Julen hard at it!

When we came over to live in Malaga, our two boys were 9 and 5 years old.  I remember a Spanish friend of ours in the UK said to me, best to take them over before 11, before they make real, lasting friendships and before their education gets too complicated.

Our kids, Mikel and Julen were lucky, because they had been brought up hearing us chatter away in Spanish constantly, so they were always going to be bilingual.  But we have many clients whose children have come here as late as 12 years old, and had little or no problem adapting and picking up Spanish or integrating with the local children.

There are a limited number of private English National Curriculum schools, which is an option every parent seriously needs to consider, as future job prospects, whether in Spain or elsewhere, are bound to be more plentiful with written English qualifications.  There are also a number of Spanish national curriculmim ‘international’ or ‘bilingual’ schools where lessons are in English and Spanish.  However, my children are doing fine in the Spanish state system and despite one or two negatives, I would say that on the whole their level of education is excellent and they certainly work the children very hard indeed.

Here are some things to think about when making that difficult decision:

1) Are you planning on settling in Spain forever, or for a few years?  If you are here temporarily, disrupting your children’s education by switching to the Spanish system may be damaging

2) Where are the ‘bilingual’ schools located?  A downside to sending kids to a non-local school is that they will find it much harder to make locally based friends of their own age.  But getting your kids involved in local after-school activities could help to integrate them.

3) If you are worried about the cost of private school fees, but are afraid that at a state school the kids won’t get the extra tuition and support they need, think about getting them extra private tuition in the afternoons – there are plenty of excellent private teachers and support ‘academias’.

4) If you choose Spanish state education, work with your children on their written English.  When they get to 14 or 15, enrol them on a distance learning GCSE English course, which you can register for on the Internet.  Allow at least 2 years before they take the exams, to get them up to speed.

5) Finally, keep your kids thinking ‘international’!  Just because you’re here doesn’t mean that they should think their only option for their own future is here in Spain.

Spanish Language Practice

Escuela – School (up to age 11 or 12)  This is Educación Primaria

Instituto – Secondary School (12 to 18) Educación Secundaria
At the Instituto, children do a 4-year course, equivalent to GCSE, at the end of which they get a certificate, or qualification in ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria)
From 16 to 18 they can stay on to do “Bachillerato” (Equivalent of A’Levels)

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