KATE-C

We Are A Couple With A 5 Year Old Looking To Move To Valencia. Although I Have No Doubt My Husband Will Find A Good Job I Am Worried That I May Not Be Able To Find Much For The School Hours. Do Not Mind Cleaning Or Bar Work Although I Am Qualified In Certain Areas. Could Anybody Give Me Advice On How Easy This Is To Find And Would I Be Advised To Work For English People. I've Heard That It May Be Difficult To Get Work? Are There Any Parents With Young Children That May Be Able To Give Me Any Advice With The Schooling. Thanks Very Much. Kate

Costa-Convert

Kate

Firstly I have a little boy who is also five, I am moving to Spain in July this year and after much research decided that the best option for us was an international bi-lingual school. The reasons for this are that I look at my local state school and to be honest it was not an option! You do not have a choice on state school's in Spain your child goes to the nearest so look at the nearest school first.

There are many jobs for cleaning and property management from what I understand. My husband and I have our own business and my part of it can be done in Spain because it involves computer work.

I know there are jobs available in the catering industry but I think you need to know some of the language first really this alone could make it difficult for you to get a job.

I hope I have been of some help and if anyone knows anymore about local schools that may be helpful to you, my knowledge is limited because for us it is not an option.
Good Luck Jo

coralsoft

Have you both seen the following threads?
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=290931
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329925

There are often state, concertado (a bit like grant-maintained) and both Spanish + International private schools around (in order of cost). Like the UK, state schools depend upon the area and what the different groups in the local population choose to do. Around here (Madrid), they tend to be full of immigrant and poorer Spanish family offspring, because the middle classes pull out the stops to get into the concertado or private schools.

Workwise, unless you get something lined up, you might be glad of the time available to sort out all the issues of moving to a new country. There's an awful lot of queuing, form-filling and chasing around to do on top of everything else, so whilst it's a good idea to have some plans, it might be better to leave finding actual work until you know the lay of the land and can make some contacts locally.

KATE-C

THANKS ALOT GUYS. IVE JUST CHECKED OUT THE WEB ADDYS YOU SENT. WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO SAY, APPROX, HOW MUCH A PRIVATE SCHOOL IS A TERM? I WOULD MAYBE FEEL BETTER PUTTING MY LITTLE BOY INTO A BI-LINGUAL SCHOOL UNTIL WE'RE SETTLED. A GOOD IDEA?

Costa-Convert

Kate

The school my son is going to be going to is 370 euro a month for 12 months so 4,440.00 euros per year plus books and lunches no more than 5,000 euros a year which is roughly £3,600 a year so termly you are looking at about £1,200 which is a lot less than I pay in the UK for a private school. At the moment I pay £7100 a year. So its marginally above half for me. But it may hurt if you have not been use to paying for private education.

I hope that helps.
Jo

KATE-C

Thanks. And Can I Just Place Him For A Couple Of Months Or Do I Have To Pay For A Whole Term Or Year Upfront?

lynnxa

My two girls went to International school for the first year they were here then THEY asked if they could try Spanish school! The older one was happy where she was tho the younger one wasn't, and both wanted to give it a try.
A year on they are both happy in their Spanish school & both fluent in Spanish.
I was concerned that they would forget how to read English but my nearly 10 year old is studying English at school now. We are lucky I think that there are a lot of English in our area and in the school, so the children who have English as a first language study English separately from the others & are learning English at the same level as they wouyld have been in England. If this hadn't been the case we would have got private English lessons for them.

Fees were about as stated before. We paid termly, but I believe another local International school insists on payment for the whole year upfront!