Introduction: Despite data showing the relationship between depression and decreased school performance, there is a lack of studies with Spanish children. The objective of this research is to examine school performance as a function of depression and gender. Method: Participants were 658 Spanish children aged between 8 and 12 years, 49.6% male, who completed the Child Depression Inventory and reported their grades (the number of courses evaluated as Excellent and Failure) and the number of school years they had repeated. Results: The results of Multivariate Analysis of Variance show that children with depressive symptoms have poorer school performance (more courses evaluated as Failure, fewer courses evaluated at Excellent, and more repeated grades) than those without symptoms. Differences by gender were only found in the number of repeated grades, higher in girls than in boys. None of the variables studied showed differences in the interaction of depressive symptoms and gender. Discussion and Conclusion: Early detection of depressive symptoms at schools is needed in order to prevent problems in academic performance.