Preparing students for a global world

Diverse & Inclusive Environment

SINCE September 2022, Laude San Pedro International College has a new Principal, Andrew Atkinson. He has been involved in international education for over 30 years.

Born and raised in England, his international experience has taken him all over the world.

Andy (as everybody knows him) graduated from Exeter University and went on to teach Geography and Theatre in secondary schools before getting a Masters in Leadership and Management at Trinity College, Dublin.

He is known for his passionate beliefs in international education and has experience with many international programmes of all ages from 3 to 18 years.

His last formal headship was as Director of the International School of London and over the last three years,

Safe Happy Learning

“What I most like about Laude is our school community,” insists Andy. “Friendly staff is one of the most dominant things at Laude. Our children are physically safe from a safeguarding perspective and well looked after for their well being.

he carried out consultancy work at projects in Spain, Russia and an innovative international school start-up in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

“The first thing a Principal should do in his first year is see how the school runs for an entire year,” he explains.

“So I've spent a lot of time running focus groups, listening and finding out what people are already doing.

“To understand trends in education, we need to go deeper. So to do that, I want all my teachers to feel passionate about keeping up to date.

“We started something called ‘Research Wednesdays’, where we stay after school voluntarily for an hour discussing an article or some of the latest research. It has proved very useful! Here are some other key things I’ve noted.”

Sports, Arts, Drama & Beyond

Laude is an inclusive school with a programme focused on academic excellence, teaching the British National Curriculum - from age 3 to 18 - and, from age 12, offering the possibility of studying the Spanish ESO and Bachillerato curricula (with up to 65% of classes in English).

We have a strong focus on academic standards - our GCSE and A Level results, as well as the Spanish Selectividad, are well above national averages in both countries.

It is a highly international environment with students of over 50 nationalities enjoying a unique learning environment designed to their needs.

“We really encourage students to be vocal and speak their minds+, which also leads to a sort of personal safety of mind. We’re just beginning some work on something called ‘global life competencies’.

“They’re the sort of broader cross subject skills that children learn how to do, like the ability to think critically or the ability to communicate effectively or the ability to self manage and self organise yourself.”

ISP School

We are part of the global education group ISP (‘International Schools Partnerships’) one of the largest education groups in the world. As a global group of schools, our students benefit from being part of a wider international community which offers many additional learning and cultural opportunities.

This means there are always great opportunities for staff such as online

Innovative learning & International Mindset

We offer a unique and incredible educational experience to each one of our students, which we call ‘Amazing Learning’: having the ability to improve day by day, and be amazed at everything learned, whatever the starting point was.

We work so that the student feels happy and motivated in an environment that generates confidence.

“So there are five key areas that they’re working strategically on,” explains Andy. “One we’re doing super well on is English as an additional language and multilingualism. I think that’s one of the biggest strengths of the school.

“Children can join a special Cambridge English programme and we’ve got an amazing language programme; we do French, German and Chinese, not just in the Secondary school, but also in Primary School from Year 2 upwards.

“Even the students who are in the Spanish national system of ESO and Bachillerato are all bilingual with an amazing level of English by the time they leave.”

Quiz nights, Dog shows, Radio stations…Getting better is what drives us

“At a personal level, I’ve tried to get staff to start some student-led projects,” continues Andy.

“What delights me about our school is certain things like our sports department full of enthusiasm for different sports, for getting involved in tournaments and making sure there is a genuine belief about making our kids phys ically fit,” says Andy. “I’m also working hard on our arts group, because we have a great visual arts teacher, we have an amazing dance-drama teacher and we have a new music teacher who’s got great potential to take music forward.

“A lot of people just think it’s a department in a school, but it’s actually a way of life and learning across the whole school.

“If you have sports, music, art, drama and dance, it brings joy to a school that radiates every bit of a school.

“Our recent Key Stage 2 talent show absolutely showcased that. And I’m a strong believer that children don’t just learn art or sports, they learn through these experiences about other things.

courses for teachers and staff to register for. It also means great opportunities for students with around 30 kids playing chess online with over 60 schools around the globe.

Amazing Campus

“It’s about students not expecting things to be done for them. Do you want to do something? Get on and organise it. How do you want to organise it? Do it. We’ve got areas where students are leading at the moment, like quiz night, a dog show, school radio station and much more.”

Our excellent facilities include a football pitch, two multisports courts and a gymnasium with changing rooms for over 400 people. We also have four computer rooms, a multimedia lab, a graphic design room, innovative science labs, dedicated rooms for drama, food technology labs and a new radio studio, as well as the latest technological devices (iPads, Chromebooks and interactive whiteboards). We have a large dining hall with its own kitchen where school meals are prepared and an extensive library to encourage our pupils to develop an interest in reading and research.

“We are very blessed with physical space,” insists Andy. “And we have a continual rolling plan of investment to improve the campus. Right now we are about to invest a lot in our dining room and bathrooms.”

“We talked earlier about these competencies of life, the competencies you get through the arts, the confidence to perform on stage, the confidence to stand up and show a piece of exhibited artwork and explain something very personal to you, to play an instrument and opportunities that every kid has to have and is a way into learning other things. So I’m really proud that our sports and arts department are excited about where to go next.”