Established in 1969 by Sir Roger Fry, King’s Group chairman, the first King’s College (KC) school was initially situated in a humble chalet in Madrid’s Chamartín business district.Despite opening with just 70 students, the King’s Group school network has expanded substantially over the last 50 years and is now one of the most prestigious educational institutions internationally.King’s Group operates ten schools in the UK, Spain (Madrid, Alicante, Murcia and Elche), Germany (Frankfurt), Latvia (Riga) and Panama (Panama City), educating more than 8,000 students from 18 months to 18 years old.All schools offer the National Curriculum of England and Wales and, from September 2020, there are plans to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) alongside A Level subjects at KC the British School in Madrid, Soto de Viñuelas. Once the plans are approved, it will be the only school in Madrid offering both the IB and A Level programmes in English, taught by British-trained teachers.

STEM achievements

King’s Group’s success in STEM has been rubber-stamped by Google, which has awarded KC the British School in Alicante, with the distinction of being the first British school to be a Google School of Reference in Spain, applauding its use of Google’s educational programme and how it has been woven seamlessly into the fabric of the classroom. “This recognition summarises the great work of our students, teachers and managers who have been devoted to technological innovation in the classroom from the very beginning,” says Carlos Lázaro, King’s Group’s head of digital learning.

World Challenge

In 2019, a group of 16 KC students between the ages of 14 and 17 embarked on a World Challenge expedition to Malaysia where they were effectively in charge of their own destinies for three weeks. “The students very much lead the expedition,” says Ian Robertson, head of the art department at KC Madrid, who introduced the school to the adventures in 2015. “The idea is to develop independence, confidence and leadership skills. They also need to work as a team and consider others as well as what they want to get out of it.”

Mental health

Student wellbeing and mental health is a key priority for King’s Group schools. As the first Youth Mental Health First Aid course trainer in Spain, June Donnan, deputy headteacher of KC the British School in Madrid, La Moraleja, introduced the Pupil Voice wellbeing programme, which offers students a voice via Wellbeing Ambassadors. One of the target areas was stress and students were taught to use ‘stress buckets’ with taps to release stress if they become blocked. “We talk about coping strategies and strategies that are less helpful and we try to get the students to recognise issues and develop their own ways of coping,” she says.

Expansion and future plans

The King’s Group has continued to expand and improve its range of schools. In 2018, it opened KC the British School in Frankfurt, Germany, which takes children from ages two through to ten, but will eventually go right through to age 18 as the school grows.While 2019 saw King’s Group announce plans to substantially expand its facilities in Panama, with the construction of a modern educational campus in the Clayton area. The group will invest $18 million in the project, which should be completed by 2021 and will cater for up to 900 students aged three to 18.

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