Aloha College Marbella.

Where will the the children go to school? is one of the most common questions we are asked. There are many options in Marbella, we look at two of the top schools in detail.

Aloha College, a non-profit educational organisation owned by a charitable trust, is an international school with an enviable reputation which provides a first class, bilingual education for children aged 3 to 18 years of age. It is now enjoying its 22nd successful year and is generally considered to be one of the best International schools not only in Marbella but in the whole of Spain. The exceptional exam results the college consistently achieves speak for themselves.

Students follow a dual curriculum – the UK National Curriculum and the Spanish Selectividad. In the 6th form pupils take the International Baccalaureate which is the highest qualification possible for entrance to any university in the world. In fact, the IB is held in such high esteem that universities now give preference to students who possess this qualification. Students at Aloha hail from 46 different countries and the student university destinations reveal a corresponding level of internationalism. In fact, a bi-lingual education is not quite correct as the majority of students leave Aloha speaking 3 or 4 languages.

In addition to the normal curriculum the College runs an accelerated learning programme for mathematics to extend the abilities of the keenest students. Class sizes never exceed 20 and pupils also receive individual tuition in a wide range of musical instruments. The Art department at Aloha is also highly regarded and continally elicits exceptional work from the students. You only have to walk around the building and take a look at the walls to realise that creativity flourishes in the classrooms. Aloha has a wide choice of extra-curricular activities from photography to waterskiing and students are encouraged to excel outside of the classroom as well. Aloha competes in sports tournaments all over Spain and in Portugal. Students have the opportunity to take the Duke of Edinburgh Award, LAMDA examinations in Speech and Drama, compete in maths competitions in various countries, and enjoy field trips. The College also organise a number of excellent music and drama productions throughout the year. The last production at the College, The Crucible, was hailed in the press as “a West End production”.

Recently three 6th form students from Aloha participated in a Young Global Leaders Conference. Two visited Washington DC and New York and the other went to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Students going to these conferences are required to meet the highest criteria of academia and leadership. The three students represented Spain at the conference and discussed and debated, with other international students, politics, global crises, globalisation amongst other topics.

So successful is the college that a new Senior school was opened in September 2004 to provide additional state-of-the-art science and technology labs, an arts block to include a graphic design studio and an expanded library and study area. This will allow the existing buildings to be completely refurbished for the Junior pupils.

The philosophy of Aloha College is to provide its students with the best all-round education possible to give them an unsurpassed start to their future personal and professional lives. They certainly appear to be succeeding.