# Spanish Schools



## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

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


----------



## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

I've relocated your post to the Spain forum where you should get more input.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

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.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chris Baptiste said:


> 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.
> 
> ...


+++


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Not sure if the OP is aware, but in Javea/Denia your kids will be taught in Valenciano at state schools, along with Spanish and English. However a 4 year old and a 6 year old should be able to cope with all 3 languages. You can easily maintain a high level of English by speaking it at home, and trips back to the UK during those long summer holidays (although that won't help your Spanish much). You can also do things like Kumon in English as well.

As you say, helping your kids with homework in Spanish/Valenciano will be the main challenge, I can't suggest much for that, maybe others can? If it becomes a problem then I guess you could use a private tutor, which would still be cheaper than a private school.

Generally I think state schools are preferable as they help your kids (and you) integrate with the local community and set down roots.


----------



## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

Thank you Nyclon


----------



## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

Pesky Wesky said:


> +++


Thank you so much for sharing with me your experience.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Both of my daughters went to state school in Jávea. They were 5 & 8 when they started.

They were speaking some Spanish & Valenciano within a week or two, & completely holding their own in both by the end of the school year. They started in the January, & the school year ends in June.

I'm not saying that they were fluent, but they no longer needed any of the extra support classes which were offered.

The younger is dyslexic & she received extra help with that.

As for English, although I tutor English, neither of my daughters ever had any 'extra classes' from me, nor from anyone else. Their English lessons were at school, & they probably understand more about English grammar than any child growing up in England. Their spoken English is obviously native, since we speak English at home most of the time. 

When they first started in Spanish school, we only watched TV in Spanish, I bought magazines for them in Spanish. We made a great effort to only speak Spanish outside the house.

Only when they were totally confident in Spanish & Valenciano did I start buying magazines in English & encouraging them to read in English. They both read & write English to a higher level than many children who have been through the education system in England. 

And of course their Spanish is native & their Valenciano almost so.


----------



## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Our son (now 6 and starting primary school on Monday) is fluent in Spanish and English and is learning German. He can read practically anything in English and is gaining written Spanish pretty quickly. He started school at 3 years of age and was speaking enough Spanish to be understood by his friends and teachers within a year. I was watching Spanish news last night and he was translating for me even though I didn't want him to!! The parent teacher association here is also called AMPA and most communication between the school and AMPA is via WhatsApp but as term time nears we are only getting around 150 messages a day.


----------



## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

xabiachica said:


> Both of my daughters went to state school in Jávea. They were 5 & 8 when they started.
> 
> They were speaking some Spanish & Valenciano within a week or two, & completely holding their own in both by the end of the school year. They started in the January, & the school year ends in June.
> 
> ...


Thank you for sharing your experience. 
We plan to expose our children to the Spanish way of life as this will be beneficial in the long run.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Not sure if the OP is aware, but in Javea/Denia your kids will be taught in Valenciano at state schools, along with Spanish and English. However a 4 year old and a 6 year old should be able to cope with all 3 languages. You can easily maintain a high level of English by speaking it at home, *and trips back to the UK during those long summer holidays* (although that won't help your Spanish much). You can also do things like Kumon in English as well.
> 
> As you say, helping your kids with homework in Spanish/Valenciano will be the main challenge, I can't suggest much for that, maybe others can? If it becomes a problem then I guess you could use a private tutor, which would still be cheaper than a private school.
> 
> Generally I think state schools are preferable as they help your kids (and you) integrate with the local community and set down roots.


So many teachers have told me that they dread September with the English kids who have often been back to the UK for most of the 3 month holiday. They have often not spoken a word of Spanish for 3 months & really struggle for a few weeks.

We always stayed (I've only been back 4 times in 13 years) & the girls played with local Spanish kids which meant that their Spanish improved over the summer


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> So many teachers have told me that they dread September with the English kids who have often been back to the UK for most of the 3 month holiday. They have often not spoken a word of Spanish for 3 months & really struggle for a few weeks.
> 
> We always stayed (I've only been back 4 times in 13 years) & the girls played with local Spanish kids which meant that their Spanish improved over the summer


Funnily enough I was able to spend all this summer with my kids speaking English all the time, as well as take them back to the UK for a few weeks as I'm out of work at the moment. In particular I wanted to improve my 3 year old daughter's English as I felt it was a bit behind. However my 6 year old son went back to school on Thursday and is now complaining that he doesn't have enough Spanish to understand all his teacher says, and is blaming me for doing too much English with him .


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

The Spanish school holidays are so long there's time for everything; a Spanish holiday, an English holiday, loafing around, summer camp - whatever.
However it makes sense linguistically to have the English holiday at the beginning and to finish the holiday break with a good few weeks of Spanish to make Back to School easier for the kids.
However, that doesn't always tie in with Mum and Dad's holiday time and or budget


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Funnily enough I was able to spend all this summer with my kids speaking English all the time, as well as take them back to the UK for a few weeks as I'm out of work at the moment. In particular I wanted to improve my 3 year old daughter's English as I felt it was a bit behind. However my 6 year old son went back to school on Thursday and is now complaining that he doesn't have enough Spanish to understand all his teacher says, and is blaming me for doing too much English with him .


But you know he'll be fine after a few days, don't you


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> But you know he'll be fine after a few days, don't you


Of course. In fact I think he's using it as an excuse because he's just made the step up to primary school, where he needs to concentrate a bit more, but instead he's catching up with his friends and not paying attention to the teacher.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Of course. In fact I think he's using it as an excuse because he's just made the step up to primary school, where he needs to concentrate a bit more, but instead but he's catching up with his friends and not paying attention to the teacher.


Ahh, so he's being a normal little boy


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> The Spanish school holidays are so long there's time for everything; a Spanish holiday, an English holiday, loafing around, summer camp - whatever.
> However it makes sense linguistically to have the English holiday at the beginning and to finish the holiday break with a good few weeks of Spanish to make Back to School easier for the kids.
> However, that doesn't always tie in with Mum and Dad's holiday time and or budget


For me it was more a case of get the hell out of Madrid and go somewhere cooler for the last two weeks of July. Also there tend to be more activities on offer in Spain in July, and more on offer in the UK in August (which is logical since UK schools don't break up until towards the end of July). That still leaves a couple of weeks in September to get back into the flow of things in Spain.


----------

