Chris Baptiste

Hi everyone,

I am planning on moving to Spain from the UK with my family next year. We are still currently researching areas to move to however, Denia has caught our attention as well as Xabia. Looking for a job will not be an issue as my partner and I currently run our own company in the UK, and we will continue to do so from Spain and service our existing and new UK clients.

We have two children age 6 and 4 and as you can imagine, finding the right school for them will be our biggest challenge. I am unsure if we should put them both into private international school or a Spanish state school? We would like for them to become fluent in Spanish but at the same time we do not want their English to suffer. I should add that my partner and I plan to learn Spanish. I have read a number of posts from people who attended private international schools as a child who were not fluent in Spanish and subsequently, additional Spanish lessons were required once they finished school.

Below I have put together a few questions around the above.

Has anyone sent their kids to a Spanish state school?
How long was it before they started speaking Spanish?

I have heard that the Spanish education system is much more challenging with a lot of homework than the UK education system. Is this true? Generally how do UK expat kids cope with this? I appreciate this will vary from child to child.

The ultimate question around Spanish state schools is on how we can help and support our children with their homework as it will be all in Spanish. Are there provisions for this? Equally, we are very involved in our kids education here in the UK. If we decide to send our kids to a Spanish state school, I am worried about losing all involvement due to the language barrier.

Are there provisions for additional English lessons outside of the Spanish state school?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

P.S. Apologies for the length of this post

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

snikpoh

My 3 children all went to a state school until they went to secondary. At this point they went to a concertado.

They had ZERO Spanish when they started at the ages of 10, 8 and 8 (twins). I would say within 6 months they were doing OK in English (of course), Spanish and Valencian - don't forget that most areas will have another language to learn as well (Valencian, Catelan, Basque etc.)

I have personally tutored my children in extra English so that they now have Trinity qualifications at levels C2 and B2.

Best of luck.

cricketman

In my opinion, if as a family you are planning to live your life in Spain, then you should all speak fluent Spanish

Imagine if a family was moving to the UK but nobody spoke English - people would call them crazy

Of course you can send your kids to an international school, watch only English TV and surround yourself with English friends. That is your choice. But then really you would only be coming to Spain for the sun, which is a bit sad really

Spanish schools arent the best. Children have to be studious and relatively intelligent. But then again the international schools in Spain arent particularly good either

If your children went to a Spanish school then within 6 months your children will be speaking good Spanish and will be fluent within 1 year. At an English speaking international school then many of the English kids never get very good at Spanish

By the way, the choice is not simply between State and international schools. There are also many Spanish private schools where 50% of the lessons are given in English and 50% in Spanish. That actually might be a better option for you especially as you will get a lot more chance for feedback from the teachers. At a state school, you will be lucky to get any feedback

But in either case, speak Spanish! What kind of example are you setting to your children if you do not do so? Again, if you take it seriously then within a year you should be conversational standard, and within 2 years fluent. But it requires a bit commitment

chrisjolly

Interesting question and this has been discussed before. I have had two children go partly through the Spanish system and I have worked in several International Schools so I have experience on both fronts. It is very difficult to answer as it depends on your long term plans.
If you are making your new lives in Spain for the long term then put your children into a local Spanish school with all their difficulties, homework in Spanish, not always extra help for non Spanish speakers, poor teaching standards and a very structured approach, lack of aspiration and rigor. The system works with children who are of above average intelligence but slow learners will undoubtedly suffer. Many children we know who went through the system here went back to UK for University and stayed there but there are obviously exceptions.
Private schools are all profit first but can be very good. Your children could potentially go through their whole school years in a private school and gain exam results in IB and/or GCSEs. They will socialize with your Spanish neighbours but they will always be apart. To be fair they will be anyway whatever you choose. Of all the children we have known and that is hundreds some have stayed in Spain, made good lives here and have found work, but the majority have returned to the UK. Both ours did!
It is a big decision and you are making it for them. Good luck whatever you choose. Perhaps you could see how it goes and then take it from there.

cricketman

It is a question of integration

If a child arrives in Spain at age 5 and is fully integrated into society, then by the time they are 18 they will probably see themselves as Spanish, with British parents.

If they arrive in Spain at age 5, but continue to only speak English at home, only consume English media, listent to only English pop music, mainly speak English at school and mainly have English friends, then at 18 they will go to the UK to find somewhere where they fully belong because Spain will still seem like a foreign and strange land to them

Chris Baptiste

Thank you cricketman for your post as this is very helpful and I totally agree with the points made.

We would like to immerse ourselves into the Spanish culture and our intention is to settle down in Spain. My partner and I intend to become fluent in Spanish as Spain will be our new home. So much so, we all (including the kids) intend to start learning Spanish from the UK before we arrive next year.

Chris Baptiste

Thank you snikpoh for sharing your experience with me.

As we are looking at areas that seem to speak Spanish and Valencian. I have researched that both languages are very different and I worry how we all will all cope trying to learn two new languages at the same time. I am sure the kids will pick both languages up quickly as kids are resilient if exposed to the right environment. However, I am not sure how my partner and I will cope with helping our kids with their homework in two foreign languages. How did you get on with this?

chopera

Getting a family fluent in Spanish before moving to Spain is an unrealistic target, and really a waste of time and energy. It might even be counter-productive as the kids might reject the Spanish language. By all means expose the kids to Spanish in a fun and engaging way, but there's no need to break your back becoming fluent before moving to Spain. Besides, how long does it take to become fluent while studying in the UK - 5 years maybe? (if you can stick at it that long).

Children as young as 4 and 6 will pick it up very quickly with full immersion, so why spend an extra 5 years in the UK getting them fluent when they can do it within a year in Spain? As for the parents? They'll have enough on their hands anyway so while of course they'll need to study Spanish, a target of becoming fluent within 2 years is unrealistic. IMHO Learning a language is an experience to be enjoyed rather than rushed.

Tadd1966

Hi
Your children are the perfect age and will have no problems in Spanish state schools

Would suggest the following

1. Hire a private tutor for a couple of hours per week for approx. 6 months and take this tutor to the school to meet the teachers and ensure they are following the same curriculum and identify your children's weaknesses etc. i.e. get them working together

2. Use the same tutor for yourselves separately and focus on grammar as your kids will need help with homework etc.

3. Speak English at home and teach them yourself get them reading English books etc.

One note of caution the area you are talking about many schools teach in Valencian as a 1st language and Spanish second check. This is typical the further north you get in the Valencia region.

Further south Spanish is the main language and Valencian 2nd

You will probably have to register your UK company in Spain - talk to an accountant

Good luck

lucilastic

My daughter was just about to start secondary school when we came to Spain.Our elder daughter stayed in England & was in the Civil Service having been to private school previously.So we thought it only fair to allow this daughter private education.However it was a disaster & I spoke with the International Schools authority who closed it down as the people were unqualified!At that time she had to be admitted to a Spanish State school having reached 12 years old or remain in private education so she was enlisted in our local school.We did get her a private tutor for Spanish lessons & the English language teacher told her that she would get a smack if she was found speaking English until she could converse properly in Spanish.Try that approach in UK!Of course the biggest problem is that the 2 educational systems are so different.On the Continent it is usually the baccalaureate system,as found in Scotland for their"highers",but not in England although there they are sometimes measured on that scale.(I follow the progress of both my English,Scottish & Spanish grandchildren & my niece has worked in both private & state schools in UK)You have to think of where their future lives beckon.Gcse`s or Scottish Highers won`t cut much ice with employers if they remain in Europe unless with a British company.And the reverse may be true also.One thing you will quickly discover is that their schoolpals are from many different nationalities & having parents who speak their own language plus Spanish,they are multi-linqual often by age 10!!All down the coast from Gandia-Alicante there are well established,good English & foreign schools.You will be welcomed if you visit some to enable you to make a choice.Good luck

chrisjolly

I agree entirely. Our daughter met another English girl in her Spanish school and they never spoke Spanish. She hated it. Even now in her 30s she has an aversion to Spanish.
When you consider what we like to say as integration it really is almost impossible. We will always be different just as the Indians, Pakistanis and Afro Caribbeans in the Uk. It is a myth that humans can completely be fully integrated in a foreign culture. We moved from Sussex to North Devon and were considered foreigners for about 15 years!

lucilastic

Hi Chrisjolly,So sorry your daughter didn`t enjoy Spanish.My daughter ,now in her 40`s,went on to marry a Spaniard,has Spanish children,ran her own business but after some 30 years recently went back to Sussex where we previously had a business in Hove.I have also lived in Devon,Paignton & Exeter.You are lucky if after 15 years you were NOT still a "grockle"

chopera

Interesting story. I too have heard about the odd private school "cowboy outfit" here in Madrid, so I always advise people to check them out as thoroughly as posible, but even so you can never really tell. In Spain state school teachers generally get paid more than private school teachers, and have all the perks of being a civil servant, so people should never assume that the best teachers in Spain migrate towards private schools.

Regarding qualifications, a good compromise might be the International Baccalaureate, which is recognised everywhere. My plan is to send my kids through the Spanish system until 16, and then consider the IB. But that's some way off yet. I think for the OP's situation, it should be reiterated that their kids are young enough to adapt to a Spanish school without any problem. That wouldn't be the case for a 12 year old.

bob_bob

Pisa tests: UK lags behind in global school rankings - BBC News Spanish Schools are not doing well at all