Secondary Schools in Barcelona for Expat Families

Secondary school is where the big decisions are made. The curriculum chosen here largely determines the qualifications a student leaves with at 18 and the universities they can apply to. For expat families, moving a teenager also carries more friction than moving a young child, because exam timetables, curriculum alignment and friendship groups all matter more. This guide focuses on secondary schooling in Barcelona and the choices that come with it, building on our hub on Barcelona's international schools.

The structure of secondary in Barcelona

International secondary schooling in Barcelona generally follows one of two structures:

• The British model, with lower secondary leading to IGCSE examinations at around 16, then a two-year sixth form leading to A-Levels at 18.
• The American / international model, leading through middle and high school to the IB Diploma in the final two years, which several American-style schools have adopted as their senior qualification.

Some schools blend systems, offering the British curriculum lower down and the IB Diploma at the top, while others combine the British, Spanish and IB pathways.

The curriculum fork

This is the most consequential decision at secondary level.

There is no universally "better" route. A-Levels reward students who already know their direction and want to specialise. The IB suits students who want breadth and are not yet committed to a single field. The decision should follow the student and the likely university destinations, not the other way around. Our guides to GCSEs and A-Levels in Barcelona and IB schools in Barcelona go deeper on each.

Schools to consider

The following deliver well-regarded secondary provision. Confirm current curricula and availability directly.

• The British School of Barcelona offers IGCSE and A-Level, with a dedicated sixth-form provision for ages 16 to 18.
• Benjamin Franklin International School runs a US-style middle and high school culminating in the IB Diploma.
• American School of Barcelona leads to the IB Diploma and, from 2025, also offers the IB Career-related Programme.
• St. Peter's School is an IB World School offering the IB Diploma in English through to university entrance.
• Hamelin-Laie International School delivers an IB and bilingual route to 18.
• Kensington School takes students through IGCSE and A-Level.

Indicative secondary fees

Secondary, and especially the final two years, sits at the top of each school's fee range. As of 2026:

External examination entries for IGCSE, A-Level and IB are usually charged separately. See our fees guide.

Moving a teenager: what to weigh

• Exam timing. Avoid moving a student partway through a two-year IGCSE, A-Level or IB course where possible; mismatched syllabuses cause real disruption.
• Curriculum alignment. A student arriving from a different system may need bridging support.
• Language. Lessons are in English, but Spanish and Catalan are part of school life, and a willing teenager will adapt; see settling a child into school.
• University guidance. Check the strength of careers and UCAS support and recent destinations. Our university admissions guide covers fee-status pitfalls.
• Availability. Senior places can be tight; see waiting lists.

Entry points that work, and one that rarely does

Secondary schooling is built around two-year courses, and the practical rule follows from that: aim to arrive at the start of a stage rather than in the middle of one.

Entry at the beginning of lower secondary is usually straightforward, because nothing has yet been committed. Entry at the start of the IGCSE course, or at the start of the sixth form or IB Diploma, is also workable and is the point at which many schools have their greatest movement, since some students leave and new ones arrive.

The awkward case is a move partway through a two-year course. Schools are often unwilling to admit into the second year of an IGCSE, A-Level or IB programme at all, and where they will, the student inherits a syllabus taught from a different specification, sometimes with a different examination board, and occasionally with subject choices that cannot be reproduced. If your move date is fixed and falls badly, raise it with admissions at the outset rather than at application; schools that can bridge will tell you what is possible, and schools that cannot will say so early enough for you to plan around it.

Sixth-form subject menus are narrower than you think

A school that looks well resourced lower down can still be constrained at the top, because sixth-form and Diploma subjects usually run only where enough students choose them. A subject listed in a prospectus may not run in a given year, higher-level options in the IB may be limited to certain combinations, and timetable blocking can make two subjects mutually exclusive even when both are offered.

For a student with a clear direction — medicine, engineering, art, a specific language — this is the single most important thing to check before accepting a place. Ask which subjects actually ran in each of the last few years, what the minimum group size is, and whether the particular combination your child wants has been timetabled together before.

Language at secondary: two different problems

Lessons are in English, so academic access is rarely the issue. Social access is. A teenager arriving with no Spanish can follow every lesson and still find the corridor, the bus and the weekend much harder work than a younger sibling does, because adolescent friendship groups are more established and more language-dependent.

The practical responses are unglamorous and effective: some structured Spanish before arrival rather than after, and one consistent activity outside school where the same group meets every week. It is also worth asking each school directly how it supports a new arrival at this age, and whether that support is staffed by someone whose job it is rather than absorbed into general teaching time.

University planning begins earlier than families expect

By the time a student reaches the final two years, the choices that shape their applications have largely been made. Two things are therefore worth doing early.

First, look at the school's guidance capacity rather than its results. Ask who writes references and predicted grades, how many students each adviser handles, whether the school supports applications to the UK, the United States, Spain and elsewhere simultaneously, and what recent leavers actually went on to do. Destination data is more informative than a headline grade profile.

Second, understand the route into your likely destinations before subjects are chosen, not after. For Spanish universities, non-EU applicants generally register with UNEDasiss and may sit PCE competency exams, and there are fee-status consequences for UK nationals since Brexit that catch families out. Our university admissions guide sets out the process and the pitfalls.

Learning support and additional needs

Provision varies widely between international schools, and it is not always clear from a prospectus. Some schools have a properly staffed department; others provide light support and are honest that a student needing more would be better served elsewhere. Ask what is available, who delivers it, whether it is charged in addition to tuition, and how it works in examination years, where access arrangements have to be applied for in advance. Bring any existing assessments or reports to the conversation — a school that sees them early can tell you honestly whether it is the right place.

Catalan, which the prospectuses tend to underplay

Families arriving in Barcelona usually prepare for Spanish and are then surprised by how much of the city runs in Catalan. For a teenager at an English-medium school this rarely affects lessons. It affects almost everything around them.

Two things follow. The first is that "bilingual" is an unreliable label here: a school describing itself that way may mean English and Spanish, English and Catalan, or all three, and the balance between them differs considerably even among schools that all call themselves international. Ask which languages are taught, how much of the timetable each occupies, and whether a new arrival is placed by age or by level. Ask separately what happens for a student joining in the exam years, where adding a third language to an already full timetable is not always the right call and a good school will say so.

The second is that this changes the calculation for a family that might stay. Catalonia's state and concertado schools teach in Catalan and Spanish, which is why our fees guide for Barcelona treats the local sector as a genuine alternative rather than a footnote — but that alternative is realistically open to a child who arrived at six and effectively closed to one who arrives at fifteen. A teenager can acquire enough Spanish and Catalan to have a life in this city. Acquiring enough to be educated in them is a different undertaking, and it is not one to begin two years before public examinations.

Involving the teenager in the decision

A move that a fifteen-year-old has been consulted about is a different experience from one that is announced. Visiting shortlisted schools, meeting current students, and having some say between two genuine options gives an adolescent a measure of control at a moment when almost everything else is being decided for them. It also surfaces objections early, while they can still be addressed, rather than in the first difficult term. Our guide to settling a child into school covers what to watch for once term begins.

Planning the move

Because secondary choices lock in qualifications, families benefit from settling early and avoiding a forced mid-course move. That argues for choosing a stable school and a neighbourhood you can stay in, which links school choice to property. Explore the wider market on our Spain property hub.

How Global Investments Can Help

Moving a teenager well means getting the school, the timing and the home right in one coordinated decision. As the property division of Global Investments, we help families settle in the right place to support a stable secondary path, aligning school choice with the property search and the wider relocation and financial plan. Speak to our team early, especially if exam years are approaching.

Information only; fees, curricula and admissions details change every academic year. Verify all details directly with the schools and the relevant Spanish authorities before making decisions.