Madrid · time the ring
Madrid is not one British campus. Two British doors on the north side, an American campus in Pozuelo, and a French AEFE lycée on two sites. Ask which paper, then time the M-40.
Madrid is not “the international school.” It is a Spanish capital with four official doors posting families name in the first week, and a much older set of colegios that stay families name in the second.
The portraits we have are Runnymede College in La Moraleja, King’s College Soto in Soto de Viñuelas, the American School of Madrid in Pozuelo, and Lycée Français de Madrid on two sites. Use them for the euros that are actually printed. King’s newest complete public tables we could read as text were 2024–25 — ask for this year. ASM’s tuition page needs its year label confirmed. The lycée prints 2026–27 first-inscription euros; the quarterly tuition decisions we could open are still 2025–26. This note is the city between them. The Spain country page is the wider map — Barcelona’s three climates, and official Spanish doors we name without ranking.
Runnymede sits at Calle Salvia 30 in La Moraleja, Alcobendas. The school calls itself Madrid’s oldest British international. Day only. British years, not an American Grade 12. If someone says “the old British school on the north side,” this is often the gate they mean. The live fee table on the official site, when we last opened it, was 2026–27. Confirm it.
King’s College Soto sits at Paseo de los Andes 35 in Soto de Viñuelas, Tres Cantos. This is the Soto campus, not a smaller city satellite. Day and boarding. Inspired group. English in the classroom. A boarding corridor is not Runnymede’s day week. Time Tres Cantos, not the Castellana.
ASM sits at Calle América 3 in Pozuelo de Alarcón. A non-profit American day campus. Family and corporate tuition columns, plus a capital fee. It is not Soto and not La Moraleja. The west side of the city is a different January.
LFM sits on two sites — Plaza del Liceo in Conde de Orgaz, and Camino Ancho in La Moraleja. AEFE. Bac. Enrol on one gate only. Add the first-inscription fee. Time Orgaz. It is not Runnymede’s street, even when the postcode is close.
They share a ring road and almost no Tuesday. Two British doors north. One American campus west. One French pair of gates. Walk at least two, then a Spanish courtyard.
If you might stay, an English-medium diploma is not automatically the kindest paper. A colegio concertado, a Jesuit house, a neighbourhood instituto with Selectividad — those are official mornings. Families looking at Runnymede often also walk a Spanish door in the same week, because the next five years may still be Spanish.
The language of the yard is the test that matters more than the flags. A child can thrive in English at 9 a.m. and still be lonely at 11 if the park is speaking Spanish — or the other way around.
Barcelona is not a suburb of Madrid. American School of Barcelona, Oak House, and BFIS are a different city, a different patio language. Do not flatten Spain into the M-40.
If you will leave, ask how universities outside Spain read the diploma you are buying — British years, IB, or an American diploma. If you will stay, ask how universities here read the English-medium paper, and whether extra Spanish is required.
Housing and the gate have become the same conversation. That is not a reason to tour seven campuses. Name the paper, the language after lunch, and the ring you can actually live with.
Ask which side of the city this child will actually sleep on. Ask how much Spanish a new eleven-year-old meets before Christmas. Ask whether boarding at Soto is the product you mean, or only a bed for a mid-week. Ask ASM which academic year the public table is for.
Time La Moraleja, Soto, Pozuelo and Orgaz on an ordinary Tuesday, not only in June light. The bocadillo is the honest tour.
The city hub is the short map. The four portraits are the long ones. American schools in Europe is the climate ASM belongs to, if that is the leaving certificate you mean.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
A non-profit American day campus in Pozuelo, not Soto and not La Moraleja. The school prints two tuition columns — family and corporate — plus a capital fee. Confirm the academic year on that page before you budget.
Soto de Viñuelas, Tres CantosThis is the Soto campus, not a smaller city satellite. It is day and boarding, English in the classroom, and part of the Inspired group. The newest complete fee tables we could read as text are for 2024–25. Ask for this year’s numbers before you budget.
MadridAn AEFE lycée on two Madrid-area sites, not a British house in Soto and not an American campus in Pozuelo. The 2026–27 page prints first-inscription euros. The public quarterly tuition decisions we could open are still labelled 2025–26.
La Moraleja, AlcobendasThis is Runnymede in La Moraleja, not King’s College Soto and not the American School of Barcelona. The school calls itself Madrid’s oldest British international school. It is a day school. The live fee table on the official site is for 2026–27.
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minYou do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minTuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minSkip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.