Tuition is the number every parent asks about first, and it is the number that misleads the most. The invoice a family actually pays rarely stops at tuition, and the extras can add several thousand euros a year per child. Below are the published 2026/27 fees for the schools families in our area most often look at, followed by the costs that sit outside the fee sheet.
Across Barcelona and the Maresme coast, published annual tuition in 2026/27 runs from roughly €9,500 at the lower end to around €30,000 at the top. The mainstream British and international schools cluster between about €13,000 and €20,000, and it is the final two years, the IB or A-Level stage, where fees climb into the €22,000 to €30,000 bracket. Sending two children through secondary at a premium school is a €40,000 to €60,000 annual line item, which is worth stating plainly before anyone starts shortlisting.
Fees published on school websites are per year, per child, and usually exclude registration, transport, uniforms, trips and examination entries unless the school says otherwise. Two schools can look €2,000 apart on tuition and cost the same in practice once you include what each one bundles.
For families renting along the coast, Hamelin-Laie in the Alella area is the closest thing to a doorstep international school, which matters when the alternative is a daily drive into Barcelona. Its published 2026/27 day fees run from €11,186 in the early years to €15,493 for the IB Diploma in Years 12 and 13. Primary is listed at €12,920, secondary at €14,370, and the national baccalaureate route at €12,764. Lunch is included at the infant and early-years stages, and boarding, for those who want it, is listed at €49,272 a year for ages 14 to 18.
There is also International School Maresme, whose published 2026/27 range is considerably lower, at roughly €5,115 to €8,020 a year. It is a smaller operation with a different profile from the large British schools, and for some families that is exactly the point. Worth visiting rather than judging on the fee table.
This is where budgets break. Rough ranges from published fee sheets across the sector:
Two children at a mid-range school, with bus and lunch, commonly lands between €35,000 and €50,000 a year all in. That is a figure to put next to the rent before deciding which town you can afford, not after. Our villa running costs in Maresme piece works through the other large recurring bill.
The alternative is the Spanish system. Public schools (colegios públicos) are free and teach in Catalan, with Spanish taught as a subject and English as a foreign language. Concertada schools are privately run but publicly subsidised, which means modest fees or voluntary contributions rather than international-school rates. Both come with catchment rules and a formal application window, and demand in the towns along the Maresme coast is high enough that proximity to the school counts.
For public and concertada admission you normally need the empadronamiento, the municipal registration confirming where you live, plus the children's documentation. Landlords expect tenants to empadronarse at the rented address, and it is a routine process as long as the contract supports it.
The public and concertada enrolment cycle for a September start runs in the first half of the year, with the specific window set each year by the Generalitat. International schools recruit more continuously and will often assess a child mid-year, subject to places. Either way you cannot complete an enrolment without a NIE for the child and, in the public system, a padró. If you are still at the paperwork stage, our NIE guide and the moving to Maresme checklist cover the order things have to be done in.
One last thing families get caught by: schools in this region fill the popular year groups early, and a villa rental signed in June for a September start can leave you choosing between a long drive and a waiting list. If the school is the anchor of the move, decide that first and pick the house around it.
Send us the school you have in mind and your budget. We will tell you which Maresme towns keep the school run under 20 minutes, and what rents look like there right now.
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