We have recently moved to Casares, Costa Del Sol, and I am having difficulty finding out how to register my 5 year old son in school.

Does anybody know if it works on a catchment system here? and where I go to register him?

Also any recommendations on good schools in the area? I am prepared to travel, but can’t afford private schools.

I am desperate for help, I know term statrs soon, any advice is appreciated!!

Thanks

Go to the local town hall they will tell you all you need.
roughly you need to reg at the police station for residencia(green form) get a padron,go to your local school,fill out reg forms,and give them photo copies of documents they require.
I live the other end of costa del sol so cant rec any schools,if you live on an urb the best thing to do is ask around.
Yes it does work on a catchment area.

What pepsi said, and also the guy you need to speak to at the Town Hall is called the Pedagogo.  From personal experience, I would say go with your local public school, at least for one year.  It really helps your children to make friends and adapt quicker.

thanks for the advice,

Do you have any idea how long the whole registration process will take? ( getting residencia etc) as I want him to miss as little school as possible and start to make friends

again, thanks for all the advice

Our children have been at the school in Casares for four years now.

The Junta de Andaluc?a has a legal obligation to find your child a place in a public school if you are here legally.  As an EU citizen all you need to do is get a N?mero de Identificaci?n de Extranjero (NIE).  Make sure that on your application form (EX16; downloadable from the Ministerio del Interior - http://www.mir.es) you apply for a family registration so that your children are included.  The cost for first registration is about 15?.  The application is processed at the nearest Comisaria de la Policia Nacional in Estepona.  Provided you fill in the form beforehand and bring photocopies of the form and your passport(s) with you it can all be done in one morning.  NB:  Estepona is a very busy police station for this type of application so you will need to queue early (no later than 0730, the police station extranjeros office opens at 0900) to guarantee a number low enough to be seen that day.

You also need to go to the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) and get yourself AND your children on the padr?n.  The ayuntamiento may make a small charge for a copy padr?n certificate, about 1,50?.  You do not need to have your NIEs to do this, passport numbers will suffice.

Take your copy padr?n certificate to the school and ask to see either the Director, Don Antonio or the Directora de estudios, Do?a Ana to get them to find you a place.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you child is not fluent in Spanish they will be “put down” 1 year.  Your child WILL NOT get this year back later.  So a five-year-old will go into year 4 infantil.  At that age it is not too important but you may have issues later on as they approach secondary school age.

Best of luck and regards
El Casare?o ingl?s

You cannot get a padron at the town hall without a nie number , i tried a month ago .
All the family need one.
As i said go to the town hall first,in La Cala they made the appointment for me to go to the Police station ,in Fuengirola they will not see you
without an appointment.
I paid 6.80 for the NIE and nothing for the padron.
The schools do not open untill Sept.You have time to get your documents together.

pepsi - 09 August 2008 04:03 PM

You cannot get a padron at the town hall without a nie number , i tried a month ago .
All the family need one.
As i said go to the town hall first,in La Cala they made the appointment for me to go to the Police station ,in Fuengirola they will not see you
without an appointment.
I paid 6.80 for the NIE and nothing for the padron.
The schools do not open untill Sept.You have time to get your documents together.

The reply I posted is SPECIFIC to Casares.  That should have been obvious from the detail supplied.  Rules on Empadronamiento vary from one town hall to another… some charge and others do not.

Technically, you do not need a NIE unless you are interacting in some way with the Spanish tax system, e.g. buying a car.  However, in practice it may be easier to get one.  We have NEVER been required to produce a NIE for our children, not even to open a bank account in their name.