The British Council School, Madrid

DFE 6069|URN 142417|College Board School Code 792464

Head of School: Ms. Mercedes Hernandez Estrada

Website: www.britishcouncilschool.es

Our Community

The British Council School is a bilingual and bi-cultural, non selective co-educational day school serving the Spanish community in Madrid. The school was founded in 1940 as the first British School in Spain. Our long experience in teaching and learning has made the British Council School one of the most prestigious schools in the world. More than 10,000 students, from Spain and other nationalities, have studied in our classrooms, and many of them have achieved senior positions in industry and government later in life. The school is part of the British Council, the official UK institution that promotes Education, English Language and Cultural Relations in the world.

Our School

Our school campus is located in Somosaguas, 14 kilometres from Madrid city centre, and houses our Early Years, Infant and Secondary Sections. An annual cohort of 132 students join us at 2 years of age and graduate at the age of 18. Approximately 1,800 students are currently on roll from Nursery to Year 13. The school is a member of the National Association of British Schools in Spain (NABSS), the European Council for International Schools (ECIS) and the Council for International Schools (CIS). The school underwent a British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection in April 2015 and again in November 2018 and 2021 and was on all occasions awarded the maximum ratings in all individual categories.

Our dedicated team of professionals help pupils to become future global citizens through instilling our core values of loyalty, caring, resilience, challenge and flexibility. These values are deeply embedded in all that we do; from our approach to learning, relationships and aspirations held by our pupils, ourselves and one another. We believe in enabling our pupils to “be the best that they can be”.

The Curriculum

From 2 to 16 years of age, students follow the English National Curriculum and Spanish Language and Social Studies, also following the Spanish National Curriculum.

At 16 (Year 11/ Grade 10 in the US system) all students take IGCSE Cambridge Examinations and International GCSEs (Edexcel). The majority of students take 10 IGCSE or International GCSE examinations.

In Year 12 and 13 (Grades 11 and 12 in the US system) our students complete the British Council School BiBac (Bilingual Baccalaureate) programme. This broad programme of study is the Spanish National Baccalaureate Programme (Bachillerato Español) and students can choose to study through the medium of English or Spanish. There are 3 pathways that students can choose from according to their future career interests; Technological, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Each of these paths is composed by subjects which are common to all pathways, pathway-specific subjects, and optional subjects.

All students in Year 12 must become members of one of the available Year 12 Clubs. These Clubs aim to give students the opportunity to develop competencies -  teamwork, public speaking, negotiating, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and leadership - and are an integral part of their academic timetable.

All students in Year 13 take the subject English Language Extension, and choose a specialist area (Laboratory Techniques & BMAT, Engineering Projects, Creating Art Portfolio, Film Studies, Theatre, Business English, Economics and Business Solutions, and Introduction to Literary Theory) through which they will develop their language.