British School of Barcelona opens new campus with focus on holistic teaching approach

The British School of Barcelona (BSB) inaugurated their fourth campus in Catalonia on Thursday, adding to the sites they already have in Castelldefels, Sitges, and in the Catalan capital. 

The new education center, which features primary and secondary schools spanning across 5,000m2 in three different buildings, will have capacity for 600-700 students from the ages of 3-18. Cognita, the parent company of the British School of Barcelona, put an investment of around €15 million into renovating the previously abandoned school site. 

Pupils at the British School of Barcelona will be taught a predominantly UK curriculum, but with a highly holistic approach based on nine specific 'learning habits' that the educators hope can serve the students long after they've graduated: curiosity, socializing, reflection, determination, imagination, thinking, organisation, leadership, and attention.

James Petrie, acting executive principal for BSB, explained to Catalan News that those learning habits are transferable beyond school and between schools. "We consider them life skills," he added.

Petrie also told of his excitement about the city center location of the new campus, which will give students the chance to make the most of where they are in the world. He gave the example of art students visiting galleries and exhibitions, and geography students getting out into the streets and nature: "The scope is enormous."

These skills are developed in regular classrooms as well as plenty of specially dedicated learning areas, such as the art rooms where students study elements of art such as light, texture, and spacing, music studios where one-on-one violin, trumpet, guitar, and drum lessons go on all day, as well as science rooms, where the children were testing to see which foodstuffs contained the most amount of chemical energy in them with the use of a Bunsen burner. 

An outdoor patio spanning 1,200m2 with amenities like a jungle gym and courts for basketball and football courts offer great opportunities for recreation, while the school also has direct access to the nearby Barcino Tennis Club, which allows the students to play tennis, pádel, and use the swimming pool.

Dotted around the school are various nooks at the end of hallways, with designated purposes, such as a 'calm corner', a reading space, and an area for socializing. 

A sign reading 'Healthy kitchen' is placed in the canteen, which on inauguration day was serving chicken, aubergine, and rice, with pudding for dessert. Messages such as 'Eat better feel better' are written across the food hall promote healthy eating to instill the habit from a young age. 

The first pupils passed through the doors of the new Barcelona facility on September 5, with the new student body comprised of children coming from the previous Barcelona campus, which is only a primary school, some from the Castelldefels school who had previously been commuting to the town just south of Barcelona, and some students brand new to the British School.