Counting on a High School in which to study Bachillerato in Santomera, without having to go to Murcia, had been a dream for this town since the forties. Being Manuel Campillo Laorden major of Santomera, in April 1963, a meeting with several other majors of the Eastern Region and representatives of the Ministry of Education took place, to try to make that dream come true.

After a complicated negotiation, in 1964 the opening of a Delegated Section of Instituto Floridablanca in Murcia was approved. Thanks to the cession of land by Antonio Murcia and the López-Briones brothers, and after the ministerial signing of the Order of opening of the School, in October 1965 our Centre started its path, with a building with capacity for 649 students, in 16 classrooms.

After six years operating as a Delegate Section, the 5th February 1971, the Council of Ministers granted the Decree of the Ministry of Education and Science by which the Centre became  the National School for Medium Studies of Santomera. Since then, the school has grown up and developed, offering studies of Compulsory Secondary, Bachillerato and VET, in Medium and High degrees.

IES Poeta Julián Andúgar has always been an innovative school, being one of the pioneers in the implementation of the Bilingual Programme, which has been working since 2002 with an enormous success. Besides, its concern for improving has been reflected in the active participation in several European Programmes, counting nowadays with the Erasmus Charter 2014-2020 and having been selected as Erasmus+ Center both for School and Higher Educations in the year 2014.