Moving to Spain involves sending your kids to school.
And deciding which one is “the best school” for your kids is no easy task, because -as I see it- it is like solving a big puzzle. Everything has to fit to make sense:
- Location and proximity to house (ideally)
- Commuting time to work (in case you drive your kids to school)
- Languages
- Academic quality
- Reputation
- (Insert here your personal priorities).
Then comes the question:
What is best? A public school? An international school? What about a British school? Private but Spanish school?
And then you start hearing about colegios concertados. What is that?
So take a deep breath and let’s dig into the specifics of them all.
The Education System in Spain
Spain’s school system is divided in 4 big stages:
- Infantil – from 0-6 years – This stage is not compulasory and many kids start going to Infantil at 3 years of age. It is here when they start reading and doing very basic maths.
If you come from Germany or Switzerland, this may seem very odd to you, but yes: Spanish kids start doing these things early in life.
- Primaria – 6-12 years – This stage is compulsory.
- ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) – 13- 16 years – as its name says, it’s Secondary School and it is compulsory (= obligatoria) for all kids that age.
- Bachillerato – 17-18 years – optional, but without this diploma, it’s not possible to sit the university access exam (EvAU)
Types of Schools in Spain
Public schools or Colegios Públicos
Colegios Públicos – No school offers every stage. There are public Guarderías (which is Infantil). Then kids change to a Primary school and then to el Instituto for ESO and Bachillerato.
They are free (well, paid for by taxes.)
Concertado Schools
Concertados are the equivalent to Grammar Schools in the UK or Chartered Schools in the US.
These schools are privately run but publicly funded and their admission policy is similar to that of the public schools.
There is a monthly fee to pay in these schools, but it’s usually much smaller to that of the private schools and it’s normally affordable.
Concertado schools are mainly Catholic, but there are a few non-religious ones.
Private Schools or Colegios privados
There is a wide range:
- International schools that offer the IB programme
- Spanish schools that follow the Spanish curriculum; or
- Schools that offer other countries’ curriculum and system, like the German, French, Swiss, Scandinavian, Dutch, etc.
Fees tend to be very high, and they are usually located on the outskirts of Madrid Capital. However, many offer a school bus service.
Extra services, like bus, extracurricular activities and lunch tend to be charged for separately.
Facts about Spanish Schools
- School usually starts between 8.30 and 9.30, (depending on the school) and finish at 16.30-17.00
Again, this depends on the school and some offer extracurricular activities (extraescolares), either after that time or they finish classes earlier and offer these extra activities until 17.00.
Public institutos finish at around 14.30 or 15.00.
- Children usually eat lunch at school.
Lunch is Spain’s main meal, and so it is in schools, with a three course meal (starter, main dish and dessert) and some time off after that. Then kids go back to class.
Many schools cook the meals on the premises, but few do hire a caterer.
- Homework (deberes)– the neverending trending topic among parents and children alike.
Spanish schools have the reputation of giving too much homework, leaving children doing deberes until all hours of the night. My experience is that that depends on the school. And while many private schools won’t give too many deberes in Primary school, they will give much more in Secondary school.
- Languages (idiomas) – Spain has a bilingual system in their public and concertado schools. This means that many schools teach part of the curriculum in a second language (usually English, but some also offer French or German). The aim is that children grow up bilingual, and this system is very popular among Spanish parents because every one wants their kid to speak English naturally.
It is so popular, that each year more schools adhere to this system.
They also hire Asistentes de Conversación (Conversation assistants), who normally are native speakers with some teaching experience that want to come to Spain for a year to work.
Whether it’s a good idea or not, I’m not going to discuss here (I have my very personal view on that), but it is definitely a very popular option, if you want your kids to learn in a Spanish environment, where they will pick up Spanish very quickly and naturally, yet still keep their spoken English.
If you want more information on the Spanish Education System, check out this blog, from the expert of schools in Madrid, Sinead Galvin.
- School usually starts between 8.30 and 9.30, (depending on the school) and finish at 16.30-17.00
Again, this depends on the school and some offer extracurricular activities, either after that time or they finish classes earlier and offer these extra activities until 17.00.
Public institutos finish at around 14.30 or 15.00.
- Children usually eat lunch at school.
Lunch is Spain’s main meal, and so it is in schools, with a three course meal (starter, main dish and dessert) and some time off after that. Then kids go back to class.
Many schools cook the meals on the premises, but few do hire a caterer.
- Homework (deberes)– the neverending trending topic among parents and children alike.
Spanish schools have the reputation of giving too much homework, leaving children working for school until all hours of the night. My experience is that that depends on the school. And while many private schools won’t give too many deberes in Primary school, they will give much more in Secondary school.
- Languages (idiomas) – Spain has introduced (I don’t know when) a bilingual system in their public and concertado schools. This means that many schools teach part of the curriculum in a second language (usually English, but some also offer French or German). The aim is that children grow up bilingual, and this system is very popular among Spanish parents because every one wants their kid to speak English naturally.
It is so popular, that each year more schools adhere to this system.
They also hire Asistentes de Conversación (Conversation assistants), who normally are native speakers with some teaching experience that want to come to Spain for a year to work.
Whether it’s a good idea or not, I’m not going to discuss here (I have my very personal view on that), but it is definitely a very popular option, if you want your kids to learn in a Spanish environment, where they will pick up Spanish very quickly and naturally, yet still keep their spoken English.
If you want more information on the Spanish Education System, check out this blog, from the expert of schools in Madrid, Sinead Galvin.
