david_sleight

Hi, can anyone suggest a reasonable priced bilingual English speaking school?
Looking to move to spain (prefer South) permanently but cant afford €8000+ a year.
Any suggestions, thank you.

bob_bob

Don't think your going to find one for less to be honest, £8K+ seems the going rate. Others here with children who know more will no doubt be along to help.

david_sleight

Thanks for your reply. Hopefully I can find somewhere quiet a bit cheaper 🤞🏻

spouse of scouse

This website seems to have some good information and links https://www.expatica.com/es/educatio...chools-101449/b

dmu

Hi, how old are your children? If they're of Primary age, then why not a Spanish State school? They would quickly pick up the language and culture, and be prepared when it's time to go up to Secondary. On the other hand, an international school would better suit over-10's, but they would take more time to become bilingual. You must imagine how they see their own future - would they want to go to Uni in the UK or in Spain?

Chipmonk

I would have thought 8.000€ is pretty much the going rate. If you want to remain in spain then it is better for your children to attend state schools so as to learn Spanish. Bilingual schools sometimes have higher percentage of foreign students who have english as native tongue the result being your children simply hang out with groups that speak English as it is the easiest ( and most logical thing) to do and their spanish remains very weak.

Moses2013

Can't comment on schooling but there is a school not too far from where we have a holiday home. Saint George's School - Presentació
€8000-€9000 seems to be the normal rate.

chopera

You'll find many state schools in Andalucia and Madrid regions (maybe others) refer to themselves as bilingual schools, because they teach a lot of lessons in English. Depending on the age of your daughter, there might not be any need to send her to a British/International school as she should be able to pick up enough Spanish fairly quickly.

bob_bob

You have to think of higher education in the future too. Spanish universities don't show in the top 100 worldwide IIRC? No guarantee children will stay and live in Spain so to be honest, just my opinion but I'd want an international school leading to at least 'A' levels or better still International Baccalaureate to keep uni doors out of Spain wide open.

chopera

Somebody else on this forum mentioned their child attended Spanish school until the age of 14 and then switched to a British school for iGCSEs and A levels, and ended up at Oxford. So it's possible to make the switch later on and save a bit of money. Also some private Spanish schools teach the IB. On top of that, uk universities will accept the Spanish Bachillerato qualification anyway.

​​​​​​So I think the main reason for sending a child to an international/british school is because you think they'll receive a better education there, rather than opening doors to a UK university.

david_sleight

We are looking to start school in summer 2022 when my daughter will be turn 10 in August.
At the end of the day I want the best education for my daughter but we can’t afford €8000 a month for her education.
Any suggestion of good bilingual Spanish schools near the southern coast where she will get both English and Spanish lessens but without the hefty price tag.

Chipmonk

Are you EU passport holders? If not 2022 is post Brexit. No freedom of movement. You will need a visa for 3rd country. If 8,000 is unaffordable how will you meet the financial requirements for the visa ?( income around 30,000 per adult plus x amount for kids)

chopera

Based on what others have said on this (and other) forums, a 10 year old should be able to attend a Spanish school and become fluent easily enough without it affecting her schooling. But it is near the upper age limit and does depend on the child. If you can expose her to Spanish before then it would really help. Of course if you can get her into a Spanish bilingual school then she'll have the advantage that about half the lessons will be in English, so it'll be easier for her to adapt. The downside to this is that even though the lessons are in English, she'll have a higher level of English than everyone else in the classroom (including the teacher) so it might not be so challenging/interesting for her.

Researching Spanish state schools is difficult as there isn't that much information out there for comparing them, and what there is is in Spanish. On top of that, the better ones tend to fill up. At the age of 12 most Spanish children start at secondary school (instituto) so really you might be better of targeting a bilingual instituto and not worrying so much about which primary school she attends beforehand.

Moses2013

I thought that one of the main reasons was that many parents don't speak Spanish. How are they supposed to help their child with homework and so on?

bob_bob

Yes I think overall they will. How many children do switch? Very few I'd guess. My main reason for going for an International School would be language and mixing with English peers which will help in their adjustment to a UK or other English speaking country they move to

The IB is a fantastic approach to education, our seven and twelve year old grandchildren are on that route at their School in Wales and doing extremely well.