International Schools in Andalusia: Fees, Curricula and Admission

Málaga and the Costa del Sol alone hold 44 international schools, and 24 of them teach a British curriculum. Published annual fees run from 4,681 euros to 28,255 euros. The Andalusian March enrolment window does not apply to any of them.

International schools in Andalusia: where they are and what they teach

If you move to Andalusia from the UK, Ireland or North America, the school question has more answers here than almost anywhere else in Spain. The International Schools Database counts 44 international schools in Málaga and on the Costa del Sol. Of those, 24 follow a British curriculum, 8 the International Baccalaureate, 5 call themselves international, 4 teach an American programme and 9 run the Spanish curriculum. NABSS, the National Association of British Schools in Spain, lists 81 member schools nationwide. Most of them sit on the coast.

The gap to the Spanish state system is wider than most people expect, and it is not mainly about money. How the public side works is in the guide to the Spanish school system. This article is about the private, English-teaching side, and above all about what it costs.

Published fees, Sotogrande International School and Aloha College Marbella

checked on 19.09.2026, sources: Sotogrande International School, Fee Schedule 2026-27 and Aloha College Marbella, Primary School Fees

What the published fee schedules actually say

Sotogrande International School publishes its whole schedule, which makes it the cleanest anchor in the province. For 2026/27 it charges 10,485 euros for PYP1 to PYP2, 15,650 euros for PYP3 to PYP6, 20,575 euros for MYP1 to MYP3 and 23,100 euros for MYP4 to MYP5. The two Diploma years cost 28,255 euros, the highest published fee in the province. Lunches are included. Devices, uniform and transport are not.

On top of the annual rate sits a one-off registration fee: 3,000 euros for the primary stages, 4,000 euros for the secondary ones. A British school bills differently. Aloha College in Marbella charges by term, and Year 3 came to 9,755 euros across the three terms of 2025/26. At the other end of the range, the lowest published annual fee in the province is 4,681 euros.

Budget the start separately from the running rate. The registration fee falls due before the first school day, and several schools add a non-refundable reservation on top of it. The order matters. Only then does the termly rate begin. Miss it and you put the largest single item of the year in the wrong month. What the rest of the move costs is in cost of living in Andalusia.

• Transport: Aloha charges between 480 and 760 euros a term, depending on the zone.
• Lunch: 440 to 650 euros a term at Aloha, included in the fee at Sotogrande.
• Uniform, devices and school trips are billed separately at almost every school.

Admission and deadlines: the March misunderstanding

Andalusia runs school enrolment through a central procedure. According to the Consejería de Educación, the window for the 2026/27 school year is open from 1 to 31 March. That single sentence sends international families in circles every spring, because it covers state and state-funded schools only. Private international schools sit outside the procedure altogether.

How admission to an international school works, step by step

How the application works

You apply to the school, not to an authority. That is the good news. The bad news: free places decide, not a points system, and popular year groups keep waiting lists. Between Marbella and Estepona that is the normal state of affairs, not the exception.

1. Contact the school directly and name the year group you want, independently of the March window.
2. Check which curriculum the school follows. British, IB and American routes end in different qualifications.
3. Submit reports and identity documents, usually together with the padrón certificate from your empadronamiento.
4. Sit the entrance assessment or interview, which most schools run for a mid-year entry.
5. Sign the contract and pay the registration fee; the termly rate starts after that.

Reality check: which school fits which family

The curriculum matters more than the campus. A British school takes your child to IGCSEs and A-Levels, an IB school to the Diploma, an American school to a high school diploma. Three routes, three different doors. Pick the door first, not the swimming pool in the prospectus.

Who this does not concern: families staying two or three years whose children are headed into the Spanish system anyway. They pay for a transition they never use. The same goes for anyone living away from the coastal strip. NABSS lists British schools in Córdoba, Granada, Jerez, Seville and Almería, and that spread exists precisely because the Costa del Sol is not the whole region. If the school you like is 90 minutes away, the problem is not the fee. It is the drive. Where the two biggest cities stand on that is in moving to Málaga.

There are also two accredited German Schools Abroad in the region, in Málaga and in Seville. They teach in German and lead to German qualifications, which makes them the right answer for a German-speaking family and the wrong one for everybody else. The language of instruction decides everything that follows it.

It pays off when the qualification has to travel. A child who may go back to the UK or apply to universities there keeps a straight line through a British or an IB school. Siblings change the arithmetic as well: Aloha drops its application fee to 2,250 euros for a second child and 1,800 euros for a third. What the move with children demands beyond the school itself is in moving to Spain with children.

One thing no fee schedule covers. Lessons run in English, and the street outside the gate runs in Spanish. A child arriving mid-year is expected to manage both at once. The playground decides that, not the classroom.

Frequently asked questions

If you want to weigh school fees against rent, electricity and insurance, open the budget calculator and enter the fee as a fixed item. It is the largest single item next to rent, and the only one you cannot cut at short notice.

Verdict

Range, not a shortlist. 44 schools in Málaga and on the Costa del Sol, published annual fees between 4,681 and 28,255 euros, and three qualification routes that end in three different places. Sotogrande is the school that publishes everything, which is why its 15,650 euros for PYP3 to PYP6 is the figure worth anchoring on while you compare.

The costliest mistake is not a fee, it is a date. The window from 1 to 31 March belongs to the Junta and covers state and state-funded schools. International schools take applications directly, all year round, and a free place settles it. Waiting for spring means waiting for a procedure that was never about you.