deboc

Sorry Chilli33 thanks for the advice, I really should put my glasses on!!!

fionamw

Yeah, I've got that on the 'to do' list too
I think it (or yet another 'good' British/International School) is pretty near a Spanish private/public school, behind El Palo? ..... my head hurts!
By the time I've decided, son#2 will be handing me my zimmer frame

chilli33

Yes .... making an important decision like that puts your head in a spin

Have you been to see them?....that was what really made up my mind...and that school behind El Palo...is St Georges which also was recommended but it was too far as we lived in Coin... i assume you know the areas well? ..ish?

Are you restricted to area? and or money? Because Sotogrande is the Creme de la Creme...but very expensive...but they have got it all...if you lived near there you could pop to Safeway on Gib for your British groceries

fionamw

Has to be Waitrose, darling
It's not only the cost of the school, though, Sotogrande would obviously (?I guess?) mean a more expensive move than for example somewhere around but easy distance from Malaga. We're definitely too far out here, travelling would eat up hours each day.
(did you know groups of ladies nip to Gib for an annual pre-xmas shopping pilgrimage?)
pps never have yet, never expect to......

chilli33

Waitrose if only

First 3 years...didn't see the need ...then the kids started saying...so and so has Shreddies at their place...their mum goes to Safeway...etc etc...an cheese strings...

so i went ... but if your boy stays in spanish school then you probably won't get that....

anyway.......one christmas we got so fed up with watching Sky M&S adverts for belgium choc puddings??.........that was it!!

So yes...I did go in the last few years every 3 months...it was only an hour for me and i filled up with decent wine?? (i will be killed for saying that ) Sauvignon blanc?

Anyway Mark & Spencer was fabulous at Christmas for lots of stuff!!! See you can take the girl out of the uk but you can't take the uk out of the girl...that was my downfall...

i feel like i'm confessing and i'm not even religious

fionamw

[QUOTE=chilli33;6971736]Waitrose if only
First 3 years...didn't see the need ...then the kids started saying...so and so has Shreddies at their place...their mum goes to Safeway...etc etc...an cheese strings...
so i went ... but if your boy stays in spanish school then you probably won't get that....
anyway.......one christmas we got so fed up with watching Sky M&S adverts for belgium choc puddings??.........that was it!!

So yes...I did go in the last few years every 3 months...it was only an hour for me and i filled up with decent wine?? (i will be killed for saying that Sauvignon blanc?
Anyway Mark & Spencer was fabulous at Christmas for lots of stuff!!! See you can take the girl out of the uk but you can't take the uk out of the girl...that was my downfall...
i feel like i'm confessing and i'm not even religious

aha! sauvignon blanc! another of my soapboxes! NZ? Chilean? Aussie? SA? I wish too! However......(lest you haven't read the wine recommendations thread) there is a kind of acceptable sauvignon blanc at carrefour. 3.25, Rueda....can't remember more about the name, there's some in fridge but I'm too cold to move that far at the moment
and while in the confessional, I also buy (whisper it) waitrose cereals from Iceland..... ONLY because just about any 'standard' cereal familiar to UK
tastes has to contain 75% less sugar than the Spanish offerings.
and back to education, he's the only brit in his class but not the only one in school, so the 'he's got this, she's got that' mentality reaches us in the campo too
but cheesestrings? nah he can do with semicurado goats - seems to love it, anyway

chilli33

ha ha i remember someone telling me a few years back that Waitrose had opened in Malaga....i was estatic...till i went there but yes gosh cereals iin spain...sooo full of sugar! and cheese strings ...is there any cheese in them? My NBT is unwooded chardonnay...what a revelation...here in Oz it's excellent

So is your son in a state school or a private or catholic? is it big? how do you find it? my youngest used to love the spanish cooked lunches they did at his school so instead of picking him up at the same time as his brother he would stay on for lunch and an afternoon class...he really enjoyed it....

Does your son have any english lessons? or are you teaching him?

fionamw

Call me stupid (OH does, but that's a different story..) but I've only just twigged that Gold Coast is THAT gold coast. I was puzzling which costa that was
He's in local state, dont know how many kids total but classes so far of 17 or so. It's in the village, some 8km from home & there's even a bus from the end of our track so I get a couple of hours extra in the day not to-ing & fro-ing. That's my main concern about moving him to a coastal school but not moving house - the time travel (a tardis would of course be helpful)
thankfully he loves staying for comedor - which of course adds to my 'freetime'. They do apoyo - kind of revision - if you want your child to, after school, and there's multidesportes and futbol 7s & other stuff - some costs (peanuts including free tracksuit kit) some doesn't.
He's doing English - at school, part of the normal Spanish school curriculum
However since this summer I've tried to keep him learning by using the Oxford Reading Tree book scheme which I was familiar with from my older two children. He's able to read, about six months or so behind his UK anticipated reading age but I'm not too worried, don't want to confuse him too much. As Lynnxa said on another thread, it's easy to be worried when he starts trying to spell English words with Spanish phonetics but it's actually English that has the bizarre spelling!
I don't want to come across as paranoid or a pushy mum, just concerned that he has the chance to be challenged academically which may not be the case if he stays through the system at his current school. So any more posts from folk with first-hand knowledge of any of the coastal International/British/Spanish schools will add to my armoury

kayley

I can highly recommend St George's, which is at Pedregalejo.

I have a son there at the moment who is very happy and doing well. Another son also went there and is now at university.

The school has just had a new building built and the resources are excellent.

fionamw

Thought of PMing, but I know others are interested in detail. How have yours done with Spanish either pre-during-or post St George's? Uni where? UK/Spain? Could it have been either? Did you have much travelling to get to & fro?

kayley

They arrived in Spain as teenagers so their Spanish isn't fluent by any means but it's reasonable. My eldest son got an A at GCSE then dropped it in favour of other subjects and the youngest got a C at AS level.

They are going to uni in England. They don't have good enough Spanish to study in it at degree level, but children who have been in the system for longer have the choice of countryto study in.

There are school buses which pick up all along the coast. They go as far as Nerja to the east but I'm not sure about the other direction.

chilli33

Well that is the thing...our children were being educated at International schools and after that it was either a) pay for an international university or b) send them back to the UK...which my eldest did not want as an option...and i as i have three i was thinking...gee that could be a lot of money?

the other scenario is ... educate all through the spanish system and then they will go to Spanish Uni...Malaga is supposed to be excellent! and of course there is Madrid...!!

theoretically ...boys in "general".....do not listen as well as girls...and my experience of 5 years in spain..with spanish friends and expat friends that had been through the whole state spanish system ... led me to believe that this way suits girls more than boys...and currently my friend's girls , are doing well....the boys are not performing at possibly what they would be if they were in their native language schools.....IMHO

And this is due to the different ways they learn nothing else...!!

alexwehl

Hi Kayley, Chilli33, JoJo et al

Want to thank you all for such an interesting and informative forum.

I just registered as a member of this website and this is my first post.

I joined so that we could glean some information about British schools in Malaga.

I appreciate that the post referred to was this time last year from you! but we are possibly moving to Malaga and we are considering 2 schools, namely St Georges and the British School in Benalmadena. We have interviews with both next month in October.

It's a wonderful to have the opportunity to communicate with parents of children who go or went to either school and my wife and I would very much value your opinion rather than reading through the various school brochures.

I am not aware of the rules governing this forum (in fact never used one in my life) so I do not know if one can leave ones telephone number or email address here but no doubt someone will tell me...

I look forward to anyone who can tell us of their experiencs with either school as this is of vital importance.

Our son will be 12 years old and would join in year 8. He goes to a private school here in Cheltenham and does not speak Spanish but is familiar with the Costa del Sol and its environs as we take our holidays around here every year.

Wait to hear and much appreciated
Alex

fionamw

Our son's just started at St George's and my OH's business was across the road from one of Cheltenham's more famous schools!!
Happy to help, might be better done by pm so once you've made another post, pm me & I'll gladly let you know my two penn'orth.
Fiona

alexwehl

Hi Fionamw

Many thanks indeed for this promp response.

WOW! I love how this thing works.

As this is now my third posting , I guess I am now entitled to send/receive private messages and with in mind I will send you a 'pm' (I'm showing off the lingo now) requesting a little more of your precious time to chat about St George's et al.

Till later
Alex