Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum (as of about an hour ago), and myself and my husband, along with our two sons (aged 5 months and 2 years 5 months) are going to be moving to Alicante in January 2010.

There are several areas that I would love to hear your thoughts on:

1) We think we are keen to live in the El Campello/Mutxamel area - ideas/advice? A villa we think... Pool or no pool? How much should be expect to pay for 3 or 4 beds?

2) We have looked at the British School of Alicante for our eldest when he is three. What do you think of it?

3) Are there any mother and baby/toddler groups in the area? If so, can you let me know contact numbers etc for these?

I thank you all in advance for reading my post and sharing any of your wisdom with me!

Suggest no pool unless protected with the very young children. Suggest you use local nursery schools as they will start the integration with the Spanish people and language much better.
Read any local english language newspapers from the area. Round town news covers the whole of the Costa Blanca, and is available on line. You should find out about baby/toddler groups in there.
With the current economic climate you should be able to get the type of villa you are looking for for around 6 -800€ a month, maybe closer to the bottom end depending on the position.

Hi, welcome.

You don't say if you intend to rent or buy?

I would have to disagree with Mike, I think a pool is essential. I would also (as per many other threads on here) suggest Spanish schooling and not international.

El Campello front is quite pleasant.
I'd also go for Spanish school, based on what Ive seen and heard over the years - you will have bilingual children very quickly

Hi,
I used to live in Busot, just round the corner from there, and put my daughter in the local school (she was 11 when I came over) she settled very well, a year later though we moved inland and she still went to a spanish school. Daughter is 16 now is totaly fulent, but she has gone back to live in the UK to go to college..

I did consider putting her in the BSA, and did make an appointment to see them, I told them I was flying over specially for the appointment, only to find on arriving that the had teacher had decided to go out

A pool, I had one when living there, and dont have one here and I do miss it.

El Campello, is nice, plenty of shops, bars etc... beach is nice the only problem is its a pain to park the car, even with the new car park.

Jen

Hi Tallmum, I have sent you a PM.

She wont get it! (Newbie)

*ugger...

Oh well get your post count up then
I live just outside Mutxamel, can't help with the schools but know of some places to rent that might do you.
A community pool may be the way to go, that way you control when the kiddies use it.

My son went to the British School of Alicante when we moved here almost 6 years ago he was 15 and in the middle of GCSEs, he then went on to do A levels as he wanted to return to England to university. Classes were taught in English. One disadvantage, was his friends came from such a wide area that he didn't have any friends locally where we live and it is difficult if they want to have friends around after school as it usually entails alot of travelling. On the other hand our daughter was 7 and she went to the local state school and is now fluent in Spanish with lots of local spanish friends.
As your children are so young if they were to go to state school they will learn the language quite quickly.

Thanks everyone for all your advice. To clarify a point in my original post, we are looking to rent a place to begin with, and maybe long term. How did you all start out?

Some really good suggestions about schooling. How different is the Spanish education system to the British one, say if we ended up back in the Uk after a few years?

For those of you out there with families, what are the best things to do on a weekend with children under 5? Can't wait to get to the beach, but I guess we will not be doing this every day...

Thanks again!

Hi,
May i ask why you are moving to Alicante?? Do you have employment already??
I would siggest this would have a big bearing on any answers given...
Rob

Thanks for your questions. We are moving because hubby's job is relocating.

For a three to four bedroomed villa with swimming pool and near the beach in that area, you will need to pay around 1,000 Euros a month, or more. It’s not really a ‘British’ area, not even in El Campello, but it’s a nice place to live and within easy reach of Alicante city.

Well personally I would not have my kids go to state school here, but, they are great if you want them taught in a portacabin, mixing with the dregs of society and are happy with the high failure/dropout figures of the Valencian Community. Normally the argument on this forum is that if they don't go to state school they will not integrate but that is just a red herring. My kids are perfectly integrated and they don't go to state school. There are many options out there so don't listen to the misinformed who believe the only two options are State and International. BTW there is an excellent grant maintained trilingual school in Mutxamel (2 hours English, 2 hours Spanish, 2 hours Valencian every day) and starting in January would allow you to sidestep any selection process.

If you are willing to live 5 kilometres inland you could drop this to around 400/500€.