1971
El Viso – Our first Primary School
Founded by Anne Mazón in 1971 as the International Primary School, the school initially had just 38 students and was based in the El Viso neighbourhood in Madrid. It was Mrs Mazón’s philosophy and vision which helped shape and guide the school and which still underpins everything we believe in today.
Mrs Mazón, along with a small number of other pioneers of British education in Spain at the time, recognised that there was a need to create a body to help regulate the British schools. They wanted to ensure that the highest level of British education was taught to students and so, along with a handful of British schools, founded the National Association of British Schools in Spain (NABSS) in 1978.
Mrs Mazon passed away in 2014 leaving us her legacy of our core values; respect, loyalty and friendship. In everything we do, we aim to continue the sense of family that she instilled throughout ISM.
1986
Expansion and relocation of the Primary school
Due to rapid growth, the school moved to larger, custom built premises in Charmartín in 1986. Today this building houses the Primary department. In 1996, following demand from parents and the introduction of ESO in Spanish schools, IPS expanded into the Secondary sector and became known as the International School of Madrid. Mr Michael Wickham was employed as the Head of Secondary to oversee the development, beginning with 45 pupils in Years 7 to 10. The first Cambridge IGCSEs were taken in 1998 and the first A-levels in 1999.
2000
New Secondary building opens
The school continued to expand and so in 2000 a purpose built Secondary building was opened. Just a short walk from Primary, Secondary is now home to 350 students and contains science laboratories, a computer suite, library, art room, sports hall and large outdoor area, in addition to the 13 classrooms.
2016
Our new Infant Building
With the needs of our parents evolving, and the understanding that development begins at a young age, in 2016 we met the demand of parents looking for high quality early years education and created our pre-school department in our new, specially designed Infant building, right next door to Primary.
2019
A brand new building for Key Stage 3
Opened in September 2019, our latest venture is an impressive new state of the art building for pupils in Years 7 to 9. In addition to the nine new classrooms, there’s a computer suite, art room, science laboratory, library and sports and dining facilities. Located in the same street as and just a few seconds away from Primary, it’s been a fantastic addition!
