The Arenas Internacional Schools (AIS Group) began to develop in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1940. It was at this time that Lucía Pérez and Antonio Ojeda, two dedicated teachers who believed in the importance of high quality education, embarked upon an exciting project which commenced with the founding ofColegio Arenas. Their work was continued by their daughter María del Carmen Ojeda and later consolidated by the third generation of the family.
In the 1970s, Colegio Arenas became one of the first bilingual (Spanish-English) schools in Spain, and the very first in The Canary Islands. Their status as pioneers for providing studies in both Spanish and English, together with their belief in a high quality, holistic and balanced education has been praised by the Canary Island Government. Today, more than 80 years later, Colegio Arenas is an institution at the forefront of education in the Canary Islands.
The ideology of Colegio Arenas is humanistic and non-denominational, focusing on academic excellence where the students are the protagonists of the learning process and the education of young people to become capable of contributing to change in the society in which they live.
Since the relocation of Colegio Arenas to Los Tarahales - Siete Palmas (1976), many years have gone by during which the spirit that drove its founders has continued to grow. We still strive to achieve excellence in all aspects of the education we provide, through innovative teaching methods and cutting edge technology, as has been proven to be successful in the majority of countries where the education system thrives.
Our firm belief in the creation of a unique educational project and our desire for this project to reach the different corners of the Canary Islands, has meant that several other schools have become part of the AIS Group over the years. As a result, in 1995 the Colegio Arenas Internacional in Lanzarote was founded, and in 2004 the Secondary and Baccalaureate education of Colegio Arenas was relocated to Arucas so as to create the Colegio Arenas Atlántico.
Furthermore, this period saw the creation of the Arenas Albéniz Private Higher Music Conservatoire in 1995, where formal music education is offered to both Arenas students and students from other schools. In 1998, Sulis Manor was added to our project to provide our students with an open residential centre in the English city of Bath where they can take part in academic programmes and courses in the United Kingdom.
As experts in modern languages (Mandarin Chinese, German and French), the decision was made to create the Arenas Saturday School, an English school held on Saturdays designed for both Arenas students and students from other schools. In addition, the Arenas Academy was opened in 2017 as a language academy for students from 6 years old, university students and adults, providing guaranteed academic excellence based on more than 40 years of experience as being the first bilingual school in the Canary Islands.
In 2005, the AIS Group schools began the implementation of the methodology and Programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB), which are considered to be the best educational programmes in the world. In 2017, the official certification for these Programmes was finalised in all stages of education, from Preschool through to Baccalaureate, which in turn has converted our schools in the first and currently the only International Schools in the Canary Islands.
In 2018, the “Aqua & Sports Centre Gran Canaria” will be added to the AIS group to provide sports facilities set out over a 5000 metre squared area of land which will include a multi-purpose sports ground and indoor swimming pool, together with a therapeutic swimming pool, changing rooms and multi-purpose sports hall.
Recently, the infant school “Arenas Playa Blanca Nursery School” joined the AIS group.
ARENAS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL GRAN CANARIA
