International school for kids in Alicante: 4 curricula compared

It is a Tuesday morning in September. Your child carries the schoolbag on one shoulder and looks at the two buildings. To the left, a courtyard of palm trees and navy-blue uniforms; to the right, a doorway with the European flag and another with the French. You have to pick one. And the choice is not about the building. It is about the curriculum.

Across the province of Alicante there are at least four foreign education systems with schools of their own. Each one takes a child to a different university, through a different process, with different annual fees and a different set of classmates. The question is not which is best. It is which one fits your family.

Four curricula, four paths

The international schools of the Costa Blanca split into four academic traditions. The British curriculum dominates, with more than a dozen centres that follow the English and Welsh National Curriculum up to IGCSE and A Level. The International Baccalaureate (IB) appears as a final-year option in several of those same schools and in a few mixed centres. The French system has a single home in the province, the Lycée Français International d'Alicante in El Campello. And the European model, peculiar and self-contained, lives at the European School of Alicante.

They are not interchangeable. A child who enters the British system at three will leave at eighteen with a profile very different from a classmate raised at the European School, even if they live in the same urbanisation. The language of instruction is only the tip of the iceberg.

The British curriculum: the widest offer

If you move to Alicante with a Year 3 child and want continuity with the school back in the UK, you have several options. King's College The British School of Alicante, Newton College in La Vila Joiosa, Laude El Altet next to the airport, ELIS Villamartín in Orihuela Costa, Elian's British School of La Nucía and Lady Elizabeth School in the Marina Alta cover the map from north to south.

All of them follow the English national curriculum up to IGCSE at sixteen, and most offer A Levels or the IB Diploma as the final route. Teaching is entirely in English from the early years, with Spanish as a second language and, from Year 7 onwards, a compulsory third language at some centres (French or German at ELIS Villamartín, for instance).

The International Baccalaureate: when you want a universal exit

Few schools offer the IB Diploma as the only route. Most place it as an alternative to A Levels in the last two years. It is the most demanding curriculum (six subjects, a 4,000-word extended essay, a Theory of Knowledge programme) and the one that opens the most doors: accepted at universities in more than 90 countries and, with its grade recognised against the Spanish Bachillerato, valid for entry into any Spanish public university.

The European School of Alicante also delivers the Baccalauréat Européen, a close cousin of the IB, equally recognised within the Spanish system through its founding treaty.

The French option: half a century of Lycée in El Campello

The Lycée Français International d'Alicante Pierre Deschamps sits at Camino de Marco 21, a kilometre from El Campello beach, and has been there for more than fifty years. It follows the programme of the Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Étranger (AEFE) from maternelle (age 3) to terminale (age 18). The French baccalauréat earned there has the same status as one from a lycée in Lyon or Bordeaux and opens, via the UNEDasiss PCE, the door to Spanish universities.

It is the obvious choice for French-speaking families who want to preserve the language and the system, but Spanish and British parents also pick it for its demanding pedagogy and its alumni network.

The European School of Alicante: four sections under one roof

On Avenida Locutor Vicente Hipólito, in Playa de San Juan, the European School of Alicante sits in a campus historically tied to the staff of EUIPO, the European Union Intellectual Property Office based in the city. Today it also admits outside children when places are available.

It has four language sections (Spanish, English, French and German) sharing campus, playground and dining hall. Your child takes most lessons in their mother tongue, but physical education, art, music and at least one academic subject from secondary on are taught in a second and then a third language. At eighteen they graduate with the European Baccalaureate, valid for university entry anywhere in the EU without further exams.

What each model costs

Annual fees span a wide bracket and should always be checked against the school's current admissions page. For the 2025-2026 academic year, a 2-year-old child at King's College Alicante starts from €7,650 a year including one-off enrolment fees. Lady Elizabeth School starts close to €9,330 in the same age band. British schools tend to rise to €13,000 or €14,000 in the final years.

The Lycée Français is typically much more affordable thanks to subsidies from the Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Étranger, and the European School applies reduced fees for children of EU-institution staff, with full fees for everyone else.

Add books, school bus (€1,500 to €2,500 a year at schools further from the coast), canteen and after-school activities. A full British nursery enrolment can easily land near €11,000 a year all-in.

The question few parents ask: what about university?

At seventeen, that curriculum decision becomes a very specific piece of paperwork. The International Baccalaureate and the European Baccalaureate are recognised directly against the Spanish Bachillerato by treaty. The British A Level and the French bac go through UNEDasiss accreditation and, depending on the autonomous community where your child wants to study, through the UNED's Pruebas de Competencias Específicas (PCE).

In the Valencian Community four PCE subjects are required to raise the entry score; in Andalusia or Catalonia, up to six. The Tasa 079 fee to recognise a foreign baccalaureate is €47.82. Resolutions usually arrive between two and eight months. If you are coming from outside the EU, remember to apostille all academic documents before submitting them.

How to decide: four questions for your family

Before visiting any centre, answer honestly. In which language do we want our child to dream? Where do we picture their university, in Spain, the UK, France or anywhere? How much annual budget can the family sustain without giving up other things? How far from home each day are we willing to place the school?

The answers filter on their own. A German-Spanish family in Playa de San Juan picturing university in Munich has the European School ten minutes away. An English family in Jávea looking at Oxford will point to Lady Elizabeth or Xabia International College. A French family in El Campello aiming for Madrid has the Lycée a stone's throw away and the PCE path afterwards.

Always visit at least three schools, go to an Open Day and ask to speak with families who already have children inside. The brochure sells; the Open Day cafeteria tells the truth.

If you are moving to the Costa Blanca and choosing the area with school in mind, we can help you explore our properties near each centre. For specific questions, contact us.