dmu

Kids' welfare takes priority for me, and not only my own. Even for French children having spent all their life in France (like my own) and gone through the relatively cosy Primary school, it's a culture shock to "go up" to Secondary school. I've seen many French children struggling in 1st year Secondary because they haven't got sufficient reading and writing skills and can't cope, and they stay down a year (or at least did in my time). Foreign children without any French, however motivated they are, are in an even worse position, as they haven't got French-speaking parents nor friends from Primary for support.
It's a universal problem, moving pre-teens and teens to another country without their knowing the language (and culture). For some it's easy to adapt, hats off to them, but for many others, it must be a different story. As said, it depends on the kids.....

MikeJ

Nobody said it was easy, but some kids will rise to the challenge and succeed. My friends' kids had no Spanish when they started and their parents still only have basic Spanish. But they encouraged and supported the kids, as did the school. It must have been very daunting in the beginning but now they are thriving and enjoying life in Spain. We must stop wrapping our kids in cotton wool and help them make their own way otherwise we just perpetuate the 'snowflake' generation.

bob_bob

They will be around 12 when they get to Spain with no language skills, is it realist to expect them at that age to learn the language and culture? I don't think it is.

Some years ago the NHS Trust I worked for employed @65 nurses from the Philippines. When they arrived many had children with them aged between 3 and about 14 and their knowledge of the English language was limited. The young ones did pick up the language but our local primary school had employed a language teacher just for them. The older children really struggled and several went back home to complete their education.