Benjamin Franklin International School vs Oak House School
🇪🇸 Barcelona · Side-by-side comparison on verifiable public data.
Oak House School holds a public inspection verdict (NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain) "Accredited member"), while Benjamin Franklin International School operates in a market with no public inspectorate — the former has a verifiable official quality anchor, the latter is judged on accreditation depth. Curriculum is the core differentiator: Benjamin Franklin International School offers American, IB while Oak House School offers British, IB, National — the choice should follow the family's target qualification system. On cost, Oak House School has the noticeably lower entry fee — a material difference for budget-conscious families. See the table below for the figures, and verify against each school's own published fees.
Key Facts
| Benjamin Franklin International School | Oak House School | |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | American / IB | British / IB / National |
| Ages | 3-18 | 3-18 |
| Languages of instruction | English | English, Spanish, Catalan |
| Annual fees | EUR 12,950-21,720/year tuition (2026-2027, standard); plus one-time 6,000 entrance fee and 1,100 matriculation | Admission process fee 3,500 EUR (one-time, non-refundable); annual tuition published separately by the school (not stated as a fixed figure on the public fees page) |
| Enrollment | 702 | 1,100 |
| Boarding | Day only | Day only |
| Inspection rating | — | NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain): Accredited member |
| Accreditations | Council of International Schools (CIS), Middle States Association (MSA-CESS), International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), Generalitat de Catalunya, Spanish Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educacion) | NABSS, IB World School, Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, Departament d'Educacio (Generalitat de Catalunya), CICAE, ACADE |
Strengths
- ✓Long-established (since 1986) non-profit American school with stable, deliberately capped enrollment of around 700
- ✓Dual IB authorization (MYP since 2023, DP since 2011) layered onto a full American Nursery-to-Grade-12 curriculum
- ✓Strong external recognition: CIS membership, MSA-CESS accreditation, and IBO World School status
- ✓Highly international community with more than 60 nationalities represented
- ✓Recent purpose-built facilities, including a 2021 secondary building and a Center for Creativity and Innovation due 2026
- ✓Genuinely trilingual outcome in English, Spanish and Catalan, not just English-medium teaching with a foreign-language class
- ✓Exceptional IB Diploma results, with a 36-point average for 2025 well above the 30.6 world average and a 97% pass rate
- ✓Dual British and Spanish curricula plus a choice of IB Diploma or Spanish Bachillerato at sixth-form level
- ✓Confirmed NABSS membership and IB World School status, with Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel as exam partners
- ✓Strong, well-equipped urban campus including pool, multiple gyms, science labs and dedicated music rooms
Trade-offs
- !No published average IB Diploma score, so academic outcomes cannot be independently verified
- !Premium fee structure with a substantial one-time 6,000 EUR entrance fee on top of annual tuition
- !Enrollment is capped near capacity, which can limit availability of places
- !No dedicated EAL/English-support programme is publicly documented, which may matter for non-English-speaking entrants
- !Annual tuition is not published as a clear figure on the public fees page, reducing cost transparency for prospective families
- !No explicit published EAL programme detail, which matters for families arriving with little English or Spanish
- !Single urban campus means more limited outdoor grounds than suburban international schools
- !Spain's lack of a graded inspection band makes independent quality benchmarking harder than for UK-inspected schools
- !Day-only provision rules out relocating families who need boarding
Best Fit For
- • Internationally mobile families wanting a US-aligned curriculum with an IB Diploma exit
- • Students aiming at US, UK, and European university pathways
- • Families seeking a central-Barcelona day school with a multinational peer group
- • Younger children whose families want continuity from Nursery through Grade 12
- • Families wanting their child to leave genuinely fluent in English, Spanish and Catalan
- • Academically ambitious students targeting a high-scoring IB Diploma pathway
- • Local and relocating families already settling in Barcelona who want a British-international option
- • Parents wanting a choice between the IB Diploma and the Spanish Bachillerato at sixth form
University Placement
School-reported · not independently verified
School-reported, unverified: BFIS lists 2023-2025 university acceptances including Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Imperial College London, UCL, LSE, University of St Andrews, ESADE, Bocconi, and Sciences Po.
School-reported, unverified: Oak House describes its class of 2025 as the highest-scoring IB cohort among all IB schools in Spain that year, with a university-entrance exam average of 7.11 against a Catalan average of 5.21 and a position among the top 20 schools in Catalonia.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose Benjamin Franklin International School or Oak House School?
Benjamin Franklin International School is best for: Internationally mobile families wanting a US-aligned curriculum with an IB Diploma exit. Oak House School is best for: Families wanting their child to leave genuinely fluent in English, Spanish and Catalan. The right choice depends on target curriculum, budget, and family priorities — the two are not linearly comparable.
How do fees compare between Benjamin Franklin International School and Oak House School?
Benjamin Franklin International School: EUR 12,950-21,720/year tuition (2026-2027, standard); plus one-time 6,000 entrance fee and 1,100 matriculation. Oak House School: Admission process fee 3,500 EUR (one-time, non-refundable); annual tuition published separately by the school (not stated as a fixed figure on the public fees page). Verify against each school's own published fees; some figures are sourced from third-party aggregators.
What curricula do Benjamin Franklin International School and Oak House School offer?
Benjamin Franklin International School: American, IB. Oak House School: British, IB, National. Oak House School inspection: NABSS (National Association of British Schools in Spain) "Accredited member".
Do Benjamin Franklin International School or Oak House School offer boarding?
Benjamin Franklin International School: day school only. Oak House School: day school only.
Questions parents ask
This comparison is BrightKey's independent assessment using verifiable public data only. University-placement figures are school-reported and not independently verified. BrightKey takes no payments from schools. Our method →