Hi

We are a large family (6 kids) looking to move to Spain next year.  We want to move to either the Costa del Sol or Murcia areas next July (after our eldest has done her GCSEs).  We need to get our youngest 3 children who will then be aged 12, 13 and 16 into school I and wondered if anyone could help us with some suggestions for schooling for older children.

Our first thought was to send them to an international school so that their education did not suffer whilst they were trying to learn Spanish as most advice seems to be that the older the children the harder it maybe for them to learn in Spanish.  Our 16 year old is very bright and wants to study Law at uni after doing her A levels, so we do not want to jeopardise her chances of doing this by interrupting her education too much.  The youngest one is a bit nervous of coming to Spain and the thought of going to a largely English speaking school is easier for him, even though we are planning to learn Spanish over the next 12 months.  The only thing is that the cheapest I have managed to find so far is about 5000 euros per child which would be way out of our budget.

I tried to find information on the concertada schools but have not managed to find anything (in English!) and I wondered if anyone had any information on this or has any direct experience of these schools.

I understand (but did not know before reading this) that you need to live in the catchment area for junior schools and I wondered if this would be the same situation for secondary schools?

Also, does anyone know if you can get league tables centrally in English?

Please could anyone with any experience of emigrating to Spain with older children let me know what you did and how you got on.

Thanks very much.

Julie

education in spain is really bad.  It is good in general quality, but very narrow in scope.  An excellent university, also in english, is the http://www.ortegaygasset.edu

Hi there, we came to Spain when our two eldest were 14 and 16 and it was best for them to attend an international school (in Barcelona) and thought it was too late for them to integrate into the spanish system.  They went to pass all their exams (GCSE and A’Level) and my eldest is now studying in UK and returns in all the holidays!!  it was the best move we every made, subjects were limited (i.e. no media, business studies, drama, etc.) but the classes were small and had excellent tuition.  Our two youngest (nearly three and 11 months!) will go to a local school in our village and I truly believe the education is soooooooooo much better here than UK…..had loads of experience of it and not good.  Best to look at websites to see if there are any international schools in the area you want to live….all the best with the search and welcome to Spain!!!

Alicia