# Schooling



## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

We are planning to move to the area of Jimena de la Frontera this summer. We have two daughters, 12yrs and 5yrs. I would appreciate (hugely) any advice on schooling. We had originally intended to send them (a fairly knee-jerk response) to the closest international school, which turns out to be Sotogrande. Having checked the fees, it's going to be too expensive for both girls. I wonder whether state schools in this area have any English speaking pupils, the town being quite small and rural? How well would a 5yr old and 12yr old integrate, having zero Spanish language themselves? I'm also considering the possibility of at least the eldest daughter, going to school in Gibraltar (40 mins from us). Does anyone have any thoughts, experience or advice on these issues?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

MissisBee said:


> We are planning to move to the area of Jimena de la Frontera this summer. We have two daughters, 12yrs and 5yrs. I would appreciate (hugely) any advice on schooling. We had originally intended to send them (a fairly knee-jerk response) to the closest international school, which turns out to be Sotogrande. Having checked the fees, it's going to be too expensive for both girls. I wonder whether state schools in this area have any English speaking pupils, the town being quite small and rural? How well would a 5yr old and 12yr old integrate, having zero Spanish language themselves? I'm also considering the possibility of at least the eldest daughter, going to school in Gibraltar (40 mins from us). Does anyone have any thoughts, experience or advice on these issues?


:welcome:

your 5 year old will be absolutely fine - my daughters were 5 & 8 when they started in the Spanish system & have never looked back

your 12 year old - _some _children that age manage to pick up Spanish quickly and well enough to succeed - although be prepared for her to repeat a year at least once if not more ...... & tbh she'd probably be better off in a school with a low number of English speakers so that she is immersed 

personally I would put her into an International school - Spanish residents who want to send their children to school in Gib have to pay anyway


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I would definitely put your eldest into an international school - if only because they follow the English curriculum (GCSEs etc), which by now she'll be familiar with. At 12, she's just coming up to the dreaded teenage years - with all of those hormones flying around. So it will perhaps make it easier to have a familiar language around her - altho most international schools are as the name implies, not just for British and she'll meet many nationalities in her class - but essentially they should all speak English

Jo xxx


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

I know nothing about it personally, but I've heard the Sotogrande school is supposed to be very good, so I'd consider it for the eldest. 

I don't know that school in Gib would be a good idea, with possible delays crossing the border each day. Even if the recent carry on has settled down a bit, how long will it be before they start playing silly b****rs again! your daughter being late for school every day wouldn't be a great start!


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## angil (Sep 24, 2012)

Sotogrande follows the IB MYP from ages 11 - 16 without IGCSEs / GCSEs. Then the full IB diploma from 16-18 years. 
I would have reservations about sending my child to a school that followed the MYP right through to 16 without any formal exams and qualifications.
Just my personal opinion as someone who has experienced the MYP (& PYP), a programme I don't rate at all.
A lot of IB school's will have a 'break' between the MYP & IB diploma and offer IGCSEs. My daughters last one did just that.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

angil said:


> Sotogrande follows the IB MYP from ages 11 - 16 without IGCSEs / GCSEs. Then the full IB diploma from 16-18 years.
> I would have reservations about sending my child to a school that followed the MYP right through to 16 without any formal exams and qualifications.
> Just my personal opinion as someone who has experienced the MYP (& PYP), a programme I don't rate at all.
> A lot of IB school's will have a 'break' between the MYP & IB diploma and offer IGCSEs. My daughters last one did just that.


http://www.nabss.org/test/schoolsen.php?school=sotIschool&h=2700 NABSS like em. From my limited knowledge, there are a few international schools now that offer IB MYP education????

Jo xxx


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## angil (Sep 24, 2012)

Lots and lots of International schools now offer the IB diploma. 

A long with that comes the IB PYP & IB MYP (programmes NOT curriculums) which fill in the years prior to 16 when the actual diploma commences.

& a lot of International schools opt to take a 'break' from the IB system between the ages of 14 & 16 by offering IGCSE courses/ exams usually from the International Cambridge Examination Board. Which allows students to obtain formal and Internationally recognised qualifications when they leave High School (at 16).

Sotogrande does not take that break. So it would depend on what your plans were with regards how long you would be spending in Spain & how bright your child was. 

Anyway my point was Sotogrande doesn't do GCSEs so that might be something else to think about.

But it is accredited with the CIS & ECIS plus an American accreditation body which may mean it has a High School Diploma programme? The website doesn't indicate that it does.

(Every time my kids complain about being very cold at school or how uncomfortable the chairs are or how old the computers are or how there is no sports field etc etc. I think of NABBS!)


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> :welcome:
> 
> your 5 year old will be absolutely fine - my daughters were 5 & 8 when they started in the Spanish system & have never looked back
> 
> ...


Thanks for that - I think that my eldest would need to be in an English speaking school for sure, she is currently in an excellent military boarding school here in the UK, she loves it and thinks that maybe she would like to stay there, but for me, the fact that I wouldn't be able to be with her nearly as much as I am now, is a big down side to that....the whole point of this big move is so that we can have more of an outside life-style together. I think the fees at Sotogrande (rising to around $18000 pa) are very high comparitively, and it is a consideration (we also have two sons at Uni). Do you know of any other IS in that area? Seems it's the only option outside of Marbella.


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

angil said:


> Lots and lots of International schools now offer the IB diploma.
> 
> A long with that comes the IB PYP & IB MYP (programmes NOT curriculums) which fill in the years prior to 16 when the actual diploma commences.
> 
> ...



Thanks so much for all the info - something that I hadn't even considered as yet (my bad). Sotogrande is not my first choice, but it is looking as though it would be my only choice in the area. It seems that outside Marbella, there really isn't much choice. I am happy (happy is probably the wrong word, but still) to drive 45 mins or so, but Marbella is around an hour each way. Not sure how that would pan out, especially with the 5yr old in local school. But I digress. I will explore the qualifications issue.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

MissisBee said:


> Thanks so much for all the info - something that I hadn't even considered as yet (my bad). Sotogrande is not my first choice, but it is looking as though it would be my only choice in the area. It seems that outside Marbella, there really isn't much choice. I am happy (happy is probably the wrong word, but still) to drive 45 mins or so, but Marbella is around an hour each way. Not sure how that would pan out, especially with the 5yr old in local school. But I digress. I will explore the qualifications issue.


You might want to think about timetables which are likely to be different for a 5 year old and a 12 year old anyway and one in private ed and the other in state


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## angil (Sep 24, 2012)

How far away is the English International College? The fees are still high at around €1400 per month for tuition alone plus all the other added extras like uniform etc. There is also large deposit / reservation fee to be paid in advance (€3000+ I think). But it does offer IGCSEs and A levels. With 2 children attending school we couldn't afford the fees, but on the face of it that school would have been my first choice. The Mayfair Academy might over that way too? Not sure. A bit further a field toward Benalmadena / Torremolinos the fees average at €700 per month approx. plus uniform, books etc and a reservation fee of around €1000.


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

Yep, have been thinking on that too. It's all looking rather messy at the moment, but I guess we have to just find a way to make it work. For many years, I worked a 42-72 hr week, 12 hour shifts (days and nights) with four children going to three different places. That was challenging  If it comes to it, and there really is no alternative, we may have to start looking in different areas in order to get the right school. Which is a shame, as we've found our own 'perfect place' to live.


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

angil said:


> How far away is the English International College? The fees are still high at around €1400 per month for tuition alone plus all the other added extras like uniform etc. There is also large deposit / reservation fee to be paid in advance (€3000+ I think). But it does offer IGCSEs and A levels. With 2 children attending school we couldn't afford the fees, but on the face of it that school would have been my first choice. The Mayfair Academy might over that way too? Not sure. A bit further a field toward Benalmadena / Torremolinos the fees average at €700 per month approx. plus uniform, books etc and a reservation fee of around €1000.



The EIC is around 1hr 10 mins away according to Google, and the others further afield. I am partly tempted to opt for it, but I know the reality of a two hour plus round trip, twice a day would not add much to our quality of life (particularly if it involves a bouncy five year old on occasion), so I'm not seeing it as a viable option. What is gradually creeping in, is the sad reality that we may not be able to live where we had set our hearts upon. Because of this issue. Thanks so much for all the helpful info. Must say how fantastic it is to discuss this with people in the know. Not just this issue, I know there are bound to be many more. It's a good feeling, the whole process feels less daunting.


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## angil (Sep 24, 2012)

If its an consolation I am living somewhere I wouldn't have necessarily chosen if it wasn't for those pesky kids of mine needing to get to school! I am sure you will come with a compromise / plan B. Best of luck.
(& my daughter once travelled for an hour and a half each way to school by bus, she was 12 at the time! She hacked it for 6 months & then we moved cities!).


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

angil said:


> If its an consolation I am living somewhere I wouldn't have necessarily chosen if it wasn't for those pesky kids of mine needing to get to school! I am sure you will come with a compromise / plan B. Best of luck.
> (& my daughter once travelled for an hour and a half each way to school by bus, she was 12 at the time! She hacked it for 6 months & then we moved cities!).


I am definitely consoled by talking it out with people experienced in just this issue, so thanks. It is looking like giving up that dream house will be our best (only) option. Kids. Love them...yardy yah, but they do kinda complicate stuff


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

My children started school here 20 minutes' drive away. Most of their schoolfriends lived the other side, so up to 40 minutes away. Consider the logistics of playdates or joint school projects and the reality of a school far away become clear - an hour round trip each way? Add the time and expense to all your calculations and the fact that your children might not have any local schoolfriends, so nobody to share journeys, etc.....


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

I think compromising on where you live to accommodate things like schools and work is pretty much what everyone has to do. Personally I like having my kids within walking distance of their school - probably because I had to catch the school bus at 7.30 am each morning and didn't get back home until at least 9 hours later. I put up with it at the time because I didn't know any different, but thinking back I now realise that not only was I tired all the time, but I lost out on nearly 2 hours a day getting to school and back- time that could have been spent studying, doing sport, private tuition even. I can't imagine how any school could be good enough to justify such long journeys each day, but in my case I wasn't even going to a great school - just the local comprehensive.


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## MissisBee (Jan 11, 2014)

Madliz said:


> My children started school here 20 minutes' drive away. Most of their schoolfriends lived the other side, so up to 40 minutes away. Consider the logistics of playdates or joint school projects and the reality of a school far away become clear - an hour round trip each way? Add the time and expense to all your calculations and the fact that your children might not have any local schoolfriends, so nobody to share journeys, etc.....


I do get that. My sons were at school a train journey from our home in the UK (which is in the countryside). Their journey was around half an hour each way. Their friends were usually further afield. It wasn't a huge deal and we managed. I consider it well worth the relative hassles for them to have received a first class education. As young men now, they totally feel that is the case. Luckily for me. Would have felt awful if they didn't 

But an hour or more each way? Not viable. Not least because my morning round trip would be up to three hours, repeated in the afternoon.

Nope. We're considering carefully where we will be living. It will be in the country as much as we can make it, but will also need to be within half an hour of an International school.


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## SamAlora (Mar 11, 2014)

*school age secondary*

Hi
I have literally joined 5 minutes ago...so I don't even know if this is where i post!

but here goes......
We have a small house in Alora, Malaga. We are moving over, I have friends in Spain that will help me with Residencia, etc. It is just Schooling that I am concerned about.
My son id now 10 ( april 2014), Can anyone please tell me when they move up to secondary school in Spain?
I thought they did an extra year in primary compared to Uk, which would have been good as it would have helped him settle into spanish way of life easier than throwing him into secondary straight away. If necessary I will move over sooner to make his life easier. If it means he can do his last year in spanish primary school.
Please advise. Many Thanks


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

SamAlora said:


> Hi
> I have literally joined 5 minutes ago...so I don't even know if this is where i post!
> 
> but here goes......
> ...


:welcome:

what year was he born? If you have a look at post #3 on this thread http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html  it will help you work out which 'year' he would be entering in September 2014.


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## SamAlora (Mar 11, 2014)

Thankyou, 2004
X


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