Our history & philosophy
Europa International School was founded in 1986 by a group of parents whose careers were in the areas of higher education, scientific research, business and primary or secondary education. They were all driven by the common goal of providing their children and students with the best educational resources and methodologies available at an international level.
Their conception of education is enshrined in Europa International School's mission, and it produced the international outlook on education that defines us, as well as the vision of basing our formative program on the values of Western civilization.
A holistic education: integrity and integration
Our aim as a school is to educate in integrity and with the goal of integration. This means:
- Educating the student at every level and in multiple aspects.
- Teaching a general, foundational, yet profound curriculum by avoiding and postponing (as much as possible) categories like 'Science' or 'Humanities'.
- Integrating. That is, bringing real life to the classroom and going from the classroom to real life. We learn when we acquire a new perspective from experience, and when acting on that perspective becomes second nature and spontaneous.
- Integrating all vital resources into one enterprise, namely, educating each student individually. Schools and families are two separate and independent formative contexts, but they are necessarily complementary. A child's education must be the fruit of a joint effort and an interactive process. Therefore, a variety of means are offered in order to enable communication and cooperation between families and the school.
Learning in, and for, freedom
Freedom as our guide
Freedom is the result of knowing how and what to choose. We must therefore educate our students for freedom, so they may be able to make the right choices in the uncertain future they will navigate through.
Freedom as our method
EIS teachers are invited, from day one, to implement this concept of commitment and freedom by being given the chance to freely deploy in their classrooms whatever projects they bring with them. They are at liberty to exercise their own pedagogy.
Freedom as a condition for the school's existence
The reciprocal commitment of parents, who choose a school for their children that matches their ideal, method and style of education, and of EIS, where we choose the kind of families with whom we can share our educational mission and project; both of these factors are essential to the school's entity and existence.
Our ethos
The mission of any educational institution is made up of a number of ideas, articulated in such a way that will bring about a set of guiding values. Our school's mission statement (or "Ideario"; see Spanish text below) conveys a formative offer to society and is articulated in clear terms, allowing any potential family to embrace it fully as the best option for their children or, alternatively, to reject it after a judicious reading of the same. In either case, there must be an absolute conviction, given the transcendence of the decision.
Far from any strict "rules," with the corresponding list of forbidden things and punishments, our mission statement is articulated in positive terms. It is all about encouraging and fostering virtues, rather than making a catalogue of prohibitions. Virtue consists in choosing to do what is ethically excellent out of the options that one has, until the point is reached where doing the right thing has become a spontaneous habit. Also, it consists in attaining a consciousness about oneself and about others, about the need for generosity and justice. All this comes as the result of knowing you are privileged to receive the kind of education that allows you to remain true to what is essential and to yourself.
ESSENTIAE FIDELITAS LIBERTATIS FONS (“faithfulness to one’s essence is the source of freedom”). This is our school’s motto; it is a way of life. Essence is not what one is but the aspiration to becoming the best one can get to be; that is our objective. This is excellence. Our main purpose is to search for it in the ethical, aesthetic, and cultural values of Western civilization and its intellectual heritage.
Ultimately, cooperation, the full development of each of our students’ potential, the upward trajectory based on all those values and on highly demanding academic standards, make our school a differentiated entity inside the academic field, in a European and Western scope. Our mission is to forge people who are able to develop all of their potential to its full extent, so that they become precisely what our guiding principle indicates: the best that they can get to be.
Why are we an ‘international school’?
Global outlook
When it comes to our children's education, 'essential' means the best we can provide within our reach. The term 'international' per se is not meant to convey anything regarding the quality of our education. We are an international school because we are European and we want to arouse in our students a love for the heritage of the Western world. Above all, an international school is one where one can learn that the best and worst things of humanity, the 'foreignness' or familiarity of our neighbours, are not distributed according to geographical borders. An international school is also one where students learn to be citizens of the world. All this necessarily implies being able to communicate fluently in several languages. Teachers at Europa International School believe it is essential to aspire to improve our educational level in terms of international frameworks of reference, while also encouraging a joyful childhood and early youth in our students. Therefore, we are constantly in contact with other schools worldwide and we foster student exchanges that will allow them to naturally come into contact with foreign cultures and languages. At the same time, our students pursue the study of two languages (other than Spanish) and they sit foreign language exams to obtain certificates from prestigious and internationally recognized institutions.
Languages
The school's official language is Spanish, although there is a significant proportion of student families which have some other mother tongue.
Throughout Primary and Secondary (up to their senior year, prior to university access), every student must study and be assessed in two languages other than Spanish: English, German, or French. The aim is no less than to be competent in all skills of these two foreign languages.
The study of English begins in Pre-school (at age 3) and is compulsory all the way up to senior year. During the stages of Pre-school and Primary, between 15 and 20 hours are taught in English. In 5th grade, a thrid language is chosen, either French or German.
Student exchange programs
Europa International School has diverse student exchange programs with prestigious schools from other countries. These exchange programs are continually growing and gradually being consolidated.
The programs, conceived for secondary school students of ages ranging from 12 to 16, are basically of two kinds:
- Full immersion: Lasting between 4 and 12 weeks, these exchanges consist of small groups of selected students. Ages typically range from 15 to 17.
- Culture and language focused: These are of short duration (between one and three weeks), and larger groups take part in them. Ages range from 12 to 15.
Each foreign language department coordinates the programs, establishing dates, group sizes, etc. It is the Head of the corresponding school year taking part in the exchange who selects specific students. This process of selection is based on various criteria including, but not limited to, academic performance, whereby students with an appropriate profile are chosen for the different programs.
International exchanges constitute priceless life experiences for our students. As well as profiting from academic and linguistic immersion, they go through a mind-opening process as a consequence of coming into direct contact with different cultures and finding fellowship with students and families they would otherwise never come to know.
Likewise, students who temporarily join our school through an exchange program take part in cultural visits, as well as in a variety of specially designed courses (e.g. Spanish as a foreign language) and Europa School’s habitual academic life (Science & Technology, Humanities, etc.)
Students & families
What we expect from students and families joining our educational project
Our school already has the advantageous experience of seeing many of our graduates become college graduates. We have numerous alumni who are students and professionals around the globe. There are also alumni who are parents of current EIS students, including teachers. They are all different in their personal circumstances, outlook on life and professional trajectory. Success in life (genuine success, that is) is brought about and expressed in very diverse modalities.
There is, however, a common trait among those who succeeded in piloting, as it were, their own lives, and in remaining faithful to their essence despite existing differences in circumstances (country of residence, profession, etc.). They all found, during their years as part of our educational community at EIS, an identification and convergence between their families and the team of educators who shaped them during their crucial formative years. Their families had chosen Europa International School as their own school, and as the school for their child in particular.
We desire that everyone who joins our school and educational project may feel there is a reciprocal aspect about their contribution and ours. Namely, we are eager to receive people who have chosen our project as one that is in line with the professional environment and style that they believe suits their children. The decision of students and their families to join us should be a conscientious and free one, always taking into account the variety of our offer.
Our requirement from teachers is that they partner in their formative task with parents, from their situation and vocation as educators. We expect families to help the student take up, joyfully and decidedly, the challenge and opportunity of maximizing the resources and programs that EIS offers and devotes to a holistic model of education.
This is consistent and in keeping with our mission, our philosophy and vocation.