Schools in Madrid 2026: The Guide for English-Speaking Parents

Arriving in Madrid Now, With No School Place: What Happens

The 2026-27 school year in the Comunidad de Madrid started on 7 September 2026 for Infantil and Primaria and on 8 September for ESO and Bachillerato, and classes end on 18 June 2027 (Comunidad de Madrid, official school calendar 2026-2027). If you arrive in the middle of that, you are not waiting for next March. Madrid has a formal route for it: the proceso extraordinario, or escolarización fuera de plazo.

How the extraordinary process works

• It opens after the ordinary round. For 2026-27 it opened on 25 June 2026 for Infantil, Primaria and special education, and on 3 July 2026 for ESO and Bachillerato. Families arriving once term has started go through the same route.
• Start at the school you want. You apply, online or in person, to the school for your child's year. If it has a vacancy, it gives you the place.
• If it is full, the SAE takes over. The school passes your case to the Servicio de Apoyo a la Escolarización (SAE) for its area, which assigns a school with places. You can also apply at the SAE directly. There are five, one per territorial area: Madrid-Capital, Norte, Sur, Este and Oeste, and each school publishes which SAE it belongs to.
• Where the city SAE is: the Madrid-Capital SAE is listed by the city's immigrant information office at Calle Vitruvio 2, 3rd floor, 28006 Madrid (published August 2026). Confirm the address and whether you need an appointment before you go.

How the School System in Madrid Is Built

Madrid uses the national stages:

The real entry point is the first year of the second cycle of Infantil, the year a child turns three. The Comunidad's 2026-27 admission rules say every family that applies from that year is offered a publicly funded place, even though the stage is not compulsory. Most children then stay at the same colegio through Primaria.

There are three kinds of school. Públicos are run by the Comunidad and charge no tuition. Concertados are privately owned, often religious, paid for by public money, and take part in the same admission process with the same points. Privados, including the international schools, set their own fees and admissions and are outside the process.

Is Nursery Free in Madrid? The 0 to 3 Years

Schooling is free in the Comunidad de Madrid's public network of escuelas infantiles and casas de niños, but lunch is not. The Comunidad's instructions on fees from the 2026/2027 course, signed on 1 July 2026, state that schooling in its public network is free, while lunch is charged at 96 EUR a month and is compulsory. Extended hours are optional and cost 10,83 EUR a month per extra half hour, with exemptions and discounts for some families, including large families.

Two things confuse newcomers here:

• There are two public networks with two admission rounds. The Comunidad's network took applications from 11 to 25 March 2026 for 2026-27. The city of Madrid runs its own 77 municipal escuelas infantiles, which took applications from 6 to 17 April 2026 and offered 4.131 places (madrid.es, April 2026). The city says the two networks are independent and you can apply to both. We could not confirm the city network's fees for 2026-27, so ask the city.
• Private nurseries are not free. The Comunidad pays grants towards private nurseries: for 2026-27, 177 EUR a month, or 283 EUR for lower-income families, with an income cap, and applications ran from 19 May to 8 June 2026. The city has its own grant on top.

Does Where You Live in Madrid Decide Your School?

Much less than in most of Europe. The Comunidad de Madrid lets families apply to any school, and the points scale gives the same proximity score for anywhere in the school's municipality. Inside the city of Madrid, living in the school's district is worth just one extra point. Siblings decide far more.

You apply once, with up to six schools in order of preference, online through the Comunidad's Secretaría Virtual or in person at your first-choice school. If a school has more applicants than places, this scale decides. These are the values in the 2026-27 rules (Resolución of 26 November 2025, BOCM 9 December 2025, annex I), and in Madrid all the points add up.

Ties are broken by comparing the criteria in a fixed order (siblings first, then proximity, then income, and so on) and finally by a public draw. For 2026-27 the draw was held on 8 April 2026 and produced the number 0,1283, which sets where in the alphabetical list of tied applicants the allocation starts.

What it means for a newcomer: with no sibling at the school, you start 15 points behind any family that has one, and no address can close the gap. But because everyone in the city scores the same 12 for address, a newcomer family is not locked out of a school by living a few streets too far. The 3-point school criterion is worth reading: each school publishes it on its website before applications open, and it is the one criterion a school sets for itself. If you are applying for two children together, once one gets a place the other gets the sibling points.

Proving your address

You give one address, home or a parent's workplace, and it is used for every school on the form. The Comunidad checks the home address electronically against the padrón. You only have to present a certificado o volante de empadronamiento if you object to that check. A workplace address is proved with a certificate from the employer. The address of a relative outside your household is not accepted. So the empadronamiento is the step to finish before you apply.

When Is School Admission in Madrid?

Applications run for two weeks in March for every stage from Infantil to Bachillerato. The calendar is set each year by a resolution of the Consejería de Educación published in the BOCM, the Comunidad's official gazette. For 2026-27 that resolution was signed on 26 November 2025 and published on 9 December 2025.

The 2027-28 calendar had not been published when we checked on 6 October 2026. If the pattern of the last round holds, expect the resolution around December 2026 and applications in March 2027, but that is our inference, not an announced date. Here is last year's round, the 2026-27 process, now closed, as published by the Comunidad de Madrid:

Families who get no place at any of their choices are not left out: after the lists, the SAE places every child still without a school. In 2026-27 that was done by 12 June 2026.

Are Madrid Public Schools Bilingual?

Many are, but not all. The Comunidad de Madrid has run a Spanish-English bilingual programme since the 2004-05 school year. Its page, updated on 28 September 2026, says it runs in 369 public primary schools and 152 public secondary schools this year, and that subjects taught in English make up at least 30 per cent of the weekly timetable. There are also smaller French and German sections. The Comunidad does not give the share of all public schools this represents on that page, so check each school you are considering.

In secondary, a bilingual institute has two tracks, set out in a 2017 order (Orden 972/2017). In the Programa track, pupils have English every day and at least one other subject in English. In the Sección track, English follows an advanced curriculum and English plus subjects taught in it fill at least a third of the timetable. Pupils coming from a non-bilingual school are tested for level before joining the Sección. Maths and Spanish language are not taught in English.

The programme has supporters and critics among parents and teachers, and we take no side. For an English-speaking child, a bilingual school can make the first year easier; for learning Spanish, the rest of the day is still in Spanish. Madrid has no regional co-official language, so in a Spanish-English school everything outside the English share is taught in Spanish.

Arriving with no Spanish

The 2026-27 rules provide that pupils who do not know Spanish, or have serious gaps, and who join from the third year of Primaria or in ESO, can be offered a temporary place in an aula de enlace, a welcome class focused on Spanish. The Comunidad's area directorate describes a maximum stay of nine months. Younger children join a regular class. Ask the school or the SAE about it when you apply. If you want your own Spanish to keep pace with your children's, intercambios and classes are covered in our moving to Madrid guide.

Is a Concertado School Free in Madrid?

Legally the teaching is free, but in practice most Madrid concertados ask for a monthly fee. Article 88 of Spain's education law (LOE) says public and concertado schools may not charge families for teaching that is free, may not require contributions to foundations or associations, and may not make paid services compulsory. Lunch and extracurricular activities must be voluntary.

The most-cited data comes from CICAE, the association of private schools, which sends mystery shoppers to concertados each year. Its tenth study, published on 1 October 2025 for the 2025-26 school year, sampled 101 of Madrid's 455 concertados: every school visited asked for a fee, the average was 135,90 EUR a month, the highest base fee was 277 EUR, and 66 per cent asked for more than 1.500 EUR a year. CICAE competes with concertados for families, so read the numbers as one side's evidence and ask each school for its fees in writing. For the free stages, a fee is legally a request, not a bill.

How Much Do International Schools in Madrid Cost?

From about 6.700 EUR to over 25.000 EUR a year in tuition, before entry fees. The French school sits at the lower end, the American school at the top, and the British schools in between, usually billed per term. Several sit outside the city, north of Madrid. Every figure below is the school's own, for the year it attaches to it. We list schools that publish fees, in no order of preference; leaving a school out says nothing about its quality.

Budget for the extras, which the same pages publish. The Lycée charges about 1.600 to 1.800 EUR on first registration. Runnymede charges 3.500 EUR on enrolment. King's College Soto de Viñuelas charges 1.800 EUR matriculation plus compulsory lunch of 676 EUR a term. International College Spain charges a 1.000 EUR application fee, a 1.500 EUR deposit and 3.000 EUR enrolment from Grade 1. The American School of Madrid charges a 2.000 EUR registration fee, an 8.100 EUR capital fee from EC5 and 950 EUR matriculation a year.

We could not verify current fees for the British Council School, Deutsche Schule Madrid and several others, so we are not quoting any. Ask them directly, and check whether the figure includes lunch, transport and materials.

Do We Need to Homologate a Foreign School Record?

Not to start school up to the fourth year of ESO. The Ministerio de Educación states that no convalidation is needed to join the Spanish system up to 4 ESO; children are placed in the year that fits their age and schooling. Homologation matters for Bachillerato and the qualifications after it, and Spanish rules let a school admit a pupil conditionally while the homologation is being processed.

The official information and procedure are on the Ministerio de Educación's pages: joining the Spanish education system and homologation of non-university qualifications. Documents and fees depend on the country and level, so we only point you there.

Sources We Used

• Comunidad de Madrid, admission to Infantil, Primaria, ESO and Bachillerato, course 2026-2027 (checked 6 October 2026).
• Resolución de 26 de noviembre de 2025, Viceconsejería de Política y Organización Educativa, BOCM 293, 9 December 2025: calendar, points (annex I), address proof and the extraordinary process.
• Comunidad de Madrid, result of the 2026 tie-break draw.
• Comunidad de Madrid, 0 to 3 admission, 2026-2027, and fee instructions from 2026/2027.
• Comunidad de Madrid, bilingual education (updated 28 September 2026), and Orden 972/2017.
• Comunidad de Madrid, school calendar 2026-2027.
• Comunidad de Madrid, nursery grants 2026-2027; Ayuntamiento de Madrid, municipal escuelas infantiles admission 2026-2027 (madrid.es).
• Ley Orgánica 2/2006 de Educación, article 88, BOE consolidated text.
• CICAE, tenth study of concertado fees, 1 October 2025.
• School fee pages: Lycée Français de Madrid, Runnymede College, King's College Soto de Viñuelas and International College Spain (their published 2026-27 fee PDFs), American School of Madrid.

Schools in Madrid: FAQ

We have just arrived in Madrid and the admission deadline has passed. What do we do?

Apply through the extraordinary process, which opens after the ordinary round (for 2026-27, on 25 June 2026 for Infantil and Primaria and on 3 July 2026 for ESO and Bachillerato). You apply at the school you want; if it has a vacancy it gives you the place, and if not it passes your case to the Servicio de Apoyo a la Escolarización (SAE) for your area, which assigns a school. You can also apply directly at the SAE.

Does living near a school in Madrid help us get in?

Only a little inside the city. Under the 2026-27 points scale, a home or workplace in the same municipality as the school scores 12 points wherever it is, and in the city of Madrid a home in the same district as the school adds 1 more point. A family living in another municipality of the Comunidad de Madrid scores 8. Siblings at the school score 15, or 30 for two or more, so siblings outweigh address.

When is school admission in Madrid?

In March. For 2026-27, applications for Infantil, Primaria, ESO and Bachillerato at publicly funded schools ran from 11 to 25 March 2026, lists of admitted pupils came out on 27 May and enrolment ran in June. The rules for 2026-27 were published in the BOCM on 9 December 2025. The 2027-28 dates had not been published when this guide was written.

Are Madrid public schools bilingual?

Many are. The Comunidad de Madrid's Spanish-English bilingual programme ran in 369 public primary schools and 152 public secondary schools in the current school year, according to the Comunidad's page updated on 28 September 2026. In those schools, subjects taught in English make up at least 30 per cent of the weekly timetable. The programme started in 2004-05. Not every school is bilingual, so check each one.

What if my child does not speak Spanish?

Pupils who join from the third year of Primaria or in ESO without Spanish can be offered a temporary place in an aula de enlace, a welcome class that focuses on Spanish before the child moves fully into a regular class. Younger children join a regular class. Ask the school or the SAE when you apply.

Is nursery (0 to 3) free in Madrid?

Schooling is free in the Comunidad de Madrid's public network of escuelas infantiles and casas de niños from 2026-27, but families pay for lunch, set at 96 EUR a month and compulsory, and for any extended hours. The city of Madrid runs its own separate network of municipal escuelas infantiles with its own admission round. Private nurseries are not free, though the Comunidad pays grants towards them. School from age 3 is free at public schools.

Is a concertado school free?

By law the teaching is free. Spain's education law forbids public and concertado schools from charging for free teaching or making contributions compulsory. In practice most concertados ask for a monthly fee. CICAE, the private schools association, reported an average of 135,90 EUR a month across the 101 Madrid concertados in its 2025-26 mystery-shopper sample.

How much do international schools in Madrid cost?

Roughly from 6.700 EUR a year to over 25.000 EUR a year, before entry fees. The Lycée Français de Madrid publishes 6.690 to 8.306 EUR a year for 2026-2027, while the American School of Madrid lists 12.173 to 25.072 EUR a year. British schools usually bill per term; Runnymede College lists 3.100 to 7.900 EUR a term for 2026-2027. Most charge enrolment or capital fees of several thousand euros on top.

Do we need to homologate our child's foreign school record?

Not to start school up to the fourth year of ESO. The Ministerio de Educación states that no convalidation is needed to join the Spanish system up to 4 ESO. It matters for Bachillerato and later qualifications, and a school can admit a pupil conditionally while a homologation is being processed.