# Sending Kids to School



## ecoboss (Apr 29, 2016)

Hi, We're planing to move to Spain (Oliva) in either October 2016 or March 2017. I was wondering how to go about applying for school for our now 8 years old son. What documents do we need? Is passport and birth certificate enough? Or does his English school needs to provide him with some documents?

How easy is it to open a bank account?

Do we need social security number, NIE number etc?

The trick is that we are Polish and do not have UK passports, but we live in UK at the moment.

Also, what can be sorted even before we move out/in if anything?

Thank you so much!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

ecoboss said:


> Hi, We're planing to move to Spain (Oliva) in either October 2016 or March 2017. I was wondering how to go about applying for school for our now 8 years old son. What documents do we need? Is passport and birth certificate enough? Or does his English school needs to provide him with some documents?
> 
> How easy is it to open a bank account?
> 
> ...


You can't really apply for school until you're here & have an address - your child - & you - have to be registered at the town hall (on the padrón) before they will allocate a school place, & you mustn't be on the padrón until you live here

(although a member here managed to swing places for his kids before moving here, it's the ONLY time I've heard of this) 

There was a rule change in April 2015, which means that EU citizens should produce a resident registration certificate before being allowed onto the padrón, although this doesn't seem to be in force everywhere yet.

You won't need British passports - Poland is in the EU, so you have the same rights as British citizens, to live & work in Spain



Take a look at 
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html - you'll find a lot of answers there, but ask away if you can't!


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## ecoboss (Apr 29, 2016)

xabiachica said:


> You can't really apply for school until you're here & have an address - your child - & you - have to be registered at the town hall (on the padrón) before they will allocate a school place, & you mustn't be on the padrón until you live here
> 
> (although a member here managed to swing places for his kids before moving here, it's the ONLY time I've heard of this)
> 
> ...


Thank you xabiachica! I dare to think that if UK leaves EU our Polish passports will be more honored than English ones ;-D


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## soja (Apr 10, 2016)

ecoboss said:


> Thank you xabiachica! I dare to think that if UK leaves EU our Polish passports will be more honored than English ones ;-D


*British ones, no such thing as English citizenship


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

Do you have work or a business lined up?


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## Lisdelsol (Jul 14, 2014)

Hi, we were worried about enrolling our 8 year old daughter into school here in Oliva, but found the process quite straight forward. We just went into the school and filled in the forms. We had to show the padron, passport and letter from her pediatrian with her SIP card (healthcare card).
We got our NIE numbers from Gandia but did not need these to get the SIP card.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

ecoboss said:


> Thank you xabiachica! I dare to think that if UK leaves EU* our Polish passports will be more honored than English ones* ;-D


may well be when hell turns to ice


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## ecoboss (Apr 29, 2016)

Sorry..I'm always confused with that. I hope i didn't offend anyone ;-)


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## ecoboss (Apr 29, 2016)

Rather working online. Why you're asking?


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## ecoboss (Apr 29, 2016)

I didn't know about SIP card. If we don't have a doctor in Spain, how do we go about that? We were thinking about getting a private health care, as we won't be eligible for national one. Thanks


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

ecoboss said:


> I didn't know about SIP card. If we don't have a doctor in Spain, how do we go about that? We were thinking about getting a private health care, as we won't be eligible for national one. Thanks


After 90 days of living in Spain (or before) you have to register on the european foreigners list and you'll be given a certificate to say you have done so. In order to do that you need to prove that you have a certain amount of income and that health care is covered, so you will need to have healthcare in place.
You can find more info in the first post of the FAQ's


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ecoboss said:


> Rather working online. Why you're asking?


In order to live in Spain legally you have to prove a monthly income of €600 approxmately for each person including children as well in many regions as savings of around €6000. So a family of three has to prove an income of €1800 a month as well as having private health insurance.
You will also have to become a Spanish tax resident.
There is currently almost 25% national unemployment in Spain, over 30% in some areas so it's reasonable to ask about the employment situation.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Another difference between the UK and Spain is that access to social security and other benefits is contribution based. Benefits are fewer than in the UK...no Child Benefit, Housing Benefit as such.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

ecoboss said:


> Rather working online. Why you're asking?


As others said you'll need to show an income of about £1800/€2200 a month plus savings of about £6000. At the age of nine your child could easily struggle in a state School tying to get to grips with the language *and* getting educated so an International School may be your best option and this will cost you about €10,000 a year (others will know more about this costing than I).

You do get discount to start with I believe on your 'national insurance' contributions but this will rise to €2900 a year even if you've not earned a penny. 

I would suggest that you read past threads on this forum then sit down and do a realistic costing, a realistic cash flow projection.

I wish you well with your proposed move but... unless your earning good money you could easily struggle or fail so think long and hard.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

bob_bob said:


> As others said you'll need to show an income of about £1800/€2200 a month plus savings of about £6000. At the age of nine your child could easily struggle in a state School tying to get to grips with the language *and* getting educated so an International School may be your best option and this will cost you about €10,000 a year (others will know more about this costing than I).
> 
> You do get discount to start with I believe on your 'national insurance' contributions but this will rise to €2900 a year even if you've not earned a penny.
> 
> ...


In my experience as a parent & teacher, the vast majority of nine year old children entering the Spanish state system do so with few problems - even when having to cope with two new languages.

'National insurance' or self-employed autonómo social security payments are in fact, after the initial 'discount period', a minimum of 260€ a month, or 3120€ a year.

Of course income tax is paid on top of that.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

The vast majority is by no means ALL. Its not just learning the language(s), its coping with a different education type, history, culture et al, I personally would not want any nine year old of mine going into a School where they could not understand the language...that has to be a major handicap for any child.

Sadly on this forum we all so often see that parents are moving for a 'better life for their children'; nonsense, most times the parents have a head full of dreams and ignore reality whilst trying to fulfill_ their own_ dreams and wants ... shame on them.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

bob_bob said:


> The vast majority is by no means ALL. Its not just learning the language(s), its coping with a different education type, history, culture et al, I personally would not want any nine year old of mine going into a School where they could not understand the language...that has to be a major handicap for any child.
> 
> Sadly on this forum we all so often see that parents are moving for a 'better life for their children'; nonsense, most times the parents have a head full of dreams and ignore reality whilst trying to fulfill_ their own_ dreams and wants ... shame on them.


Not all, it's true. 

But it's certainly in the child's interest to at least try the Spanish system for a term or two. If it doesn't work, then at that age they won't have missed too much. 

If it does work - they will have gained tremendously. 

My elder daughter was nearly 9 when she started in the Spanish system. She never looked back - & as I say, in my not inconsiderable experience over the last nearly 13 years - the majority that age & younger have the same experience.

Admittedly I've known some who started in the Spanish system at age 4 or younger, & never settled, & others, who against all advice, have put their 12, 13, or 14 year old kids into Spanish school & after an initial struggle, have actually defied the odds & succeeded.

It's all down to the child, & possibly more importantly, the attitude of the parents, & how much they are willing to embrace living in Spain, rather than 'Britain in the sun'.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> Not all, it's true.
> 
> But it's certainly in the child's interest to at least try the Spanish system for a term or two. If it doesn't work, then at that age they won't have missed too much.
> 
> ...


Really, I'm surprised - but it's good to know!


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