ᐅBOARDING SCHOOLS IN MADRID ᐅ Guide: Boarding Schools in Madrid

How to choose a boarding school in Madrid?

A practical guide for parents and students.

The boarding school must be a home away from home for students, a place to develop both academically and personally surrounded by people who feel like a second family. To guarantee this experience, the choice of a boarding school is a decision that deserves careful consideration.

Are you looking for a boarding school in Madrid but you are not sure which one to choose? Here, we answer all your questions and explain everything you need to know to choose the best boarding school in Madrid.

Table of Contents

1. How does a boarding school work?
2. Do boarding schools really improve performance?
3. How much does a boarding school in Madrid cost?
4. What should you look for when choosing a boarding school in Madrid?
5. Advantages of boarding schools in Madrid
6. Why do we recommend the boarding school King’s College Madrid?
7. Are you interested in the boarding school King’s College Madrid?

How does a boarding school work? What is a normal day like in a boarding school?

A boarding school is, essentially, a school with a residence hall in the same campus. Boarders live together in the residence hall throughout the academic year and attend lessons at school with non-boarding students.

Many boarding schools in Madrid are bilingual and welcome students from all over the world, so they offer an international environment with one language of instruction and linguistic immersion, which guarantees the natural learning of that language.

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Although life at a boarding school is usually well organised, schedules may be semi-flexible to suit the needs of each student. This organised lifestyle not only allows students to learn about discipline in a safe, caring space but also creates a strong sense of community between students and with the boarding school personnel. This is how long-lasting friendships and a unique homely atmosphere are created.

Depending on the residence hall and the boarding school in Madrid, students may have a single or a shared room. Boarders have breakfast together at their residence hall before school, where they have lunch with the other students. After their lessons, they go back to the residence hall for a snack and, depending on the boarding school, to participate in extracurricular activities. Boarders also have a specific schedule and space to study before dinner with their schoolmates. Apart from that, they also benefit from leisure time to learn and enjoy in a relaxed atmosphere. During the weekends, the boarding school organises recreational activities and excursions outside the centre.

Do boarding schools really improve performance?

Though, for many years, boarding schools conjured up images of poorly-behaved children subject to punishments and forced discipline, the reality is now completely different. The paradigm of boarding school as an easy shortcut for students with learning difficulties is also a long way off.

Thousands of parents around the world choose to enrol their children in boarding schools in Madrid due to the different social, academic, and professional skills they acquire in this environment. The individualised guidance and teaching offered by boarding schools are the perfect complement for an excellent education in private schools.

Living and bonding with students from different countries and cultures equips students with cross-cultural social skills that will open make them an easy fit in an increasingly globalised world. Furthermore, extracurricular activities in boarding schools usually differ a lot from traditional ones in terms of variety and usefulness. The different sports clubs and competitions, for instance, allow students to develop skills like perseverance, teamwork, and ambition, which are vital ingredients for success in the world of work and in their personal lives.

How much does a boarding school in Madrid cost?

Fees for boarding schools in Madrid vary greatly depending on the type of boarding school and the specific service chosen. These are the most common factors that will influence the boarding school’s fees:

Type of boarding school: private or concertado (privately run school funded by the State) boarding school
Scheme: Monday to Friday or full week
Location: while boarding schools in Spain are usually cheaper that in other countries, fees also depend on the region.

What should you look for when choosing a boarding school in Madrid?

There are many boarding schools in the Community of Madrid. This variety offers the possibility of finding a unique and personalised solution for each child. However, when choosing a boarding school in Madrid, you should take these issues into account:

Choice of languages Though studying only in Spanish is a perfectly valid and satisfactory option, studying at a British boarding school, for instance, is often beneficial for different reasons. On the one hand, as we mentioned above, living and studying in English guarantees the natural language acquisition and, thus, bilingualism. On the other, these schools usually accommodate foreign students, which promotes learning and intercultural relations between boarders.
Location Since location will also greatly influence the quality of the experience, it is important for boarders to explore and enjoy green areas and nature within walking distance, as well as the enriching cultural offer and transport connections of Madrid.
Facilities The spaces where students spend their time will determine the quality of their activities. It is important for them to have comfortable, wide spaces well--equipped for sports and other extracurricular activities, studying, leisure... Both indoors and outdoors.
Pastoral care It is essential to know the code of conduct and the principles promoted by the boarding school and their employees. Students need to develop in a safe, caring environment when they can always count on a person to guide them and help them, especially in certain confusing situations in adolescence.
Academic quality We recommend that you make sure that the academic guidance and motivation offered by the boarding school are in line with those of the school itself. This allows boarders to enhance their academic development both in and out of the classroom and to be fully prepared for their future careers.

Advantages of boarding schools in Madrid

As one of the most important capitals in Europe, a boarding school in Madrid offers a unique experience for students from all over the world.

More and more organisations are establishing boarding schools in Madrid, so parents and students can find an enormous variety of types of school, academic education, language, or fees. Apart from that, the great cultural offer and leisure activities in the Spanish capital are hard to find in other regions in the country.

Regarding accessibility and transport, Madrid is also a leader, since students can easily travel from the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid-Barajas airport, the Atocha train station, or the numerous bus stations.

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Why do we recommend the boarding school King’s College Madrid?

King’s College is the only British school in Madrid that offers the possibility of studying both the International Baccalaureate and A-Levels in English, which will grant access to any of the leading universities in the world. That is why ten of the best universities in the United Kingdom and many other prestigious institutions in Europe and the United States have admitted many King’s College students and why many institutions and publications, such as Forbes or El Mundo have chosen it as one of the best schools in Spain.

Students at King’s College have guidance even before enrolment and until after completing their studies, with a team of tutors available to guide them throughout their education.

King’s College, which is adapted to the British education system and values, is far from traditional education. Students learn and develop through practical experiences that encourage curiosity, hard work, creativity, and critical thinking.

King's College's residence hall, Tenbury, in Madrid, offers a safe space and an innovative education in an international environment. In a natural forested area, only 30 minutes from the city of Madrid, the residence hall is home to 45 students from different countries, which allows each student to receive personalised attention with highly qualified professionals.

Its privileged location allows boarders to enjoy many outdoors activities and trips on the weekends. Furthermore, its facilities include a heated pool, an artificial turf pitch, an auditorium, and an equestrian centre in order to offer exclusive extracurricular activities.

In the residence hall, which has separate areas for boys and girls, each student has an individual room with an ensuite bathroom on the same floor as other students of a similar age, as well as access to the residence hall personnel; thus, they are always surrounded by friends and family. In order to strengthen the sense of community and ease the transition to boarding life, each student is assigned a “house”. “Houses” have a “head boy or girl”, a senior student who acts as an older sibling for new students, in addition to the support of the qualified personnel of the boarding school.

King’s College boarding school promotes independence, mutual respect and empathy among its members to create a generation of internationally minded adults who will find every door open in the world of tomorrow.

Our Boarding School in Madrid is underpinned by excellence and supports students to achieve success in their studies, interests, talents and passions. Discover how your child can benefit from world-class boarding education.