lambert

CAN ANYONE HELP ME ON THIS?
IS THERE A TIME SCALE I NEED TO FOLLOW WHEN ENROLLING CHILDREN INTO SCHOOL OR COULD I TURN UP AT THE SCHOOL AND THEY COULD START STRAIGHTAWAY?

glad 2 b back

They finish in about two days for three months summer holidays. You need to submit your enrolment forms before they break up for summer. In order to get them in for September. Although you may be lucky in September if the school you have chosen has spaces.

Also be very carefull when choosing schools for your children.

lynnxa

you need proof of an address with either a rental contract or an escritura if you own your home.

take said proof of address with passports of you & the children......several photocopies of everything.........to the Ayuntamiento (council offices)

sign on the padron......... .they might send you away with forms & tell you to come back or they might let you do it there & then

tell them you need copies of the 'empadronamiento' to get the children registered for school..they will tell you where to do this

there will be other things you need to register them for school but this can vary area to area........here, among other things, the children have to have a medical

where we live they say you have to register in April/May for the September, but in reality you can go any time....as EU citizens they have to educate your children.........we actually did this on a Friday one January & they started school on the Monday



NB. this may be in the process of changing with the new 'residency' rules that have recently come into effect

lynnxa

ours finish next wednesday

where we are you don't really get a choice...it's done on catchment area much the same as in the UK

glad 2 b back

I forgot about all that as it was so long ago that she was enrolled. It was a bit nightmareish as I was staying at my mums place for the first month that I lived in Spain.

lynnxa

it does sound complicated doesn't it................but it isn't really!

glad 2 b back

yeah the holidays are a draggggggg. Luckily this year she will only have six weeks off, I've organised singing and drama workshops for 3 weeks of the holidays and the other three weeks we will be coming to spain to put the house on the market.

I agree about the catchment area when she first started school the "good" school was full, so she was just placed in the other school. When we moved to Cartama she was placed in our local school which was quite nice, only 36 children lovely teachers nice community. Then the townhall closed it down and sent her to the hell hole.

lynnxa

we have 3 primary schools in our town...mine go to the newest one which also has the largest percenatge of foreigners

we had heard both good & bad about this school, but actually had no choice in the matter

we are now pleased that they are there - some parents who chose a home on the basis of it being in the catchment of a more 'spanish' school are trying to move their kids to ours...it is still new but is producing a good educational standard....at least equal to, & better in some areas than the more established schools

one upside of the number of Brits in the school.....from year 3 the english speaking children are taught english at the same level as in an english school

one downside..........many kids who don't have spanish as their first language never speak spanish outside the class - and becuase there are a lot of other foreigners in the area they have friends of their own nationality, and never really become fluent in Spanish so their grades may suffer

and in the long summer hols...they don't speak a word of spanish!

in all honesty this happens in the other schools here too....even those with many less foreigners, so I don't think the school can be held responsible for that - my kids actually are fluent (according to their teachers)..........but we mostly watch spanish tele....they have spanish friends, I speak spanish, (and indeed we often speak spanish at home)

and I loooove the long summer hols........though to be honest in the UK I was usually tearing my hair out after a couple of weeks!

glad 2 b back

I used to love the holidays so long as I could get to the beach everyday. Once we moved I was quite cut off and because I can't drive I was stranded when my other half was working. It was a twenty five minute walk along a dangerous road to the train station, a train every two hours, carrying lunch towels etc in that heat was tiresome and then changing trains in Malaga in all it could take an hour and half or more to get to the beach.

The only problem that lies with so many English kids together in a school is that they tend to all stick together (only to be expected as they speak the same language) sometimes alienating themselves from their spanish peers. My friends daughter in Alhuarin said that in her school the English kids don't speak to the Spanish kids or vice versur and are always fueding, that is quite sad.

Also I used to always encourage my daughter to hang around with Spanish kids (if they would speak to her)as in her first school most of the english kids left and went home. Out of 15 British kids in one class two years later there were only 2 left. Plus a lot of them were pretty mixed up, their parents were bar owners working long hours, the kids left up late etc they didn't know if they were coming or going.

lynnxa

that's exactly why we encourage ours to have spanish friends........the english kids either don't stay long, or don't want to mix!

we don't have the feuds in our school, although it has to be said that the kids don't mix that much either - at least most of the older ones don't, the younger ones do more so

we are lucky in that we live on a gated urb with very few full time residents (mostly english though), with the vast majority of the houses & apartments owned by spanish families who use them for their own hols..........so my girls get to play almost exclusively with spanish kids all summer, and only really speak english when they are in the house (if then)

j0197

I have just been through all this with my local schools. I got the forms in on time, but my daughter didnt get a place at the local school, she is 5th on the waiting list.

Then between June 1st to 8th was matricula when you had to go back with some more documentation and photos.

I decided to go to another school in another area where a new school is being built. Prsented my original forms and documentation.

They cant tell me if I have a place, just go back in September...

Its quite annoying as this year I really wanted my child in State Public School, and if I dont get a place then I feel I am going to be forced to send her to a Private International School where they do have places. Not my first choice as I would like my daughter to stay in Spanish Education for a few more years at least.

spain

I think (just as everything in Spain) it will vary from area to area and depend on the number of available space at the particular school

my experience was;
we visited the school on a Wednesday and he started the following Monday - with minimal fuss and forms to complete ( it was the middle of the school year - February)

battlezone123

Yes it really depends where you live. I visited the school last September on a Monday and they started on the Tuesday. I did not need to go to the council. They have been there nearly a year now but the school has asked permission from me for the oldest two boys to repeat the year. Even though they are practically fluent in conversational Spanish (they are the only foreigners at the school) they are having trouble with science and history subjects because of the language.

sunshine sue

Depends on which area of spain, age of child.
We moved over March with 11 year old. visited various schools.We visited his school one Wednesday, given place thursday started monday. He has gone into year 5 so as can pick up on Spanish. The age of child determines whether or not they will settle into Spanish system easily the older they are more difficult.
sue