Spain Education

Traditionally, the typical expatriate coming to live on the Costa Blanca has been over retirement age, but today more and more young couples or families with small children are making the move. When you have lived in the same area all your life, deciding where to send your children for their education is straightforward as you are familiar with reputations, how schools have changed over the years and you probably even spent several years there yourself. However, when moving to a new area, and especially a foreign country, choosing a school can be a slightly longer process.

Many foreign families in Spain choose a private education for their children, especially in one of the many international schools where pupils study in a cosmopolitan atmosphere encouraging greater tolerance as far as race, language and culture are concerned.

However the Spanish Education system has been subjected to a number of reforms in recent years. In most parts of Spain schooling is now available to children from as young as three years old, although the obligatory age for starting school is five years. Children are admitted once a year in September, according to the calendar year of their birth. This means that children born in January are the oldest in their class, as opposed to September as in UK, and children born between October and December actually start school before their third birthday. The usual registration period for all ages is in May for the following September, and is usually done via the local town hall, and sometimes by applying directly to the school.

Continue to Infant & Primary Education