every year, and after three positive evaluations it holds the status of a candidate school for permanent recognition - but it does not yet hold full accreditation. On the Spanish side the school is entered in the register as an educational centre by the Education Council of Castilla-La Mancha and is accredited as a Waldorf school for preschool and primary education for children from three to twelve, alongside its traditional playgroup for toddlers. The day in class is arranged by rhythms - daily, weekly, monthly and yearly - and swings between concentration and expansion like breathing in and out: on one side watercolour painting, wax blocks, modelling with beeswax, kneading bread, knitting, songs, finger games and stories, on the other movement and free play with no intervention by the adult.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Admissions The school does take foreigners and writes a separate guide for them on moving to Ciudad Real: it calls itself a solid option for both national and international families and promises to support families who move - a personalised visit to the school with an explanation of Waldorf pedagogy, a checklist of enrolment documents and dates, recognition of educational credentials for families moving from abroad, and help with settling into the city. Enrolment starts with a visit or a message to the school. The school is registered as an educational centre by the Education Council of Castilla-La Mancha and accredited as a Waldorf school for children from 3 to 12, and there is a playgroup for toddlers. The school names no entrance tests, language requirements or admission deadlines.
Stages and year groups Grades ages 3-12 plus a playgroup for toddlers. The school is accredited as a Waldorf school for preschool and primary education for children from three to twelve; alongside it runs a traditional playgroup for toddlers.
Address Camino de la Blanca, 11, 13197 La Poblachuela, Ciudad Real
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · candidateschool 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 is a candidate for accreditation by this organisation: the route has been started but not completed. Candidacy speaks of an application made and a file accepted for consideration, not of the outcome of an inspection, and the organisations themselves usually require schools to say that it does not guarantee accreditation. The candidacy is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The association's new premises, renovated by the families themselves and inaugurated in September 2015: a 400-square-metre centre held on a long lease, six classrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, separate bathrooms for each classroom, multipurpose rooms and a library; 1500 square metres of outdoor space in nature, an interior and an exterior courtyard and a teachers' room. Since 2021 a library wagon - "our Train" - has stood in the garden, set up to receive neighbours, friends and families looking for alternative cultural plans. The premises have passed checks on accessibility, safety, emergency exits, risk control, critical point analysis and health.
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 does not publish its teaching staff by name. It writes that in primary school a class keeps the same class teacher for all the years of the stage, who teaches at least the main subjects; some families have completed courses in Waldorf pedagogy, and the pedagogy was introduced with the support of Antonio Malagón, one of its driving forces in Spain, and of educators who joined the project.
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%)65 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country