SEK El Castillo - the best school in Spain according to Forbes 2021

My visit to the boarding school SEK El Castillo in the north of Madrid took place in the fall of 2022, during my stay in Spain on the program to protect Ukrainians from war. SEK International Schools are well known in Spain and Europe and rank high in the rankings due to the high performance of IB graduates. Every year, 4-8 graduates of the Spanish schools of the group score the highest score of 45, while about 20% of IB program graduates across all schools score at least 40 points.

SEK El Castillo was the first to offer the IB program in Spain in 1977 and was one of the first schools in the world to offer the IB program. Today, almost all schools in the SEK group are full-cycle IB schools - from junior to high school.

SEK schools are named the best international schools in Spain in 2021 by Forbes newspaper.

SEK El Castillo International School offers an innovative educational model based on early learning, talent development, creativity and emotional intelligence.

The SEK El Castillo school is the largest in terms of territory and infrastructure among all the schools of the SEK group, which has boarding schools in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​​​Dublin and the French Alps in addition to 6 purely day schools in Spain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The school grounds cover 150 hectares, including a group-owned private university and sports infrastructure shared between the students of the school and university, and the school's 20 professional sports academies.

About 1,200 students aged 3 to 18 study at the school at the same time, among them 120 international students aged 12-18 who live in one of the two boarding houses of the school, separately for girls and boys.

More than 1,000 day students are gathered daily by a large fleet of school buses, with different routes passing through Madrid and the surrounding area.

When a new student comes to school, one of the classmates is attached to him, who helps to get comfortable and make new friends, get used to the schedule and territory, with new classes and assignments. In addition, for every 10 students living in the boarding house, there is one teacher in the evenings, which means that for 120 residence students at SEK El Castillo, there are 12 teachers who are in residences 40 hours a week, for additional classes with international students, help with Spanish and English, projects and homework.

All of the school buildings are spacious chalet-style buildings located around a large multi-sports area, including junior, middle and high schools, interconnected by internal corridors so that students can move freely between buildings in case of rain.

The buildings are very bright, here, as in the school near Barcelona, which I visited a couple of years ago, an open-space system is used - in the center of each building there are tables with chairs arranged around the table so that groups of students can share a common space.

Separate classrooms are located around the perimeter, all internal walls are glass partitions that block sound, but allow students from different classes to see each other. Separate wings house science labs and robotics classes.

Separate buildings of the music school, where you can study any musical instrument within the framework of the music academy, participate in the choir, orchestra, or composer classes; school theater building.

I had lunch at the school cafeteria and was pleasantly surprised as the lunch was tastier than the one I ate at the restaurant the day before.

All students of the school, both day students and those who live in a boarding house, eat twice during the school day: after the second lesson they receive a light second breakfast and from 1.30 to 3.30 - a lunch consisting of soup, a choice between 2 main dishes, salad bar and dessert.

Students, who live in a boarding house receive five meals a day. A rich buffet-style morning breakfast that the student chooses according to his taste, a light second breakfast, lunch that all students of the school receive, afternoon tea and dinner. All this is served at a certain time in the school cafeteria. In addition, the boarding houses have their own kitchens, which are replenished daily with food, milk and fruits.

Sports infrastructure

Sports academies are open to students who play sports at a professional level. International students can join academies if they have already played their chosen sport and achieved certain results. Participation in the academies is subject to an additional fee of 400 to 1200 euros per month, depending on the level and the chosen sport, but this price includes sessions with a psychologist, physiotherapist, nutritionist, individual academic schedule and individual lessons for participation in training and competition.

What I liked the most is that the entire sports infrastructure is used not only for sports academies, but for all students of the school who can practice any chosen sport.

The riding academy is one of the most popular professional and amateur sports in SEK El Castillo.

If a student has never taken horseback riding before and started school at an age when it is no longer possible to become a professional athlete and wants to take up horseback riding, then this sport can be chosen as physical education lessons for a small additional fee.

The stables of the school have 100 sports horses, which are looked after by 15 staff members. In front of the stables there are open and covered arenas for riding horses, with a platform for jumping and rings for riding basketball. I was surprised to learn that the most costly part of running an arena is maintaining the arena surface, as the sand must be specially filtered and treated to keep the horse safe when cantering and the rider when falling.

When I returned from viewing the school late at night, I was able to admire the student's hurdle jumping training, which she performed at a very professional level.

The second most popular in this school is the swimming academy. For swimming, 2 indoor sports swimming pools are used, each with 8 lanes with ozonized water. Since sports swimming classes are held early in the morning and in the afternoon, the athletes skip part of the lessons every day and catch up with the missed classes according to an individual schedule.

For tennis and padel tennis, the school has 12 tennis courts with all kinds of surfaces and 16 padel tennis courts, which is more popular in Spain. Also, in 2 multifunctional sports halls of the school, there are tennis courts for training in conditions unsuitable for outdoor training.

The school has a natural grass football field, but students who play football professionally train with Real Madrid coaches at another SEK Ciudalcampo school, also located in the North of Madrid, a 40-minute drive from the SEK El Castillo boarding school where school buses take them.

In conclusion, I want to say that in my personal ranking I put this school at the level of the best British schools specializing in sports, while in the comfortable climate of Spain and at incomparably lower prices, as the infrastructure of sports academies allows students to combine first-class academic education with the highest level of sports training.