BobSmith888

Hello all,

We are planning to move from overseas to Benidorm in October.


We have a 4 year old English speaking child that we want to enroll in the local Spanish speaking state school as soon as we arrive and get our residence papers sorted out.


Does anyone here know if there will be a problem getting our child enrolled in a Benidorm state elementary school in late Oct or November? Or would the child be forced to wait until a new school year in September 2022 to start?

regards.

Chipmonk

There will be no problem although 4 is too young for primary so infantil is what you would need. You will need to sign on the padron and then get your child registered in your local central salud for a medical check. You dont need to be registered as residents although it would help. If you dont speak Spanish don't e expect them to speak English take a translator out of courtesy.

DLC

It can be done, the information is here (in Spanish). Scroll down a bit to download the PDFs.

First PDF shows the paperwork you'll need:

• Child's health coverage card (public or private).
• They expect a libro de familia or a birth certificate as ID for the child, but you don't have a libro de familia and the birth certificate must have the Hague Apostille and probably an official translation. They may accept the child's TIE instead. + photocopy.
• Parents' TIEs + photocopies.
• 4 passport-sized photos with the child's name on the back.
• Volante de empadronamiento - available at the town hall.

Second PDF is the application form. If it's done in the same way as where I am, you would go to your first choice of school and they would help fill in the form (if you look lost enough) and you would also list your other choices on the same form.

Third PDF is a list of schools with free spaces per school year. It's out of date but still useful because you can put the names in Google and get the addresses.

Chipmonk

You dont need to have residency ( TIE) to enrol your child as as all minors have the right to education irrespective of there immigration status. I enrolled my child here in state primary school. I needed to show we were on padron ( child also) you dont need to be registered at a doctor's. Any child gets that irrespective of status. The doctor will perform a school medical. Admittedly me and my wife both speak Spanish and were familiar with the system which helped but I assure you it is not difficult and your child will be allocateda place.

DLC

I don't remember anything about proving medical coverage either when I got ours enrolled admittedly ages ago, but it's there in Benidorm's PDF.

What will probably happen is if you take it they won't ask for it, but if you leave it at home they will.

Rosemary

One thing that comes to my mind is whether the child has to be registed with a school by a set date in order to attend. As the family will be arriving after the term has begun could this be an issue for them?

Rosemary

Chipmonk

Actually now I think about it this is Infantil and it is not compulsory so maybe you dont and a right to it. It could be a first come first served situation. My son only started at primary so not sure what the situation is for nursery

Just looking at name and the fact that this is a British forum and the poster has asked about locsl help for NIE and residency on another post wondering if they are UK nats?

Chipmonk

The doctor simply does a medical certificate. All minors have free healthcare so insurance is not required

DLC

The link to Benidorm's website is for enrolling children outside of the usual period:

Proceso de admisión a centros públicos y concertados fuera del plazo ordinario

Irmelin

We have enrolled our children in 3 different schools in Spain, twice in the middle of the year. You will need a padron certificate and a birth certificate (do not need to translate or apostilled) in Benidorm they will have plenty of English kids and will know what is on the certificate. (Our school before last was inland near Granada and I was asked to point where the mothers and fathers names were on the certificate). Only in Javea we were asked for a health card. The best option is to choose the school and contact them directly, they will send you a list of required documents. Please note that Benidorm is in Valencia Region therefore public state school may require to teach in Valenciano rather than Spanish