# international school near valencia



## postmummy (Sep 29, 2010)

Hi living in Ireland now we are planning to move to Valencia within 2 years. We are planning ahead and look for an international school for our 2 daughters (9 and 4) and nice area to live in.
Any suggestion of school or those to avoid...
tks,


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

postmummy said:


> Hi living in Ireland now we are planning to move to Valencia within 2 years. We are planning ahead and look for an international school for our 2 daughters (9 and 4) and nice area to live in.
> Any suggestion of school or those to avoid...
> tks,


how close to Valencia?

we're about an hour south & there are a couple near us & several more between us & Valencia

& welcome


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> how close to Valencia?
> 
> we're about an hour south & there are a couple near us & several more between us & Valencia
> 
> & welcome


^^^... What Xabiachica said ... ^^^

Valencia is a City, Province AND Region, so give us a better idea please, and we might be able to chip in with a few recommendations.

However, at 9 and 4, I personally wouldn't completely rule out considering Spanish state education


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

djfwells said:


> ^^^... What Xabiachica said ... ^^^
> 
> Valencia is a City, Province AND Region, so give us a better idea please, and we might be able to chip in with a few recommendations.
> 
> However, at 9 and 4, I personally wouldn't completely rule out considering Spanish state education


at 4 for sure - go for state education - in 2 years at 6 she will be fine too

the 9 year old would probably be OK now - my oldest was nearly 9 when she started at state school here & is thriving

it's a different matter though for an 11 year old - some make it at that age but many more don't


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> at 4 for sure - go for state education - in 2 years at 6 she will be fine too
> 
> the 9 year old would probably be OK now - my oldest was nearly 9 when she started at state school here & is thriving
> 
> it's a different matter though for an 11 year old - some make it at that age but many more don't


Pro's and con's to both. My 3 year old daughter started state school last week. The teacher told us that she speaks (for her age) really good Castillian now, but that it will suffer badly over the coming years as she will speak mainly Valenciano at school and English at home, which will put her at a disadvantage in the long term.
I suppose an International school will favour a mix of Castillian & English, which may be useful if you ever need to move to other areas of Spain, or back to Ireland.
For our circumstances, and at this moment in time, we are really happy and quite impressed with the state education system so far, but I guess that may vary from town to town.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

djfwells said:


> Pro's and con's to both. My 3 year old daughter started state school last week. The teacher told us that she speaks (for her age) really good Castillian now, but that it will suffer badly over the coming years as she will speak mainly Valenciano at school and English at home, which will put her at a disadvantage in the long term.
> I suppose an International school will favour a mix of Castillian & English, which may be useful if you ever need to move to other areas of Spain, or back to Ireland.
> For our circumstances, and at this moment in time, we are really happy and quite impressed with the state education system so far, but I guess that may vary from town to town.


the International schools though educate _totally_ in English - except for a required number of hours a week of Spanish lessons (used to be 4 hours but that might have changed - native or high level Spanish speakers also have to do some classes in Valenciano)

in some Int. schools there are a lot of Spanish kids so Spanish is spoken in the playground too - but as I understand it, it is often discouraged because the Spanish parents after all send their kids there to speak English

I think if your kids are at Spanish state school it is important for them to have Spanish friends, Spanish tele, books, magazines etc., or yes, they can be at a disadvantage if they never speak Spanish outside the classroom - they need to be immersed as much as possible & not go to the UK every holiday & not speak or hear a word of Spanish for weeks/months on end!

mine often watch the Valenciano channels too - & books are of course also available in Valenciano - we have all 3 languages on our bookshelves - & of course there's the library

and of course the parents owe it to themselves & their kids to learn Spanish & be as fully involved in their kids education as they would have been in the UK

that's not to say they don't need to keep their written English up to scratch - my elder dd doesn't even do English at school now, so it's up to us as parents to see that she doesn't forget how to spell in English!! (I'm not worried about grammar - she knows more grammar than any English kid taught in England will ever know)

if approached correctly there is no reason to be at an advantage - yes some kids will be, but most of those I see failing are the ones who I think would probably have failed in the UK in any case


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## jenierga13 (Sep 30, 2010)

postmummy said:


> Hi living in Ireland now we are planning to move to Valencia within 2 years. We are planning ahead and look for an international school for our 2 daughters (9 and 4) and nice area to live in.
> Any suggestion of school or those to avoid...
> tks,


There are international schools in Valencia that you can find. If you are planning to bring daughters in an International school, make it decide on the best school that will grant best quality of education. Some great International schools like the American, British and other schools might be on the particular area.


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