The goal of education is the personal growth of each student. Even the transmission of culture—one of a school’s core missions—is not the ultimate aim, because it cannot be achieved without the growth of the one receiving it.
Knowledge is a personal conquest that each student undertakes, supported by the presence of a teacher who brings it to life. The aim is for students to truly make their own what they learn—not just to gain “competences” they can use, but to deepen their awareness of themselves and of reality. Everything in the school—the academic curriculum, classroom teaching, and complementary activities—serves this process of growth.
Education happens in the act of teaching, because teaching requires students to go beyond themselves and enter into knowledge of the world. Class becomes a place of dialogue, reasoning, and action—a setting in which students are introduced to the experience of doing science, reading literature, expressing themselves, and speaking a foreign language. This places at the heart of learning the two essential figures: the one who teaches and the one who learns.
Using reason - Seeking truth
We aim to awaken in students a love for the truth and a rational desire to seek it—so that this pursuit shapes how they relate to reality.
A taste for beauty
We educate students to recognize and delight in beauty as a privileged path to discovering truth.
Discover the meaning of reality
We encourage students to explore the meaning behind the different aspects of reality they encounter or study—so that they can form a personal synthesis between life’s challenges and the knowledge acquired through their education.
Educating freedom
We guide students toward a free and responsible use of their freedom—an exercise of the whole person in response to what the intellect recognizes as good.
Fostering community life
We promote active participation in school life. Through shared experiences and dialogue, students remain open, curious, and engaged in the world around them.
Knowing the tradition
We introduce students to the core beliefs, values, and attitudes that shape our cultural tradition—so they can critically evaluate and recognize them through the content of each subject.
Self-awareness
We help students become more aware of themselves and their deepest human needs for truth, goodness, beauty, and happiness—so they can better evaluate and understand every human experience.
Recognizing the goodness of reality
We help students discover the goodness of reality and of human life as seen through the lens of the Christian vision of existence.
Seeking beauty
Beauty reveals the splendor of truth and plays a key role in education. Its power to attract opens the way for understanding and valuing what is true. Whether it’s poetry, music, mathematics, art, sport, friendship, or everyday life—we encourage students to contemplate what they study and let themselves be surprised by its beauty.
School life should be marked by an attentive gaze toward beauty. Care for cleanliness, order, attention to detail, and the pursuit of well-crafted work all flow from this vision. Publicly sharing student work is an important way to show that the fruit of personal effort is a gift for everyone.
Educating wonder and the search for truth
One of our key goals is to foster openness to reality by drawing students in through the natural attraction of wonder—because it is from wonder that a sincere search for truth is born. We teach students to look, to marvel, to ask questions, and to seek understanding.
Authentic critical thinking comes from this openness to reality. We want our students to be open to everything—but also to engage reason in everything, judging with the deep human needs that guide all our actions: the need for truth, justice, goodness, beauty, love, and happiness.
The argumentative classroom
Real learning happens when students are engaged in reasoning. The teacher presents a working hypothesis and guides the class with these goals:
To engage students personally so they can see the connection between the content, the proposed work, and their own life experience.
To help students make serious and disciplined use of reason according to the method of each subject.
To make class a real act of communication – with an argumentative style that brings the object of study into focus (a text, a physical phenomenon, a historical period, a math problem…), presenting it as something to investigate deeply and meaningfully, raising questions and drawing students towards its ultimate significance.
Studying: learning how to reason and discovering the meaning of things
We’re not interested in teaching study techniques alone—we want to spark a passion for learning and guide students to see study as an adventure of discovering meaning.
Studying involves learning how to use reason according to the method proper to each subject. That means: paying attention, asking questions, understanding, conceptualizing, making connections, synthesizing, judging, and reasoning. These skills develop through the tools we use in class: lessons, textbooks, discussions, exercises, notes, essays, projects, presentations, assigned reading, and cultural activities.
Personalized learning, the pursuit of excellence, and attention to diversity
One of our key goals is to support all students, recognizing their individual circumstances and academic needs. A focus on the student’s unique conditions, challenges, and strengths creates a path toward equal opportunity and helps raise expectations for all.
We avoid uniformity. We believe that difference is not a sign of inferiority and that each student’s abilities, challenges, and circumstances are part of their path toward maturity.
Every person is unique and valuable—simply by existing. Each student is free and carries a dignity that does not depend on abilities or academic success.
Cultural activities, field trips, exchanges, and study travel
Activities outside the classroom are an essential part of the curriculum. They are planned with clear academic and educational objectives aligned with our educational philosophy and the specific goals of each subject.
Their educational value lies in the fact that they are offered as gestures—human actions that express, in their very form, the meaning behind them. Teachers prepare and guide every aspect of these activities, accompanying students closely rather than simply organizing events.
Study trips are particularly important. These trips follow a structured program and often include on-site classes. All year groups take part in these trips. In the final year of ESO, students participate in an exchange with a partner school in Italy. In Bachillerato, students travel to London and Oxford, visiting key locations in the life of John Henry Newman.
Our relationship with families
We firmly believe that parents are the primary educators of their children and that they entrust them to the school as partners in this task. With that trust, the school fulfills its academic mission in accordance with the identity and vision expressed in its educational project.
True educational growth happens only through collaboration between all the key participants—students, families, and teachers. That’s why our relationship with families is marked by openness, warmth, and a spirit of availability. The school provides multiple ways for families to stay connected and engaged. One of our most valued initiatives is the Encuentro de Familias, a regular event that strengthens our shared educational journey.
The purpose of discipline: educating freedom
Discipline is the opposite of acting on impulse. It helps students take reality seriously and engage with its meaning—making it a tool for personal growth.
A student’s personality develops as they grow in their ability to judge and choose freely. But true freedom requires a criterion for judgment. The most human criterion is the one rooted in our nature: the set of deep needs that arise in every human experience—the need for truth, goodness, beauty, freedom, justice…
Discipline fosters the kind of educational relationship that helps students recognize and respond to those needs in the context of daily school life.
Discipline is not an end in itself. It is a condition that allows learning to take place. Rules for behavior and community life are rooted in the values they represent—such as punctuality, order, cleanliness, attention, silence, and respect—and they create the conditions in which our educational mission can flourish.
Using digital devices in the classroom helps students develop a responsible and purposeful relationship with new technologies. The benefits are many. Working with Chromebooks supports the development of key skills such as learning how to learn, digital literacy, collaboration, and increased motivation and engagement with academic work.
This is a space for students who want to go further in understanding the material world and how it behaves. It’s a place to investigate and experiment with different aspects of the reality that surrounds and constitutes us—from the infinitely vast to the infinitely small. In truth, the Science Club begins in the classroom. Through daily lessons, students who are curious to learn more are given time, resources, and support to explore beyond the standard curriculum.
A place to create, propose, ask questions, and discuss current issues—together with classmates, teachers, and invited guests. Students take part in research and projects that explore different aspects of Spanish and global affairs. When needed, subject-matter experts are invited to engage in dialogue and share their insights. Students also reflect on and discuss the day’s most important news stories by reading Spanish newspapers, analyzing and comparing different perspectives.
This week-long celebration allows us to enjoy, present, and explore more deeply the subjects we’ve been studying all year—with greater creativity and expression. It reflects our students’ growing passion for the disciplines we work on throughout the year.
The week includes two major strands:
Our science laboratories are fully equipped to give students hands-on experience with the core principles of physics, chemistry, and biology. Practical experiments are integrated into lessons and aligned with the material being studied in class.
Our school embraces beauty as a privileged path to knowledge. That’s why we integrate the education of perception into all year levels across the curriculum. Projects such as the school choir, literature contest, short film festival, and student art exhibitions are concrete expressions of this vision.
The arts program at Newman values research as a fundamental tool in the creative process. Many of our projects are developed in collaboration with professional artists and national or international institutions.
Year 1 Secondary Curriculum
Spanish Language
Mathematics
English
Geography and History
Physical Education
Biology and Geology
Visual and Audiovisual Arts
Music
Religion
Elective (choose 1):
The J. H. Newman School enriches the official curriculum with the following proposal, approved by the Autonomous Community of Madrid, within the Schools Autonomy Framework:
Increased teaching hours in the subject of English language and smaller groups.
Increased teaching hours in the subject of Mathematics and Spanish Language and Literature.
Year 2 Secondary Curriculum
Spanish Language
Mathematics
English
Geography and History
Physical Education
Physics and Chemistry
Technology and Digital Skills
Visual and Audiovisual Arts
Civic and Ethical Values Education
Religion
Elective (choose 1):
The J. H. Newman School enriches the official curriculum with the following proposal, approved by the Autonomous Community of Madrid, within the Schools Autonomy Framework:
Increased teaching hours in the subject of English language and smaller groups.
Increased teaching hours in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature.
Year 3 Secondary Curriculum
Spanish Language
Mathematics
English
Geography and History
Physical Education
Biology and Geology
Physics and Chemistry
Technology and Digital Skills
Music
Religion
Elective (choose 1):
The J. H. Newman School enriches the official curriculum with the following proposal, approved by the Autonomous Community of Madrid, within the Schools. Autonomy Framework:
Increased teaching hours in the subject of English language and smaller groups.
Increased teaching hours in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature and smaller groups.
Smaller groups in the subject of Mathematics.
Music is taught in English.
Year 4 Secondary Curriculum
Spanish language and Literature
English
Geography and History
Physical Education
Mathematics (A or B)
Religion
Subject pathways:
Scientific Pathway:
Humanities Pathway:
Elective (choose 1):
The J. H. Newman School enriches the official curriculum with the following proposal, approved by the Autonomous Community of Madrid, within the Schools Autonomy Framework:
Increased teaching hours in the subject of English language and smaller groups.
Increased teaching hours in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature and smaller groups.
Increased teaching hours in the subject of Mathematics and smaller groups.
The Music project is conducted in English.