BARCA_no1

Hi,
Im new. Me and my girlfriend have just started thinking about moving to spain. My first thoughts are about schools. We have a baby on the way (should be here any day now) so we would be starting her in school in spain from the word go. BUT, what is best?? Int/british schools or start her off straight into spanish school. Has anyone been through this with their child. Does anyone know roughly how much Int schools are?? My spanish is non existant so I worry about the communication between any state school and ourselves.

Any thoughts or personal experiances you can share would be great. Like I said we have only just started thinking about moving so its very early days. Also any tips on the best way to learn the language apart from being there welcome.

Thanks

Wade

littlelambfound

Hello Wade,
Perhaps your first thoughts might be about maintaining you and yours over here. But, if that's all taken care of...then....
School doesn't legally start here until 6 or 7. But there is an expectation that they'll be in kindergarden from any age above 6 months.
So you have lots of time to see how the land lies re schooling. Different horses for different courses. Much depends on the individual schools themselves, along with their staff and pupils. My 3.5 year old mighty atom goes here: http://www.abc.es/hemeroteca/histori...554047709.html It's private, around 450E per month, quite religious (apparently they give them sweets to make them pray!). Though the teacher did inform me the other evening that my son was glad Noah was dead, as "the bugger hadn't allowed the dinosaurs on board, whilst taking the mosquitoes and bad bacteria". A tear of joy welled up in his fathers loving eye!

snikpoh

This topic has been discussed to death on this forum in the past.

To save re-inventing the wheel, do a search for schools or international and you should find the relevant threads.

lynnxa

my personal recommendation is state spanish school, especially at such a young age - they start at 3 in most areas

so many families are returning (either themselves or just their kids ) to the UK (and other countries) at the moment simply because they can no longer afford the private school fees, and the kids have reached an age where it would be nigh on impossible to settle into state school because of the language difficulties.

fionamw

What he said - then if you're still sure there's stuff you'd like to ask, come back & ask it, I'm sure you'll get help

BARCA_no1

Hello Wade,
Perhaps your first thoughts might be about maintaining you and yours over here. But, if that's all taken care of...then....
School doesn't legally start here until 6 or 7. But there is an expectation that they'll be in kindergarden from any age above 6 months.
So you have lots of time to see how the land lies re schooling. Different horses for different courses. Much depends on the individual schools themselves, along with their staff and pupils. My 3.5 year old mighty atom goes here: http://www.abc.es/hemeroteca/histori...554047709.html It's private, around 450E per month, quite religious (apparently they give them sweets to make them pray!). Though the teacher did inform me the other evening that my son was glad Noah was dead, as "the bugger hadn't allowed the dinosaurs on board, whilst taking the mosquitoes and bad bacteria". A tear of joy welled up in his fathers loving eye!

Hi,

Bless the little darlings they say the funniest things lol I clicked on the link however my spanish isn't reat so I didn't understand it lol Is 450E a month about average do you think or is it impossible to tell?

thanks.

Wade

fionamw

Hi, allow about 6-7000€ a year and you'll be in the right ball park.........it rises as they get older.......

Tuppney

Hi Wade

My husband and I moved out here to Spain when my daughters were 4 and 2. We moved here as teachers working in International schools so had to make the same decision as you. Our eldest daughter could have gone to the International school where I worked for free or to an state spanish school. We opted for a state spanish school for the eldest and private spanish nursery for the youngest. As we are both English and they would be speaking English at home decided that it would provide them both with an excellent introduction into spanish. It was the best thing we ever did! Both are completely fluent and bilingual now. May be useful to know as well that there is form you can fill in to claim money for a percentage of nursery fees. When I claimed it it was about 120€ per month. They are entitled to this until they are 3 years old. This is normally when they start school anyway.

My husband and I both teach in International schools but personally we feel for our English children the spanish state is best, specially if moving here at a young age. Hope this is of some help?

BARCA_no1

Hi Tuppney,

Thanks for the post. It has given me confidance boost. Especially as someone I was speaking to today so near enough the same thing about their kids picking up spanish so quickly.

Thanks again

Wade

fionamw

Hi Wade, I don't know if you did do a search on BE/Spain re schools/international schools etc., but if you do you'll find loads of stuff on all the kind of things you're talking about - it's just about everyone's experience that the younger you put them in spanish school the better, easier, quicker they learn.
There are, however, other factors you might like to consider for a way down the line when they've been in the system a while and you're contemplating their English reading & writing, or what to do about exams, etc.
Researching the forum would be a good start point.
Good luck

lynnxa

if you send your kids to spanish school & still keep up their reading & writing in English, they can sit their English (I mean the subject) GCSEs & A levels at an exam centre here in Spain - our local International schools take 'externos' just to sit the exams. I am considering putting my 13 year old in for a spanish GCSE in November, and certainly English & maybe maths when she is 16 (or possibly before if I think she can do it) - thus giving her a wide range of qualifications.

The Bachillerato is recognised as equivalent to A levels in any case.

littlelambfound

One thing to watch for is the teaching in regional languages. Most regions are pretty autonomous and are very keen to keep their regional identity, and with it, their tongue. For example, here in Valencia, all schooling with state education is done in both Spanish and Valenciano. There is either the PIF or PAF system, with one starting the schooling in say, Spanish, but with the gradual introduction of Valencian, and the other a reverse. Both systems end with the same examinations. In Catalunya the same, but with Catalan.
We were lucky in that we wanted solely Spanish, and found a private school, which for reasons unknown (or rather known only to Opus Dia), fulfilled our wants.

sarah1990

hello, i lived in spain for 3 years when i was younger, i went to a spanish school, i would def recommend placing your children in spanish schools, because sat for example you moved bk to uk in 15 years and your child would have the skill of speakin fluent spanish maybe catalan depends on area of spain and this could lead to a brilliant well paid job when there older. and they will never lose english because they have english lessons and he/she will be speakin english at home and there are plenty of english children out there who they can also chat with! spansih skools defaintly!"

Rotor

Absolutley, if you want to intergrate dont send your kids to an international school,very few engish speak/read spanish 100% fluent and a spanish education is the best way to learn ,as they get older they can have private english litrature lessons if needed.

Rgds

Rotor

cricketman

Some good advice on this thread. If you really want to integrate into the Spanish culture and way of life (some people may not want to, it is a personal choice) then imo it is essential to do 2 things:
1. Send your children to Spanish school. If you are in a touristy area check that the school actually has 90%+ of Spanish speakers. If not the English speaking kids may hang around together and not pick up the language. If you are in a v.Spanish area even if your kids are 11-12 they should pick up the language within a year or two. Any later than this, then yes it will be difficult to go to Spanish school as they wont have time to get to grips with the language and pass the Spanish exams
2. Watch Spanish TV! Dont even think about getting Sky. Yes Spanish TV is not as good as English TV, but there is some good stuff on there (and lots of sport!). You will learn about why the Spanish do or think certain things and it will be great for your language skills. Plus, you will watch a lot less TV in Spain anyway as there are so many things to do out of the house. Plus for those worried about the long advert breaks, TVE are going ad-free in Nov!