International Baccalaureate in Alicante: 5 IB schools and how to apply

On the first Monday of July 2026, in some office in Vistahermosa or Elche, an eighteen-year-old will open an email from Geneva. Inside, a number between 24 and 45. If it passes 30, the doors of Edinburgh, Madrid or Maastricht swing half open at the same time. That is the International Baccalaureate in Alicante: two years of serious work that end with a global score, not a Spanish exam.

More and more families arrive on the Costa Blanca looking for that door. Others, already settled, discover that the school down the street offers it without private fees. It pays to know what is where.

What the IB is and how it actually feels

The International Baccalaureate Organization, headquartered in Geneva, runs three programmes by age. The PYP (Primary Years Programme) covers ages 3 to 12. The MYP (Middle Years Programme) covers 11 to 16, normally five years long, with shorter variants allowed. The DP (Diploma Programme) is the famous one, the two final years before university.

In the DP, students pick six subjects, one from each of the six groups: first language, second language, social sciences, experimental sciences, mathematics and arts (or a substitute). Three are taken at Higher Level (240 contact hours each), three at Standard Level (150 hours). On top of that, students write a 4,000-word Extended Essay, take Theory of Knowledge, and complete 150 hours of CAS (creativity, activity, service): painting a mural at a hostel, coaching a children's team, volunteering with the local Red Cross. No diploma without all three.

The May 2026 final exams run from 24 April to 20 May, in sync with Buenos Aires and Sydney. Results are published on 6 July, on a morning that any IB coordinator in the province will describe as long.

The five IB schools in the province, one by one

The province has several schools authorised by the IB organisation. These five are the most representative: three are private international schools, two are Catholic schools with local roots. The difference is not just in the price, it is in the atmosphere, the language of instruction and the kind of baccalaureate that walks out the door.

King's College, Vistahermosa

The British campus on Glorieta del Reino Unido offers DP only at sixth form level, in its broadest version: bilingual English-Spanish, with the option of the bilingual diploma at the end of Year 13. The 2024/2025 cohort closed with a 36-point average out of 45, enough to place it first in Spain on the Education Advisers Ltd Global IB School League Tables. English is the language of instruction from nursery onwards. Annual fees range between 6,100 and 13,950 euros depending on the year, with a non-refundable 1,475 euro registration fee in the first year.

Newton College, Elche

An IB member since 1999. Newton runs a dual-track sixth form: students prepare the IB Diploma and the Spanish national Bachillerato in parallel. The point is to keep doors open. The first competes for British, Irish and European universities; the second leaves the EBAU intact for any Spanish public university. Most subjects are taught in English, Spanish is mandatory in Language and Literature, and French and German are offered as additional languages.

Elian's British School, La Nucía

The Dukes Education campus, deep in the Marina Baixa, is also an IB World School. Its DP combines the six IB subjects with the UNED's PCE (Pruebas de Competencia Específica), which smooths applications to Spanish universities while keeping the British Curriculum network. The school takes children from age one to the end of sixth form.

Colegio CEU Jesús María, Vistahermosa

A concertado school, that is, free in the year groups subsidised by the regional government. CEU Jesús María is authorised for the PYP from nursery and, more recently, for the Diploma Programme. It is the only state-subsidised school in the city that runs both the PYP in nursery and primary and the Diploma Programme in sixth form, all under the same roof. Located at Calle Deportista Alejandra Quereda 15.

Ángel de la Guarda, Calle Andalucía

Private Catholic, authorised for the DP since 2015. Ángel de la Guarda keeps a more local profile, with several teachers who serve as official IB examiners, which makes it easier to prepare for exams and review the internal portfolio. National and international baccalaureate share the same building, on Calle Andalucía 17-20.

When exams happen and what families pay

The calendar is the same for every IB school in the world. The May session opens on 24 April and closes on 20 May, with results on 6 July. There is also a November session, mostly for southern hemisphere students or for retaking subjects.

Pricing varies a lot by school. King's College, Newton and Elian's sit in the international private band, with annual fees between 6,000 and 14,000 euros plus non-refundable registration fees. Ángel de la Guarda, private but local, tends to sit below that. CEU Jesús María, as a concertado school, is free in nursery, primary and ESO, and only sixth form is paid (since no Spanish school is subsidised at sixth form level). On top of all this, IB exam registration fees apply each year and are billed separately by each school.

From Diploma to campus: how Spanish universities admit you

Here UNEDasiss enters, the office at the UNED that recognises foreign qualifications for entry into Spanish public universities. With an IB Diploma, three rules are worth memorising.

First: for the Diploma to be recognised as a Spanish baccalaureate, students must score at least 24 points out of 45. Below that, no automatic recognition. Second: UNEDasiss converts the IB score to the Spanish 0 to 10 scale via an official Ministry table. That conversion covers the 10 points of the compulsory phase, the same a Spanish student earns through the EBAU in Alicante or Valencia. Third: to add up to 4 more points (the voluntary phase), students sit the PCE at the UNED, usually in May or June. The result: a maximum possible mark of 14, the same as any Spanish student.

An IB Diploma student does not have to take the EBAU/PAU. The UNEDasiss accreditation is enough. Places in Medicine at Universidad Miguel Hernández in Elche, in Architecture in Valencia or in Telecommunications at the Politécnica are scored for that mark exactly like any other.

Who should go for the IB and who should not

The IB has a reputation for being demanding and the reputation is fair. It is not a programme for a teenager already carrying school-related anxiety. It is one for someone who handles pressure well and enjoys writing: the Extended Essay and TOK weigh heavily, and a student who hates writing will suffer.

For a family arriving in the province with a fourteen-year-old and an international life ahead, the IB offers something the national baccalaureate does not: a qualification recognised in Boston, Toronto and Hong Kong without paperwork loops. For a local family on a contained budget, the CEU Jesús María route is the only state-subsidised path to the Diploma without paying 12,000 euros a year.

Before enrolling, visit the school during a school day, talk to the IB coordinator, and ask for the average score of the last two cohorts. The numbers vary year to year, and an honest school will share them without dodging.

At ESYS VIP we accompany families moving to the Costa Blanca with the schooling decision already made and the housing one still open. If that is your case, explore our properties near the schools you have shortlisted, or get in touch to talk about the neighbourhood that fits your family routine best.