Private secondary education in Barcelona

As a Cambridge International School, we integrate the local curriculum with Cambridge International’s International Lower Secondary & International Upper Secondary in subjects such as English and Science. Students take the Cambridge 2nd Secondary Checkpoint and 4th Secondary IGSCE Examinations, studying up to 60% of subjects in English with multilingual and internationally experienced teachers.

• Global English*
• Biology (IGCSE)
• Physics & Chemistry
• History & Geography
• Design & Technology
• Programming & robotics
• Physical Education
• Music
• SpeakArt

From 1st year of ESO, we offer French as an optional subject and students can take the DEFL certification at the end of the stage.

Highlands School Barcelona students enjoy multiple enrichment opportunities inside and outside the school to broaden their worldview.

• Trips abroad for cultural and curricular enrichment: France, Lisbon, Italy and the United Kingdom.
• Visiting lecturers
• Debating competitions

We also offer our students international experiences at prestigious schools in the United States, Ireland and Switzerland.

At our school in Barcelona we develop intelligent, experiential learning geared to the real world, encouraging independence, responsibility and inclusion through:

• Interdisciplinary projects
• Problem-based learning (PBL)
• Cooperative work

We give pupils the resources they need to study effectively. From 1º de ESO (age 12–13) they work on:

• Planning and organising their study
• Concentration and what helps it
• Understanding the content they are studying
• The tools and techniques used to process and consolidate what they learn

Scientific and mathematical skills are an important part of our curriculum, so we encourage pupils’ curiosity to discover, learn and understand through projects, laboratory work, science fairs and external competitions.

We include cultural and artistic content through interdisciplinary projects that let pupils express themselves and develop their creativity.

We want people who will shape our society and our culture, people who can lead. That is why it is essential to engage with our history, culture and tradition. To understand the future, we need to know who we are.

During this stage, pupils go on cultural trips to different European cities.

Debate and public speaking build our pupils’ confidence, critical thinking and leadership skills, giving them a solid foundation from which to defend their ideas and convictions clearly.

Our pupils refine their public speaking technique in English (primarily), Spanish and Catalan, taking part in prestigious national and international competitions such as the Lego League, the Writing Contest and the UPC Engineering Competition.

We help our pupils discover their vocation through a programme that invites them to recognise their own gifts and the opportunities and needs around them, and we give them the tools to plan their future.

From the start of Secondary we offer subjects that introduce pupils to the different academic disciplines, moving on in 3º de ESO (age 14–15) to a more specific programme that helps each pupil identify their own preferences for personal development.

Through physical activity and competition, our pupils develop essential virtues such as teamwork and perseverance. We offer programmes that make it easier to specialise in a sport and to take part in public and private competitions.

Thanks to our extensive facilities, the school offers the following sports within its curriculum:

• Football
• Basketball
• Volleyball
• Padel
• Table tennis
• Badminton
• Parkour
• Cycling trips
• Running
• Baseball

We are a school others look to, and so we bring technology into pupils’ academic education gradually, progressively and in a way suited to their age. We do so because it adds something necessary to how they engage intellectually with the world, and because it helps them think critically and creatively, communicate fluently and expressively, face life with maturity and play a responsible part in society.

Our investment in technology and the digital skills of the teaching staff at Highlands School Barcelona allow us to guarantee blended learning, combining face-to-face teaching with online learning whenever circumstances require it.

Through formative discipline, our teachers work so that children discover day by day the values behind the rules, so that they act out of conviction and not because a set of regulations has simply been imposed on them. In this way pupils come to understand the meaning and importance of respecting and keeping the rules, and how this builds a good school community.