My partner will be commuting back here for work (half the week, here being East Sussex in England) so work for us is not a problem.

If you could advise me on decent schools, facilities are and the lowest crime spots are that would be greatly appreciated !

I have in mind about sending my girls aged 8 and 10 to a spanish school but am aware this would be throwing them in at the deep end if anyone has experience of Spanish and English schools that would be great !!!

Many Thanks

Do a search this forum at the top of the page, there have been lots of threads on schooling, also do one on Spanish tax as you may have problems with time being spent in Spain and paying UK tax.
You will have to look into health cover also, this has been covered recently too.

Sorry too mention the work issue but.

Whilst today work isn`t an issue, have you factured into your plans for the possibility that work becomes an issue.

Most people who move to Spain would like it to last for a long period.

One thing that is sure in life, nothing ever stay`s the same.

You only need to ask OAP`s who retired on the pensions benifiting the exchange rate.

There are many returning expats who committed to being Euro Commutors, not only Spain but all of the EU.

You may find purchasing a second home and commuting to Spain for months at a time would be more wise, especially in uncertain times.

A lot of Euro commutors complain that the travel novelty soon wears off.

You may also find north Spain a better lifestyle choice, the south although sunny and warm, is more different than the cosmopolitan north.

I`ve never been to Southern Spain, my choice was La Rioja and Catalunia.

I`ve never regretted it, but my choice was dictated by work mostly.

As regards your Girls your 8 year old will be fine 10 year old may be more difficult ,My Daughter went at just over 7 and where we were only one girl in class spoke English so she did not have an alternative but learn Spanish ,at that age Kids seem to pick it up easy ,my daughter is now fluent.At that age there is not a lot of pressure on kids to learn fast but your 10 year old is coming in at a higher level and may struggle to keep up (we had to send our son to British school as he was doing GCSE's ),saying that he even picked up a lot of Spanish ,Kids are pretty resillient and learn fast. I would worry more about them missing their UK friends,Quite a few in our area have gone back for this reason ,my Daughter now hates the thought of going back to the UK even for a holiday ,with the exception of clothes shopping ,she is now 12.

Reference schooling. I disagree slightly with Hondon Voyager although, obviously, all children are different.

We have twins who entered the Spanish system at 8 years old. They are now 10 and speak Spanish AND Valencian very well. They are passing all exams! They have no other English in the School.

My eldest entered the system at 10. Again he was thrown in at the deep end and had no English children to talk to. He is now 12, he went up to secondary school with no problem This year, however, and because we chose to put him into a church (private) school, he may be held back a year. This is nothing to do with him but more a reflection on the fact that state schools (generally) in Spain are no where near as good as private or church schools!

Now is the time to do it - for the children's sake, don't delay or you should wait until after they have left school.

To be honest this all sounds a little scary! I don't know what your grounds are for coming here but it is not something to do lightly, I certainly wouldn't consider doing something like this without having been to the country several times first 'and at different times of the year' or be in a very fortunate position that it it all went rear up the cost involved would not be important. Maybe you are asking so you can try an area several visits before making the move.

You need to think of the two little girls also, you will be taking them away from their friends, their schooling and then throw them into a new life to maybe pull them back out of it again 6 or 12 months down the line. My sister lived here years ago, even went to school here for 3 years and she would dearly love to come back to live but will not... until her kids finish school. Although she loved it here when she came to live with our parents she obviously felt the change in schooling and friends was important enough not to interrupt her kids schooling to come back and live here 'and believe me she and her partner really want to live here'. OK, the schools here are different and are generally fairly good now but I think it was the upheaval from her friends 'although she quickly made others and the fact that it was towards the end of her secondary schooling. I am not saying this would be the case for your kids and I am not trying to teach you how to suck eggs but it is certainly something to think about.

The next problem is people will tell you Elche in Alicante is great while someone else would tell you it was the pits, the same of Fuengirola and anywhere else, at the end of the day it really does depend on your family and what you like, really, make some trips here first before considering...

Another problem you will very probably have is work, there is no work here, or very little anyway and I don't see any change in that for quite a while to come, in fact I see things on that side getting much worse than they are now no matter what the PSOE say.

So, I don't mean to seem to try and put you off but I think it is important that this is something you think about... a lot before contemplating, there is more sun here and that can be great but if you have no work in a place you don't like then the sun's not going to make a lot of difference.

Good luck on what you end up doing... but research your possible move 'in depth' before doing it.

Refreshing change from the "come on down the kids will be fine..they'll get used to it" sort of posts.

In contrast 8-10 year old kids don't exactly know what is happening in the world nor indeed should they,parents have to lead the way ,even though sometimes it doesn't seem right to the kids.My wife and I could see what was going on around us and we took the step to move ,when we see what is going on now where we left we think that is the best decision we have ever made, neither of my Kids have had any complaints .