Cities / Barcelona / Pérez Iborra School
Pérez Iborra School
A family-run private school in central Barcelona, on Consell de Cent since 1939, trilingual through to a dual American Baccalaureate. Local rather than international in feel, and priced accordingly.
In brief
A family-run private school in central Barcelona, on Consell de Cent since 1939, trilingual through to a dual American Baccalaureate. Local rather than international in feel, and priced accordingly.
Catalan, Spanish, and English are the working languages. The school covers Kindergarten through to high school on a city-centre site, and the dual baccalaureate route is the differentiator most families cite for staying through sixth form.
Family communication is one of the school's stronger threads, with parents describing a clear back-and-forth and teachers who know the children well over many years. Some parents push back on the heavy exam framing and on how the school handles students who learn differently, which is consistent rather than isolated feedback.
Fees are moderate compared with the British and Inspired-network schools, reflecting a private rather than international positioning. Families wanting a large expat peer group or an IB pathway are not the natural fit; families wanting a settled, Catalan-rooted school with a route to American university entrance are.
Reviews
A small family-run private school in the Eixample, founded in 1939 by Montserrat Pérez Iborra and now run by her grandson Jordi Casas. Secular, trilingual in Catalan, Spanish and English, with around 400 pupils from infants through Batxillerat and an optional US High School Diploma track. The close-knit, low-turnover feel is the recurring positive; the recurring grumbles are the price of the canteen and extracurriculars on top of fees.
Positives
- Family-run continuity. Same family at the helm since 1939, with Jordi Casas (grandson of the founder) directing for around two decades. The continuity shows in the close relationship between staff and families.
- Small-school feel. Roughly 400 pupils across all stages, with teachers who know each child by name. Parents talk about direct access to class teachers by phone or email rather than going through layers.
- Trilingual, secular setup in central Barcelona. Catalan, Spanish and English used as vehicular languages, secular and co-ed, with a dual Batxillerat option that adds the US High School Diploma. The Consell de Cent location is walkable from much of the Eixample.
Considerations
- Early years strongest. The warmth of infantil and lower primary draws the most positive comment. Some parents feel the personal touch and academic momentum dip as children move up through primary.
- Cost of the add-ons. Tuition itself sits in the EUR 300 to 700 a month band, but parents repeatedly flag that the canteen and extracurriculars run noticeably higher than at comparable schools, and uniform changes get mentioned as another line of spend.
- Patchy teaching consistency in primary. Comments about less engaged or less warm teachers from primary upwards come up alongside the positive ones. Not universal, but consistent enough to surface.
Leadership