# Primary schools in velez Malaga?



## Zoe emadi (Aug 29, 2015)

Hola! 
We're hiping t love here in feb 2016..any suggestions for primary schools? Children aged 10
And 8 not speaking Spanish...yet! 
Ideally school with some English kids woukd be comforting for them. 
We live betwen Sadella and Arenas...
Any advice would be amazing as we just don't know where to start? Thank you! 
Zoe


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Hi, your children would really benefit from Spanish lessons now as it will be a bit of a culture shock if they understand nothing. The classes will be entirely in Spanish apart from English classes but here they don't start until the children are 11 years old and English speaking kids are normally excused from the class!! Our boy attends an excellent Spanish state school in Torrox Pueblo, Colina del Sol, and is very happy there. He started when he was three years old and is now fluent in Spanish. When he was first enrolled the process began in April with the final registration happening in August. I think in this region, at least, all schools follow more or less the same timescales so you have missed that part. However, the only thing you have really missed is getting the children into the school of your choice. If schools still have spaces then your children will be welcomed. Before that you need to all have NIEs and also be registered on the Padron as the schools only receive funding for each child once they are registered with the local Town Hall. 

Do you both speak Spanish or are you having lessons? It might be an idea to spend one hour a day only speaking Spanish. We did that and it was a lovely hour to look forward to - total silence... Only joking but it really did help especially for our son.

I don't know the schools in Velez-Malaga at all but we have a Spanish friend visiting this afternoon who lives in Torre del Mar and I'll ask her if she knows. Worth noting however, that her daughter attends the same school as our boy as it has an excellent reputation and people travel up to 30 kilometres to have their kids attend this school. We didn't know how good it was and had a choice of two schools and picked this one only because the parking was far easier.

It might be an idea to think about starting your children just after Easter (if that is permitted) so they will have a little while adjusting to life in Spain and also will give you a chance to look at the options available. I am also assuming you've ruled out International Schools.

Good Luck!!!


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## Zoe emadi (Aug 29, 2015)

Hi Thrax 
Just a quick question; 
If we were to come here during the English half term end of October would it be worth registering with the Pardon then? Even though we are not residents. 
We have our NIE as we bought a house here last month. 
Then we can come back in April and start the registration process? Also would the schools be open in late October? Or do you also have half terms here? 
We have booked some Spanish lessons for when we get back. Iam hoping to find some work as a fitness trainer or just rent out part of the house for a few weeks in the summer. It's a little nerve racking coming over with no jobs but I doubt we will find work from The UK. We just have to look out for opportunities while we are here I suppose. 
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 
Zoe x


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Zoe emadi said:


> Hi Thrax
> Just a quick question;
> If we were to come here during the English half term end of October would it be worth registering with the Pardon then? Even though we are not residents.
> We have our NIE as we bought a house here last month.
> ...


Only residents should register on the padron/ empadronarse. It's usually a simple process requiring anything from 10 mins to a couple of hours of your time. If you don't feel up to it you can get a "gestor" to help you out (general helper for paperwork) You can do this at any time during the year. You can also look for a school for your children at any time of the year and they will be given a place, although places may of course not be available at your school of choice. There are no half terms because the holidays at Christmas and Easter are longer.
You said any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, so here goes...
I presume you know, but you are taking a remendous risk taking your children out of school half way through the school term in both countries. This would be difficult with in the same country, but not speaking the langauge not only will learning be difficult, but they'll also be socially impaired. The children will learn Spanish, but it will take a time, even more time if they don't have Spanish speaking friends and kids of 8 and 10 are not the same as kids of 3 and 5 langauge wise or in their social needs.
Schools here are different with different skills valued, different timetables, different costs involved (books and materials can cost 200 - 500 € per child). 
But the real red alarm is not having work. You should explore the realities of your husband finding work and more importantly under what conditions, before you come here to live. If I were him I'd come and visit all the gyms/ fitness centres in the area and find out what's what
You can start by looking at the FAQ's which have info about education, taxes, paperwork, buying, renting, etc and also here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain


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## Zoe emadi (Aug 29, 2015)

Thank you for your reply..
We are thinking of making our move for the beginning of the new term sept 2016, but planning it from now. 
We are giving ourselves about 9 t get organised and have a plan of income etc...
I'll visit the website. I also did a Tefl course couple of years back and gave an MA degree so hopefully some teaching would be good also. 
Thanks for the info..
Zoe


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Hi, the general feeling on this site is that children who are 11 or 12 can really suffer learning the language but, of course, it does depend on the individual child. Moving out at the end of the UK school year would be so much better, giving your kids around 6 or 7 weeks to get a bit of a feel for the place. Our son starts school on 10th September (year 3) after an eleven week break.

As for residency, which you and your children must have before they can enrol, you need to prove and income of €600 per person per month as well as having healthcare provision in place, which can be private healthcare (cheaper here than in UK). As PW said, coming here with no work prospects lined up (at the moment) is very worrying especially if you aren't fluent in Spanish. Some on the forum will tell you that the cost of living here is the same as UK but our own experience tells us it is about 50% of the cost. You may well find some teaching work but the pay is pretty poor. As I have said many times on here you must arrive with your plans 100% in place and then be prepared to change them completely. You say you bought a house; I assume with no mortgage attached which will certainly help matters.

Schools here do not have a half term although there are many one day holidays which are region or town dependant so they will be open in October. I spoke to my friend on Sunday but I'm afraid she doesn't know much about the schools in Velez other than to say the one in Torrox is so much better which is why their 5 year old is in our son's class. It is quite likely that your children will find one or two English speaking classmates but remember they will be pretty much completely fluent in Spanish, so get working on the Spanish lessons.!!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I have lived in Vélez-Málaga for almost 9 years and I don't know any British people living here at the moment who have school age children, so I doubt you will find many British children in any of the local primary schools. I can't tell you anything about the relative merits of any of the schools save to say that many local Spanish parents seem to like to send their children to our nearest concertado (semi-private) school which is next to the Iglesia de San Juan de Bautista.

I see advertisements regularly for TEFL teachers required for various language schools here in Vélez and in Torre del Mar, and I think you would definitely have a better chance of getting teaching work than you would fitness training. All the classes and instruction at the gym I go to in Torre are taught in Spanish, and I think it will be the same at other local gyms, for the simple reason that the vast majority of clients using the gyms are Spanish themselves. Whether the teaching work is sufficiently well paid or whether you would be able to get enough hours to enable you to get by financially, I don't know.

From what you said in another post about the location of the house you've bought, with long bumpy tracks to negotiate, one of your biggest problems is likely to be being able to fit any work you may get around having to do the school run twice a day, and quite possibly more if your children are to have the chance to take part in out of school activities or socialise with other children outside school.

PS This is the website for the concertado school in Vélez:-


http://www.colegio-sanjose.com/


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## Zoe emadi (Aug 29, 2015)

Thank you all for the information. To be honest myself and my husband totally get it! Theres so much to think about and do! We only wish it was easier! Ha ha! I suppose timing is of the essence when folk decide to move out here and of course so is opportunity. There's no way we will find work here from the UK so it's going to be tough to prove 600 euros income...although we'll be renting our house in the UK? 
I think for now well just have to carry on as we are with one foot over here and if it's written in the stars we will find the opportunity to live in this wonderful country. We want it real bad and I guess we want it while we're still young enough to be able to work and enjoy a quality life with the kids. We're working really hard in the UK for just about to pay mortgage and live off...the weather is awful the schools are packed up and the health care...well???
I know there will be hiccups along the way here but we hiccup all the time in the UK...at least we can breathe here! My husband spends half his day stuck on the M25 traffic he's 43 and already has had one heart scare! we have private health insurance in the UK costing £120 a month! But it takes three weeks to book a gp appointment to get referred in the first place. 
The grass probably isn't greener on the other side but I think a challenge and calculated risk is worth taking to achieve a dream. So Spanish lessons here we come and time to send out some CVs I tjink! You just never know!


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## Zoe emadi (Aug 29, 2015)

Also...it would be interesting to
Know how you guys got to be here? If you don't mind sharing that is..
Did you find work here or from back home? 
Zoe


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

When we arrived we didn't need work as I have a pension but after 18 month we found work - or rather, it found us - but we were very lucky. I teach maths and physics privately and my wife has discovered she is a landscape gardener which is entirely different from her work as a financial advisor in UK!! If I didn't have the pension we'd be stuffed but the work we have found has made life here considerably easier.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Zoe emadi said:


> Also...it would be interesting to
> Know how you guys got to be here? If you don't mind sharing that is..
> Did you find work here or from back home?
> Zoe


We bought our house here in 2003 but didn't move over permanently until late 2006. I wasn't prepared to move until we had sufficient resources to live on for the several years before our pensions became payable, and nothing I've seen for myself or heard from other people who moved over and have had to return to the UK since because of the lack of work has made me think that decision wasn't the right one.

One family we know who used to live here have just gone home after spending their annual summer holiday at the house they still own here. They had lived in Spain, first in Gran Canaria and then here, for years and both their children were born in Spain and attended school here in Vélez. The husband did work in various jobs for several years (but often without a contract) but the wife could never find work that allowed her to take the children to school and collect them, but still paid enough so that she could pay for childcare after school and for the school holidays (13 weeks in the summer). They both speak fluent Spanish. When the financial crisis hit, the husband's work dried up altogether and very reluctantly they had to return to the UK. Since then the wife has gaiined a teaching degree and now has a permanent job as a primary school teacher in the UK. Career wise and financially she is so much better off there, but is still desperate to come back here if she can, once her now teenage chidren have finished their education in the UK. She is only too well aware of the lack of job opportunities here, not only for herself but also for the children's future.

Sorry if all this sounds very negative, but that, unfortunately, is how things are.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Zoe emadi said:


> Thank you all for the information. To be honest myself and my husband totally get it! Theres so much to think about and do! We only wish it was easier! Ha ha! I suppose timing is of the essence when folk decide to move out here and of course so is opportunity. There's no way we will find work here from the UK so it's going to be tough to prove 600 euros income...although we'll be renting our house in the UK?
> I think for now well just have to carry on as we are with one foot over here and if it's written in the stars we will find the opportunity to live in this wonderful country. We want it real bad and I guess we want it while we're still young enough to be able to work and enjoy a quality life with the kids. We're working really hard in the UK for just about to pay mortgage and live off...the weather is awful the schools are packed up and the health care...well???
> I know there will be hiccups along the way here but we hiccup all the time in the UK...at least we can breathe here! My husband spends half his day stuck on the M25 traffic he's 43 and already has had one heart scare! we have private health insurance in the UK costing £120 a month! But it takes three weeks to book a gp appointment to get referred in the first place.
> The grass probably isn't greener on the other side but I think a challenge and calculated risk is worth taking to achieve a dream. So Spanish lessons here we come and time to send out some CVs I tjink! You just never know!


Love the way you have reacted to our well intentioned information.
You're right, you never know, but to me it seems like you need to dig around for more information beyond the fact that Spain is a lovely country in many ways. Spanish classes is a good place to start and you'll find a lot of info here if you do a search, but to get good enough to work in Spanish most of us need years...
I am a teacher and I got a job before I came, but that was 30 years ago and Spain really has changed so much since then that my experience in some ways is hardly relevant. There's also a LOTTTT of info on here about teaching so look up TEFL or teaching English or the like.
Good luck


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I don't need to work - I wouldn't have come to Spain if I was needing work, not at this time. I'm now retired after a career in education and working as a translator/interpreter. My partner owned businesses.
As people have said, life is tough here, no comparison to the UK. unemployment is still at 22% nationally, 30% in some areas. Pay is low and hours are often long. 
To be able to register on the padron you do need an income f 600 euros a month per person including children, so family of four must show 2400 euros income a month. Some areas require an additional sum of several thousand euros as savings. This must be paid into a Spanish bank account and I'm not sure but I think it must be from legal employment. You also have to show you have comprehensive private health cover.
If you teach English for which you'll need a recognised qualification and you may be required to register as autonomo (self-employed) . That costs around 230 euros a month after an initial discounted period and qualifies you for health care. 
A good level of Spanish is needed for most jobs and that takes a while to acquire . 
All that sounds rather discouraging and sadly it's a true picture. However...it's difficult but not impossible to find jobs. A lot of things here get done on a 'who you know' basis so it's important to make contacts.
A lot of people talk about something called 'the Spanish dream' but the fact is that for the over five million Spaniards who are unemployed, it's more a Spanish nightmare.
But you have a UK house to which you can return if things don't work out and you'll find it easier to get work in the UK than Spain, that's for sure. Tens of thousands of Spaniards have left to find work in the UK and Germany.
But you need to find out for yourself how things are. There's no substitute for first-hand experience.


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