This is the time of the year when families with school age children get preoccupied with the choice of best school, which is not easy a task today. Thirty per cent of the more than seven million students in the general and pre-university education will choose the private schools. Some two million families will prefer this kind of education to that offered by the government.
Two of the best schools in the 12th edition of the ranking made by El Mundo belong to Augustinian Recollects: “Colegio Agustiniano” found in Madrid and “Colegio Romareda”, in Zaragoza. Complete listing can be found in https://quiosco.elmundo.orbyt.es
“Colegio Agustiniano” of Madrid
ADDRESS: Pez Austral, 13 bis /TELEPHONE: 915 740 000 / www.cagustiniano.com / CHARACTERISTICS: Religious / Mixed / 1,307 students with 81 teachers /345  monthly for Secondary Education / INTEGRATED
It offers an education that considers the climate of communitarian life as the most appropriate means to achieve expected goals. It pays much attention to the development of the capacities of students, supported by research and the dynamics of solid academic programs. Languages are given the priority, with professors who employ developmental mechanics and bilingualism. As a novelty, it offers the Chinese language, Mandarin. The results of the national examinations in the primary level of education and the “ESO”, which are above the median of the Community of Madrid and with a good number of students having marks above number nine, confirm the good program of education offered in this institution.
MARKS: Total: 89/100
Group A: 34/39. Group B: 32/34. Group C: 23/27
“Colegio Romareda” of Zaragoza
ADDRESS: C/Pedro IV, 1 / Telephone: 976 562 017 / www.colegioromareda.com / Religious / Mixed/ 1,127 students and 81 teachers / 275 monthly for the Secondary Education / INTEGRATED
With Augustinian philosophy as its banner, the school considers education in Christian values as the core of its curriculum, which aims to develop responsibility, freedom, research and personal aptitudes. It advocates bilingual education, Spanish-English, and at the same time intensifies French and German languages. Its creative methodology of teaching and use of new technologies in education are translated into the good performance of its students in the National Selection examinations.
MARKS: Total: 76/100
Group A: 27/39. Group B: 27/34. Group C: 22/27
80,000 youth in 11 countries
More than 200 Augustinian Recollects are dedicated to the educational apostolate, a mission that they share with more than 3,500 lay collaborators. Founded on the Augustinian pedagogy of love they educate more than 80,000 youth in eleven countries. Their schools, which include three universities, desire to be centers of evangelization, of integral education and enculturation. The Augustinian motto, love and knowledge, is a reality in the ministries of the Augustinian Recollects. There are 50 schools run by said religious in eleven countries of America, Europe and Asia. The biggest student population is in the Philippines where the Order has two prestigious universities in Cebu and Bacolod.
Every year in this Asian archipelago some 40,000 children and young men and women receive Catholic education inspired in the Augustinian pedagogy of love. It is in Columbia and Spain, however, where the Recollects have the biggest number of schools. In the former they have one university and eight schools, and nine in the latter.