# Elians British school La Nucia Spain



## speedbird507

I am about to live inLa Nucia, Alicante area of Spain. Does anyone know any good or bad things about Elians school. Perhaps there is a better school near to La Nucia. Thank you


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## angela1

speedbird507 said:


> I am about to live inLa Nucia, Alicante area of Spain. Does anyone know any good or bad things about Elians school. Perhaps there is a better school near to La Nucia. Thank you


I very briefly looked at Elians as I was thinking of moving to that area but decided to remain in Scotland. It is a stunning school with wonderful grounds and classrooms. It has small class sizes and no discipline issues. Something one would expect in a private school. However, that's as far as I got in my research. I didn't manage to compare results but I understand there is a website listing these, I'm afraid I don't know it but if you do a google search I imagine it will pop up.

I'm sorry I cannot be of any more assistance.

Angela


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## speedbird507

Thank you for your help Angela


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## Jewel003

I just took a look at the website. weirdly enough when i googled Elians school spain, I didn't get the website address, in fact I got several commercial pages in the first few lines, and even this forum question, leading me to believe that the school website does not receive many hits. 

When I finally found the website address, and got onto the site, I found the home page to be crammed with all kinds of advertisements, making me feel as if the school is more a commercial churning machine than concerntrating on teaching the kids. It looks messy and cluttered, again, imo making the school appear to be run in the same way.

it also says that they start teaching kids from 4 months old; yep you read it right, 4 months old. I take it they mean that they have a child daycare center there where parents can drop off their kids during the day but again, the school comes across very um...intent on milking money or at least not focussed on the most important thing, namely Education.

then the last thing that bothered me was the fact that they do NOT mention school fees, anywhere. 

To me, though maybe I am exaggerating, a school that doesn't publish its fees has something to hide. I spent most of my primary and high school in international schools, and have never been to one where they weren't upfront about the fees. (i know this coz later on in life I googled all the schools i went to  )

Let me stress, I don't know the school personally, have never been there and am making these comments based on how I view international school websites combined with a work point of view. It could be a very good school that just offers way more than a normal international school does but it's definitely not one I would send my children to. 

Just my two cents, 






speedbird507 said:


> I am about to live inLa Nucia, Alicante area of Spain. Does anyone know any good or bad things about Elians school. Perhaps there is a better school near to La Nucia. Thank you


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## lynn

Jewel003 said:


> then the last thing that bothered me was the fact that they do NOT mention school fees, anywhere.
> 
> To me, though maybe I am exaggerating, a school that doesn't publish its fees has something to hide.
> 
> Just my two cents,


None of the international schools here on the Costa del Sol advertise the fees on their websites. I wouldn't hold that against a school as it seems the norm here. If you contact them by email they will usually send you further information about fees and any discounts available.


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## Jewel003

Well, Xatvia intl college does as does the European School in Alicante to name a couple but you are right not all of them do. 




lynn said:


> None of the international schools here on the Costa del Sol advertise the fees on their websites. I wouldn't hold that against a school as it seems the norm here. If you contact them by email they will usually send you further information about fees and any discounts available.


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## xabiaxica

Jewel003 said:


> Well, Xatvia intl college does as does the European School in Alicante to name a couple but you are right not all of them do.


do you mean XIC - Xabia International College?

yes they do, as does Lady Elizabeth & I think the Firs


so do others on the Costa Blanca


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## jojo

I've never seen fees advertised, however the ones I've looked at all have a very similar price structure. All around 750€ ish a month for years 10-12 (thats not age)

Jo xxx


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## searcher48

My daughter goes there. I am happy with her progress. Most classes there are about 70% spanish students which means her Spanish is very good. Yes the school is a business, but the teachers work hard for the students and there is a happy atmosphere. Alternative private schools in the area are
Sierra Bernia in Alfaz del Pi (a bit cheaper than elians, but poorer facilaties)
Costa Blanca school in Albir.
Lady Elizabeth secondary in Benissa with a 45 min school bus from Albir. more expensive but bigger than Elians with more subject choice for IGCSE and Alevels.

SCHOLA EUROPAEA in San Juan near alicante with school bus from albir and maybe la nucia. 4 parallel classes each year with 30 students. each with different "first language" german spanish English and french. leads to IB. discount for second and third child from same family.


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## angela1

I have discovered that teachers at Elians send their own children to Elians. I would therefore imagine that it is a very good school.

I am afraid I have no further information.

Angela


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## jojo

angela1 said:


> I have discovered that teachers at Elians send their own children attend to the school. I would therefore imagine that it is a very good school.
> 
> I am afraid I have no further information.


Hhhmm, or it could be that teachers get a sizeable discount or even free places????!! 

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica

jojo said:


> Hhhmm, or it could be that teachers get a sizeable discount or even free places????!!
> 
> Jo xxx


just what I was thinking

most if not all the private schools have that arrangement


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## angela1

If I was a teacher and knew that the school I worked in wasn't that great, I would never send my own child there. I would send my child elsewhere. Fees would not be part of my decision.

However, I do take on board your comments and it may be that others don't hold the same view of education as I do.


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## jojo

angela1 said:


> If I was a teacher and knew that the school I worked in wasn't that great, I would never send my own child there. I would send my child elsewhere. Fees would not be part of my decision.
> 
> However, I do take on board your comments and it may be that others don't hold the same view of education as I do.


You could be right, but children of a certain age (teenagers!!) may not necessarily be suited to any of the state (spanish speaking) schools and then there's very little choice. I'm very precious about my childrens education and have recently had "issues" which I wont go into!! Ultimately you dont really know what you're getting til you get there and try it!!! 

Jo xxx


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## angela1

I agree. The main reason (there were others!) I did not relocate to Spain was education. Overall I came to the decision, we as a family were better suited to remaining in Scotland. Sadly, I am trying to accept that my daughter will never be fluent in another language despite sending her to Spanish and French classes here in Scotland. I feel that unless you were brought up for a period in another country you can never be truly fluent in that language. Having read many of your posts Jo I'm sure you know what I mean!


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## jojo

Education is a funny business really!! Inspite of all the league tables, SATs etc in the UK and all the "good school/bad school" stuff in Spain or anywhere else for that matter. Ultimately it very much depends on the other children in the class IMO! In the main, those children who's education is being paid for tend to be better because their parents think education is important enough to pay for and do a fair bit af preparation and nurturing at home. Of course, thats not always the case either way, but its a reasonable rule of thumb. But again its back to the other children! A class full of bright, eager to earn children is going to rub off on your child, just as the opposite is true. Kids spend a huge amount of time at school and thats where they gain their values and friendships, of course there is also more to education than academia!! There are social and confidentce issues which are all part of the learning process!!

Its a minefield really and who knows what you're going to get when they leave!!! All you can do is hope and try to do what you think is best. They all grow up in the end tho and their happiness is whats important I guess!

I'm rambling, sorry lol

Jo xxx


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## angela1

No Jo, your not rambling. In fact, I agree with you. At present, our local state school is the best in the country. It comes out top all the time. It's in an affluent area with mainly professional parents. House prices are high as a result. Therefore, people who value education want their children to go to that school. It is literally bursting at the seams and cannot take any more placing requests. The school takes the credit but really the parents are putting a huge amount of effort into the child's education. If the child appears to be slipping the parents pay for a tutor. The school benefits in all of this.

As a parent I hope that my child grows into a confident, well rounded happy adult. She wants to be a time traveller. I've said that's fine, she'll need to be a Dr first, just like Dr Who!!!


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## angela1

Just wondering if you eventually decided on a school and how things are going?


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## sebarau

*ex-student*

the things you dont know until you're there:

i went to elians from year 3 to year 11. ( since it opened )
-it obviously has HUNDREDS of faults, most of them from being such a brand new school, and ALO of their rules seem to be bordering on the ridiculous and clearly just another way to make money. ( which they will attempt at EVERY moment possible )
eg, buying a stupidly expensive uniform for children, then have them told they must wear a full length "babi" on top at all times ( unless the camera is out )
- also note, for older girls... tights must be BLUE ( black is annoyingly picked up on ) and you must wear the 50€shoes provided or just accept that every single day you will be nagged..hopefully this will be dropped, since all the boys get away with it ...
-when things are ordered through the school, everything takes MONTHS ! .. heating wasnt put into the lower secondary rooms until summer... i'll always remember huddling round the bunsen burners... 
- SMALL LIBRARY
- RIDICULOUSLY small classrooms, they simply did NOT starting building in time ( or enough ) to fit the amount of students they wanted in each class... ( i hear they're attempting to build a "wall" in part of what was the libray and making that a classroom .. or just splitting old ones in half...
- parking is a NIGHTMARE ! i always arrived 10 - 15 mins early because otherwise it takes AGES to get in or out. just bring a book to read 
they're REALLY tight and - as someone once put it - " left right left right". i.e everything must be done perfectly and look like they're fantastic... you get good at faking smiles for the camera.
food is... SOMETIMES nice, but if you're picky... you'll learn to love the salad ( thougfh i still thik the lettuce tasted funny... ) OH, but thats only if you're over year 7.. before that, yep, you MUST eat it even if your kept in ALL break. I remember DREADING lunch times... ( and dont bother asking for pack lunches, we have for years, if they introduced it, they'd lose money.. AND THATS not going to happen )
-ICT room is NOT reliable, often crashes


ON THE PLUS SIDE !
-EXCELLENT and friendly teachers, at no point - with any of MY teachers in secondary - did i feel i was missing out..( even though our english books STILL havent arrived ¬¬ ) and as a results got fantastic igcse results that im extremely proud of.
-i made some really good friends in there and never really saw any bullying.
- 2 tennis courts and a football/basketball court that students can use durnig break
- i got A*'s in english, spanish and german. which are introduced to students from an early age ( i started in year 6, but i think its even earlier now.. )
i felt supported and as if they wanted us to do well as much as we did.


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## xabiaxica

sebarau said:


> the things you dont know until you're there:
> 
> i went to elians from year 3 to year 11. ( since it opened )
> -it obviously has HUNDREDS of faults, most of them from being such a brand new school, and ALO of their rules seem to be bordering on the ridiculous and clearly just another way to make money. ( which they will attempt at EVERY moment possible )
> eg, buying a stupidly expensive uniform for children, then have them told they must wear a full length "babi" on top at all times ( unless the camera is out )
> - also note, for older girls... tights must be BLUE ( black is annoyingly picked up on ) and you must wear the 50€shoes provided or just accept that every single day you will be nagged..hopefully this will be dropped, since all the boys get away with it ...
> -when things are ordered through the school, everything takes MONTHS ! .. heating wasnt put into the lower secondary rooms until summer... i'll always remember huddling round the bunsen burners...
> - SMALL LIBRARY
> - RIDICULOUSLY small classrooms, they simply did NOT starting building in time ( or enough ) to fit the amount of students they wanted in each class... ( i hear they're attempting to build a "wall" in part of what was the libray and making that a classroom .. or just splitting old ones in half...
> - parking is a NIGHTMARE ! i always arrived 10 - 15 mins early because otherwise it takes AGES to get in or out. just bring a book to read
> they're REALLY tight and - as someone once put it - " left right left right". i.e everything must be done perfectly and look like they're fantastic... you get good at faking smiles for the camera.
> food is... SOMETIMES nice, but if you're picky... you'll learn to love the salad ( thougfh i still thik the lettuce tasted funny... ) OH, but thats only if you're over year 7.. before that, yep, you MUST eat it even if your kept in ALL break. I remember DREADING lunch times... ( and dont bother asking for pack lunches, we have for years, if they introduced it, they'd lose money.. AND THATS not going to happen )
> -ICT room is NOT reliable, often crashes
> 
> 
> ON THE PLUS SIDE !
> -EXCELLENT and friendly teachers, at no point - with any of MY teachers in secondary - did i feel i was missing out..( even though our english books STILL havent arrived ¬¬ ) and as a results got fantastic igcse results that im extremely proud of.
> -i made some really good friends in there and never really saw any bullying.
> - 2 tennis courts and a football/basketball court that students can use durnig break
> - i got A*'s in english, spanish and german. which are introduced to students from an early age ( i started in year 6, but i think its even earlier now.. )
> i felt supported and as if they wanted us to do well as much as we did.


hi

wow!! first hand insider info!!!


when did you leave?

or are you doing/did you do A levels too?


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## Pesky Wesky

sebarau said:


> the things you dont know until you're there:
> 
> i went to elians from year 3 to year 11. ( since it opened )


Thanks for taking the time to write that post. I'm sure it will be helpful.


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## Archie123

*Elians School*

My Son aged 7 was here for over a year.
He did not learn much spanish. Rich Spanish mummy and daddies send their children thier to be taught English and it is only the spanish kids that benefit.
Poor brit kids had little spanish taught.

I took him out of school put him in a public school FREE. and is now speaking fluent after only 6 months.

I still have all his New Elians school uniform ,blazers and overcoats ,track suits and trolley with sports bag. which have cost me a fortune all in mint condition
/SNIP/

Teachers though are very friendly. (English teachers that is)


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## xabiaxica

Archie123 said:


> My Son aged 7 was here for over a year.
> He did not learn much spanish. Rich Spanish mummy and daddies send their children thier to be taught English and it is only the spanish kids that benefit.
> Poor brit kids had little spanish taught.
> 
> I took him out of school put him in a public school FREE. and is now speaking fluent after only 6 months.
> 
> I still have all his New Elians school uniform ,blazers and overcoats ,track suits and trolley with sports bag. which have cost me a fortune all in mint condition
> /SNIP/
> 
> Teachers though are very friendly. (English teachers that is)


yes, that was my experience in a different British/International school nearly 8 years ago now 

thankfully they aren't all the same


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## jojo

Archie123 said:


> My Son aged 7 was here for over a year.
> He did not learn much spanish. Rich Spanish mummy and daddies send their children thier to be taught English and it is only the spanish kids that benefit.
> Poor brit kids had little spanish taught.
> 
> I took him out of school put him in a public school FREE. and is now speaking fluent after only 6 months.
> 
> I still have all his New Elians school uniform ,blazers and overcoats ,track suits and trolley with sports bag. which have cost me a fortune all in mint condition
> /SNIP/
> 
> Teachers though are very friendly. (English teachers that is)


Thankfully that isnt my experience of International schools. Mine went to two different ones and I did a lot of research. All the schools we looked had had a low precentage of Brits and a variety of "others", making them multi lingual. the teachers were also a mixture of various nationalities. In fact we did have a bit of a problem with a Spanish physics teacher who had such a strong Spanish accent, it didnt help with the complicated names and equations. They all taught Spanish once a day and they also had "como" (??) A lesson taught in Spanish and was about Spanish history, culture, life etc

My son was one of only three British in his class, there were russian, danish, lebonese, french and a dear little israeli lad, and of course Spanish. The main language in the classroom was English, but in the playground it was mainly Spanish and English. My daughters friends were what I refer to as (in the nicest possible way) mongrels, Chilean mother - Canadian father, German mother - Irish father and her best friend whose parents were columbian, but who was brought up by a Romanian nanny and had lived in Canada so spoke with a Canadian-ish accent (yes, they were the wealthy ones).

so all in all the schools I looked at really were international with many multi lingual kids! And now, my son speaks far better Spanish than his sister who actually spent some time in a state school! Both of them can converse easily in Spanish, altho I wouldnt call them totally fluent


Jo xxx


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## StephaneB

*Not a good school*

My daughter Sophie spent 7 years and a half in that school which pretends to be "an investment for their futur".
It's the kind of school where teachers are not well paid but everything has to look perfect. Kids can't repeat, what ever is their level and their behavior at school.
The only thing that imports, is the money that you must pay and on time. A month has to be paid during the first for days (we are talking of 815€ including the bus for a child in year 7). If the amount is not paid before the end of the same month, the school won't accept your child until it's paid. Of course you'll have to pay the days of exclusion.
From all kids I know, no one likes the food.
It's often that the teacher will change during the year, we had this at least 3 times in 7 years.
The sport level is pathetic.
Most of the teachers of secondary are qualified for primary only.

But now by us is every thing ok. Sophie is going to a school that cares more of the kids than of the money, and that offers her a proper secondary program.
She's going to Lady Elisabeth.:clap2:


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## Pesky Wesky

StephaneB said:


> It's the kind of school where teachers are not well paid but everything has to look perfect. Kids can't repeat, what ever is their level and their behavior at school.


I don't know if it's got anything to do with it, but children don't repeat in the British education system - it's not an option.


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## xabiaxica

Pesky Wesky said:


> I don't know if it's got anything to do with it, but children don't repeat in the British education system - it's not an option.


I'm sure that's the reason


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## sharon woods

i no this is know 2013 would love to no what school your 7yr old well 9 now goes to .......


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## AimeeRose

*Sierra Bernia School*

I have such mixed feelings about Sierra Bernia School. The first year my kids were here, it was amazing. My older daughter had a great teacher who really understood her and challenged her. This year, however, that teacher is gone and the new one is not so good. She does not challenge her, even after we had a meeting to discuss this issue. She also has a policy of punishing the kids for going to the bathroom during class time. When I brought up this issue with the head of school, she dismissed my concerns and said it's the school policy to not let them go to the bathroom during class. She said that even in her class, kids lose merits if they need to go to the bathroom during class. This is a big negative in my mind for a school. It's unfortunate because I love the rest of the school. It has a great feeling of community and great field trips. The teachers in the younger grades really seem to love the kids and their jobs. However, because of this policy that is counterproductive to children's health, I'm not sure we will be returning to the school after this year.


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