60 years of Kensington School

Edward Paul Giles, a graduate of Cambridge University founded Kensington School in 1966. His aim was to provide a British education for the international community in Barcelona. With few students, in modest surroundings and spurred on by the ambition to deliver the best British education in Barcelona; it proved to be a success.

The school opened a primary department in 1968, and grew gradually over the years to its present size of approximately 260 pupils. The school moved location three times in its early years — from Calle Reina Victoria to Cardenal Vives i Tutó, and then in 1972 to Carretera de Esplugues/Carrer dels Cavallers which remained the school’s home until the move to purpose-built premises in 1988.

That new building on Carrer dels Cavallers was formally opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II during her only ever state visit to Spain, in October of that year — a remarkable moment in the school’s history.

From the outset, Kensington was not a selective school, a policy that continues unchanged sixty years later. It has always aimed to provide a sound education for all pupils, regardless of background, nationality, or level of achievement or ability.

What began as a small school with a handful of secondary pupils is today home to a vibrant, international community representing over 50 nationalities, offering a full British education from Nursery through to Sixth Form –  this year’s GCSE and A Level results place Kensington well ahead of the UK national average, the average UK independent schools and at the forefront of British schools in Spain – a genuinely strong outcome for a school that has never selected its intake. We are enormously proud of what our students and staff have achieved over the years.

Kensington’s story was never just about where we started. It’s about every generation of students, families and staff who have carried that ambition forward since. Here’s to the next 60 years!