Hola all!

Apologies if this has been asked hundreds of times, but our situation is quite specific and I have already done some searches in the forums already and not come up with much.

We are considering moving to Spain in the near future and currently live in Costa Rica. Our kids (10 and 8) are virtually fluent in Spanish and my husband and I certainly can get by.

We are looking at moving to an area that the kids can have a good bilingual education (Spanish and English), have access to the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme in either a state or private school. In an ideal world it would also be an area that is still Spanish (not too touristy/expaty), expensive and by the coast, I know we aren't asking much!! But the prime importance is the school for them. We will be looking to work remotely so are relatively flexible for work.

Any suggestions for schools, areas, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You can search here for schools in spain which offer the IB programme. You can filter by state/private and by programme.

https://ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst myself and BEVS moderate Europe. Please read the Site Rules Site Rules British Expatriate Community adhere to them so that the site runs smoothly. Moderators are there to ensure that the rules of BE are maintained. 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

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria might be of interest

It also depends on whether you are happy to pay for private schooling or wish to try the state funded IB schools

If you are paying privately then I can recommend the Valencia City area - There are private IB schools there, it's very Spanish and property isn't too expensive. It has a beautiful coast line and is a very green region... oh and it doesn't want to leave Spain like it's northern neighbour LOL

It's a LOT more expensive than other Spanish cities and is VERY touristy!

Also it's part of a region that doesn't even know if it wants to be part of Spain.

Well, just depends if you're in the city directly/province and what one would consider cheap. There can be huge differences between small areas for Groceries etc. if you know where to go. A place like Tordera will obviously be a lot cheaper than Sitges. Of course being in Catalonia, language is another thing. I don't know if other regions in Spain are totally Spanish, or want to be Spanish either. In some parts you'll find more Moroccans & Romanians, not to forget British too.

Would the children have to learn Valencian/Catalan languages in the more northern regions? Something to consider

Yep, that's where I´d check first. It's worth noting that not so many Spanish schools offer the IB all the way through. Most just do the Final Years Programme. I know the SEK colleges do all the years, but not many others..