We were the first educational institution to implement the IB programmes in Spain in 1977.
Also we are ranked in the top 35 IB Schools of the world and are the Spanish teaching institution with the most IB accredited teachers and evaluators.
We are the Spanish teaching institution with the greatest number of IB accredited teachers and evaluators and we are part of the International Baccalaureate Regional Heads Council for Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Over 3,000 SEK students have completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme with excellent results, allowing them the access to the most prestigious universities around the world.
SEK teaching staff take part and collaborate in training workshops and conventions organised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO).
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) prepares students to actively take part in an ongoing, life-long journey of discovery and learning.
What is it?
The IB Primary Years Programme caters for children aged 3-12 and develops conceptual understanding within a transdisciplinary, inquiry-based curriculum. The PYP encourages students to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own learning as they explore local and global issues and opportunities in real-life contexts.
Our Schools teach the PYP in English.
Curricular model
The curriculum is taught in three interrelated ways:
The written curriculum
Children explore the different subjects on the curriculum through six cross-curricular areas that transcend traditional subjects and explain the connections between them:
This process enables students to understand important concepts such as acquiring knowledge and fundamental skills and developing certain attitudes.
The teaching curriculum
The six cross-curricular subjects help teachers to develop inquiry units, which tackle important ideas. This method requires a high degree of effort on behalf of students.
Curriculum assessment
Assessment is a fundamental aspect of the work units, since it helps to reinforce learning and gives students the opportunity to reflect on what they know, what they understand and what they can do. Teachers’ assessment provides children with guidance, tools and an incentive to outdo themselves, improve their abilities and better understand how they learn.
Today’s society makes different and ever-changing demands on adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial stage in their personal, social, physical and intellectual development characterised by uncertainty and questioning oneself. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is designed to help them to find their place in the world and imbue them with a positive attitude toward learning.
What is it?
The MYP is designed for students between the ages of 11 and 16. It provides a learning framework that encourages students to become creative, critical, and reflective thinkers. The MYP emphasises intellectual challenges and encourages students to make connections between their studies and the real world. It encourages the development of skills for communication, intercultural understanding and global engagement.
The curriculum
The program is made up of eight blocks of subjects integrated in five interaction areas that comprise the disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning framework.
Students study their native language, a second foreign language (English), Humanities, Sciences, Mathematics, Arts, Physical Education and Technology. In the final year of the program, they are expected to hand in a personal project that allows them to showcase their knowledge and abilities acquired in the first year.
The program’s ethos is expressed through three fundamental concepts that underpin and bolster each area of the curriculum.
The assessment
Assessment is based on criteria, meaning that students are evaluated according to the same criteria for each group of subjects. However, in the first years of the program, teachers may modify these criteria to adapt them to students’ ages.
Students are assessed through coursework set and marked by schoolteachers. In order to ensure that the same standards are applied to all students, this internal assessment are verified externally by examiners from the International Baccalaureate Organisation (through a process known as assessment follow up and moderation). In our case, as officially certified International Baccalaureate schools, the moderation takes place each year.
In order to live in the interconnected and globalised world of the 21st century they need to learn critical thinking and to acquire an international mentality The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB®) prepares students to learn and understand this need.
What is it?
For children and young people from 16 to 18 years of age, it is a rigorous and balanced program taught over two years and ending with students sitting final exams. It is an excellent preparation for university and adult life and is widely recognised by universities from around the world.
The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is a balanced and academically challenging educational program. It prepares students, ages 16-18, for success at university and in life. Designed to address the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical well-being of students, the program aims for students to achieve breadth and depth of knowledge, and to thrive physically, intellectually, emotionally, and ethically.
The curriculum
Students study six subjects in the Intermediate or Advanced levels. They must choose one subject from each group from 1 to 5. Therefore, it ensures a broad grounding in languages, Social Sciences, Experimental Sciences and Mathematics. The sixth subject may be from Group 6 (Arts) or any of the other groups.
The program also features three components making up a common core. These aim to broaden the students’ educational experience and encourage them to put their knowledge and understanding into practice.
The assessment
At the end of the program students take written exams, marked by external IB® examiners. They are also expected to do the course work set by the School, marked by teachers and later reviewed by external moderators, or marked directly by external examiners.
The diploma is awarded to those students obtaining a score of over twenty-four points, provided they have attained a certain level of performance in the overall program, and they comply with Creativity, Action and Service requirements. The highest mark possible is a score of 45 points.
Our schools teach the Diploma Programme in Spanish and certain subjects in English.
From 4 meses to 18 years of age Northwest, Madrid.See school
From 4 meses to 18 years of age Northern, Madrid.See school
From 3 to 12 years of age Central, Madrid.See school
From 4 meses to 18 years of age Poio, Pontevedra.See school
From 4 meses to 18 years of age La Garriga, Barcelona.See school
From 4 meses to 18 years of age El Ejido, Almería.See school
From 11 to 18 years of age Dublin, Ireland.See school
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit foundation, whose mission is to create a better world through education. The IB aims create caring, well-informed and knowledge-hungry young people who are capable of contributing to creating a better and more peaceful world through mutual understanding and intercultural respect throughout their starting from a profile that encompasses ten attributes:
For 54 years, the International Baccalaureate education has helped people cross the boundaries that separate languages, countries and cultures. Through demanding and challenging educational programs, it constitutes an excellent preparation for higher education and adult life through an active learning attitude.
In the International Baccalaureate programs, unlike the ordinary Spanish system, learning is based on inquiry. Students are able to establish connections between different disciplines or subjects and the development of key skills is promoted to be able to transfer knowledge to real world situations. In this way, holistic learning, reflection and critical thinking take precedence over the mere memorisation of content, which makes student learning meaningful and lasting over time.
Students at IB World Schools attain strong academic, social and emotional development. Furthermore, they tend to show good academic performance, often higher than that of students in other programs. Students in IB programs:
The IB programs are academically sound and following all three programs promotes continuity of learning. Schools view students who have learned through the PYP, MYP and DP as well-rounded, caring, independent and globally conscious young adults who are prepared for life at university and beyond. Completion of all three programs ensures familiarity with the IB structure and terminology and students who have completed the MYP better understand the expectations of the IB Diploma. Final projects for the PYP (Exhibition), MYP (Personal Project) and DP (Extended Essay) allow students to showcase their learning in each of the programs while ensuring a smoother transition from one program to another.
Currently, the IB does not offer any type of scholarship to study any of its programs. Nevertheless, SEK Education Group, through its Felipe Segovia Foundation, offers a scholarship to support year 4 students with outstanding personal and academic performs to take the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at an authorised SEK school.