RNS Mission Statement

RNS aims to provide a complete and successful education for all our students. Our students will fulfil their individual potential in our caring, challenging and enlightened academic, social and emotional education.

We will always strive to achieve the highest standards of attainment informed by an ethos that values the whole person, including the emotional and life skills development. The child is loved for himself and the important part he/she plays in the school whether academically, artistically, in the sports arena, as a personality or as a combination of all four.

All students at RNS are encouraged to develop a selflessness which will allow them to thrive as valuable members of society. We want all pupils to enjoy their time at the RNS, to understand the rewards of service and to develop the resilience and confidence which will allow them to excel throughout their adult life.

RNS offers a challenging and personalized educational program which is accredited by the Spanish (as an international educational center based in Spain), British and American systems. We have designed a curriculum based on the British System for Primary and the American Educational System and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) for Secondary.

Our progressive academic curriculum, high-quality teaching and excellent facilities support every pupil’s learning journey throughout the school.

RNS Primary curriculum delivers a programme of studies based, on the English national curriculum, Early Years Foundation Stage and the Spanish national curriculum. We aim to provide a learning environment that will broaden and enhance children´s development across a wide range of subjects. Pupils will have specialist teachers for Spanish, Catalan, social studies, swimming (from KS1) and P.E. For each of the first two terms, children from Years 2 to 6 sit a series of practice SATs (Standardised Achievement Tests), to help assess and monitor their progress. During the final term, pupils from Years 1 to 6 will sit the end-of-year SATs. Children sit tests on a regular basis in order to track their progress.

RNS Secondary curriculum is based on the AERO standards, a project supported by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools and specifically designed for American-sponsored schools outside of the United States of America. By basing our curriculum on the AERO standards, we ensure that our academic objectives are in-line with the American standards. 

Another essential part of progressive education is language learning. Apart from our classes in Spanish and Catalan, all the courses are taught in English. We also support the needs of English learners by offering supplementary courses of English as an Additional Language. Apart from the curriculum, our students use modern educational technology in the classrooms, which we see as essential preparation for the ever-increasing importance of technological literacy. Classroom learning is complemented by a variety of academic societies and clubs, as well as our ever-popular field trips that engender a wider, outward focus.

RNS also works closely with the Rafa Nadal Foundation. Students’ learning is values-based and students have the opportunity to employ all they have learned by for example carrying out community-service projects with the Rafa Nadal Foundation or supporting and leading other projects which are charitable in nature. While we can boast first-class academic achievements, the academic success and personal development of all pupils, at all levels, give us the greatest sense of fulfillment and reward.

At RNS, we do our best to ensure each student is enthusiastic, encouraged and looked after both in the classroom and out of it. The school day is very full –  lessons, sports, hobbies, co-curricular activities, excursions, conferences, environmental issues, fundraising etc. At RNS, something is going on all the time and all our students are involved in many different areas that keep them busy, make them happy and not least important having fun. We believe that happy students make for successful students.

At RNS, there are cultural and educational trips organized throughout the school year. These trips are based on the topic being studied in lessons and reinforce their learning. The excursions vary with each year group and include trips to museums, farms, local industries, historical monuments, theatres and nature reserves.

Students are assigned a classroom called the homeroom in which they meet daily. These assemblies allow the teacher the chance to not only give messages and announcements to all the students and record attendance but more importantly, follow individually on students’ progress and address pastoral duties so the student is cared for. In addition, various themes are addressed and vary throughout the year and include issues such as sharing, social responsibility, recycling, inclusion, bullying, etc. This assembly time forms an integral part of our pastoral care. Students may also have the opportunity to take turns to direct the assembly in a topic in which they have a special interest in. They may also show some of their work, present a short play or report back to the other grades on a recent excursion.

In RNS, we do our best to safeguard and promote the welfare of our students in order to develop their full potential and to provide them with a safe and caring environment. We are very conscious that our pastoral care should be in line with our ethos, where respect should be shown to all; teacher to pupil, pupil to teacher as well as pupil to pupil and to the wider community. All our students have an assigned tutor whom they meet regularly to discuss academic and pastoral issues. Also, students in older grades will be mentoring younger students and newcomers, that way everyone feels welcome and supported.

At RNS we very much welcome the contribution of our parents in helping to create together the community we envisage and work together to help each child reach their potential. The suggestions, comments and support of the parents are encouraged. To ensure an effective flow of information between the school and the parents, we have many channels of communication in place.

Welcome morning for the parents: At the beginning of each school year, we invite all parents to a presentation. Parents have the opportunity of meeting their child’s teachers and are given an outline of the year ahead.

Parent-teacher meetings are held three times a year. Parents and teachers arrange appointments throughout the year.

RNS also takes advantage of the latest technological developments to enable parents to access their child’s progress remotely as well as contacting the teachers directly on email.

Rafa Nadal School is an authorized Angloamerican overseas school in Spain by the Government of the Balearics and the Ministry of Education and has a code centre number. In addition:

• RNS Primary is a fully authorised and accredited british school by National Association of British Schools in Spain (NABSS), the authorised inspectorate of the British Council in Spain. Only schools which have successfully passed an inspection by an authorised inspectorate are able to be accredited. British Council ensures that all of their authorised schools undergo the required inspections by Department for Education approved Inspectorates allowing them to provide guarantee to parents and Spanish authorities that British standards of quality are met.
• RNS Secondary is accredited by the Middle States Association (MSA), one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education. MSA currently awards accreditation to more than 3.500 schools and to member institutions in more than 85 countries around the world.

All our Spanish students at the Rafa Nadal School finish with a double degree, the American High School Diploma and the Spanish Baccalaureate Degree (necessary to access Spanish universities). Therefore, when Spanish students are enrolling they must:

-Provide the original academic transcripts

– Students who come from Spanish centers with a foreign educational system must present a transcript in Spanish with an official translation. This certificate must be signed by the technical director of the center and with the seal of the Education Inspectorate.

-The United States grade certificates must be legalized with the Hague Convention Apostall (apostilled document) and the official translation.

– To homologate with a Spanish degree there can be no change in the educational system during the same school year, that is, a student who comes from the Spanish system in January (with the first approved evaluation) and does the second semester with us will not be able to obtain the Spanish degree (ESO and Baccalaureate). The only option to convalidate is to repeat the entire course the following year. Of course, you will not have problems obtaining the American High School Diploma.

– Only the entire approved course can be convalidated, each one of the semesters of all the enrolled subjects.

– Classes have to be face-to-face and students cannot skip any of the courses.

    – In addition to the subjects mentioned, since the center is in the Balearic Islands, students have to study Spanish language and culture, Catalan language and literature and culture of the Balearic Islands (Social Sciences). These subjects are compulsory up to grade 10, the grade set by the E.S.O. (Compulsory Secondary Education).

For those unfamiliar with our location in Spain, the school is set in the beautiful island of Mallorca. The best advice we can give you is to come and see it for yourselves. Mallorca is a small island in the Mediterranean, visited by over 14 million people every year. Its countryside and sea are second to none and its airport is connected to all main airports in Europe. Mallorca is very safe and full of exciting things to do and see, making it ideal for nurturing our students in a safe environment.