Registering with schools for the first time ....

Hi, I have a two year old who is currently in a private nursery and very happy ...

I have heard that we need to register for primary schools this April. Does anyone know how this procedure works and if this info is correct?

My other question is that as she is happy in her nursery which actually goes to age 6, I'd be quite keen to keep her there for another year and put her into a primary school aged 4  .... would this mean we have less choice of schools and do we still have to register this year? What do most others do ... do all children go aged 3 or is it more staggered between ages 3 and 6 with children starting as per their parent's wishes? ( I know pre school is not compulsary ) .... I really want her to stay where she is for another year at least as she loves it, but on the other hand I don't want her to end up at a school which has a place because we are starting later as opposed to our first choice school ...

Any advice greatly appreciated ... also we are in the Mijas area ( nr Pueblo ) so any school recommendations also appreciated.

Many Thanks

Sam

The only risk with waiting another year is that the class may be full the following year and then you would have to wait until she was six as the school aren't obliged to take children until they are six years old.

Our twins went to a private nursery from two and half and then we switched them to colegio publico in the October when they were three and a half. They were a month late in starting the term but I remember them umming and ahing a bit over whether there was space but there are two of them! Although I was apprehensive about them going to "big" school where there were children as old as twelve, I am glad that I did because they have loved their school from the beginning and it is nice for them to start at the beginning with their classmates that are going to be their friends throughout their school career.

As far as I am aware you usually register them around April/May time. We just turned up in the October as like you we planned to keep them in private nursery but simply couldn't afford to continue at the time. There are usually notices outside the school which tell you when they are doing the applications.

Susan

i thought it was March/April maybe that's just here in Jaen.

So long since my  first registration - but we still have to do one every year for the following year - crazy eh! That must be about 25 applications along with photocopies stored somewhere in files, and that's just us and school.

Don''t the Spanish just love their paperwork?

Rachel

We are moving over to Javea in mid March where our, then five, year old will go to International School. When we were over in November we "booked him in" to start pre-school from April till the summer holidays, just so he would have a term to settle in. Certainly there you have to register them every April for the following year, and we will have to register again in April for year one.

Thanks for all your replies, it certainly seems we need to do something by April so I think a visit to our town hall for more info is the next step even if we decide to keep her in her current nursery come Sept ... does anyone know if we get a choice in schools or are just allocated a school?

You have to go to the school to register, if you have a choice, which we don't then do some research and choose although I believe it is generally your nearest one.

Rachel

I think that you can go to any school in the municipality where you are empadronado. I know of a lady whose children have to go to a school further away from the nearest one to where she lives because at the moment there isn't the space for her five year old, yet her seven year old has been accepted. So she says that she is waiting until her youngest daughter is six and then they won't be able to turn her away. I know of children that have been to all three of the colegio publicos in my municipality.

Susan

Thanks again ... a friend was telling me yesterday that you get three choices of schools when you register, you put down your first, second and third choice and then hope the one you want is the one you get ... I guess if we are not happy we can keep her in the private nursery for a bit longer. I'll post more info as and when I find it out as this does seem to be something that varies from region to region and is also pretty complex! I'm now wondering if we are supposed to visit every single school in the area or just find out as much as we can about them?!!

Have been to the town hall now to find out a little about registering and thought it might be useful to let others know what I found out ... so here goes ...

It seems that in this area ( Mijas ) we don't really have a choice of school, it does come down to the nearest. ( Mijas Pueblo ) Our daughter is already on the inhabitents list because we registered her birth here, but we still need to get her residencia asap to get her into the school. When the school announces it's registration date, sometime in March / April, we have to go back to the town hall with the residencia and her passport etc and empadromiento and get an inhabitents certificate. Then we go to the school to register, then we wait till May to see if she has got in! 

As we already knew she is not obliged to go to the school until age 5 but if we wait another year, they seemed to think she might end up in the class below her age? Does that sound right?

So now we need to get the paperwork, visit the school and decide whether to risk keeping her where she is in her private nursery, which would probably mean until she is 5 and then sending her or sending her in Sept so she start swith the friends she will hopefully stay with for a while. I guess it's better to move them sooner rather than later ... it's just she's so happy where she is and so little! Does anyone have any experience with this or if anyone has any personal experience of the schools in Mijas Pueblo that would be fantastic.

Thank you! 

The only danger in waiting is that their class in the school you want may fill up for the following year and your child would be assigned another school.  In general, to apply, the school will ask for your ID numbers, certiicate of "enpadromiento" from the council stating that you are living there, income information and if you are a "large" family - more than 3 members.

Yes if you have  3 children or more you are a familia numerosa. If that applies to you you can apply for a card as proof and that helps off-set against your income and  your claims for grants.

See your socail worker to apply for one.

Hi Spainmamma,

I have a friend whose son goes to the local school in Mijas Pueblo. He started there when he was 3 and seems quite happy there. As you pointed out, starting school with friends would make it easier to adjust, and in his case he started with his friends from the nursery there. My son started at 3 too, in Fuengirola, and is quite happy there. In his school, the infants are separate from the primary age children 6+, which is good, and I think quite a few schools do this. I understand you feeling worried, it is normal to feel a bit anxious, but, depending on the school, I think they settle in ok after the first month or so.

Hi there, just catching up on this thread that I started a year ago! Thanks for all the replies ...

Well, here we are again in the same position. Kept my daughter in her private nursery for another year and she is very happy and settled yet I do feel this year ( she will be 4 in Nov ) that we should really apply for the state school this month ... our local one is Mijas Pueblo which seems the best in the area ( Thanks Caz for the good recommendation ) and as others have said if we don't apply this year we run the risk of the class being full next year.

So my question is, today I went to the school to get the forms and when I asked if I could make an appointment to look around, maybe speak to the teachers they just looked at me like I was mad! And basically said no! So, I'm guessing it's normal not to look around the school before applying .... is this right? It seems so weird! How can I send my 3 year old to a school I've never set foot in!!! It seems so young to base a decision on just a leap a faith!!! But just wondered if anyone else got to look around the infants schools before making decisions?

Also please please does anyone have any opinions ( good or bad ) about Mijas Pueblo Infant and primary school ( San Sebastian ) ....

Also in general what sort of stuff do 4 year olds do in the state schools? I really want to compare it to what I know she would be doing in the private nursery .....

I hate March!!!! 

Thanks again .... any replies gratefully received!!! 

 Hi spainmamma

That does not surprise me. In my experience parents are not encouraged to come into schools. There is a bit of stand at the gate and no further policy in  a lot of schools. Like you I kind of expected the tour as I wanted to have a picture in my head about the kind of environment that my little three ( at the time) year olds were going to be in. I am guessing that some schools are more receptive than others. I visited one with my friend yesterday who is at the same stage as you but has a little one with special needs so it is critical that she sees the facilities. The secretary at this school looked at us like we were mad too when we suggested making an appointment to see the "instalaciones" .

I feel that our children have been quite lucky with their teachers to date, last year´s teacher was a little macho and played the "what do you expect mums I am a man" card a bit much. When they were in infantil they had an absolutely brilliant teacher who really encouraged parents to come into the classroom and get involved but the Spanish mothers (I stress mothers  as fathers don´t tend to get involved although there are exceptions) found her a bit strange.Having said that, I know a lot of English mothers who have no interest in what goes on within the school walls here.Our twins are in segundo of primaria and they do lots of  learning by memory, very little art and regular tests. They do enjoy school and they love their teacher who is kind and patient with years of experience.You will find that a lot of mothers obsess over what their child eats in school rather than learning methods.

I could go on and on please PM me with any questions.

Hi,

The school we put our son into could'nt have been more helpfull.

Being 4 years ago now, we had no Catalan. They pulled an English kid out of class to help us. We were shown all round the school by the headmaster no less! The school has a 'come in at 1pm on a friday if you need to talk to us',  but I have found you can go in at any time if you really need to. They have always helped.

Good luck, take care, Febe

 Here in Murcia we are delighted with the school. Our son is 11 and has just started last September. I came to register him last March and they got an English speaking teacher to show us round every area of the school. When we need to speak to the teacher we phone in the morning and they arrange to meet us when the school finishes. 

Education here reminds me very much of the 70's in Scotland but they have a lot more homework even in the Christmas holidays he had 45 pages of work!

All the children love the school and the teachers. I think what we are seeing is that all Spanish people LOVE and have time for children. 

Thanks for all your replies ... Lifeline and Febe it sounds like you've got great schools as I certainly haven't been given any opportunity to see the school or ask any questions ... so still umming and ahhing ... all your advice is great .. I think we'll keep our options open for now, find out what we can in the next week ... apply and then see how we feel. If she stays where she is for another year it won't be the end of the world .... thanks again ....

As Susan said, our kids are very happy in the local school, although I'm not particularly happy with the learning style, which sometimes means they copy huge amounts of text which seems a bit silly.  But, they are happy and that's what matters most.

The headmaster is more of an administrator.  He's not really a headmaster as such.  He told us he has no power or control, everything comes from the Junta.  This was when one year they started without a teacher!  It did all get sorted in the end but it made us realise that headmasters aren't really headmasters in the state schools.

It's a bit like with the school meals.  These used to be cooked on the premises, which was great, but then the Junta made an agreement with a nation-wide catering company and now they are just ready meals sent to the school.  We took our kids out of comedor at this point as it's not really what we wanted, we were happy they were having a wide variety of freshly cooked food every day, not ready meals.  But not any more.

Complaints to the headmaster were pointless as he has now say in the matter!

Anyway, my point is that there will be issues in whatever school you put your kids in, state or private, and I believe there is always an element of luck involved with this too.

Justin

Thanks Justin. As you say happiness is def the main concern and I also think I am worrying about this a lot more than is prob necessary but you also raise some interesting points, particularly about the food ... I never realised that and it must be a policy that runs throughout Andalucia! This is why I find it odd that there is little info on offer before making a decision, because it's very hard to compare the State / private options without info to make the comparision. At the moment at my daughters school they follow the Spanish and British curriculums and learning is made really fun, they are very motivated, have a lot of homework and learn via a variety of methods, some are more structured and some more fun based. I am very happy with her progress and would hate for her to not be as happy in a new school and for her motivation to take a downturn. But I'm prob overthinking it!

 It's likely we will move in the next few years and so for the first time in my life I shall be making schools the number one priority re wherever we end up!! 

Hi Spainmamma,

My friend recently enroled her 3 year old in the school at Mijas Pueblo, her daughter is currently at Costa Kinder Care and has the same "concerns"that you do.

I think everyone has given you the correct info on the schools her ein Spain, once you move away from the "comfort" of the private nurseries and look at the State system here in Spain it can be quite daunting.  I enrolled my son in Maria Zambrano last March and we had to wait and see if he was accepted, which we did not find out until June, he then started in September.  We were fortunate that we were offered the opprtunity to view the school and with the school being fairly new at the same all looked well.  Now we and all the parents of the children who started in Infantil 4 are waiting to find out if our children will be staying at the school, as apparently they were oversubscribed by  5 extra classes!!!  Seems bizzare how so many children can be accepted, start a school and now may well have to move in the future!  Maria Zambran also uses outside caterers although I have to admit, the monthly menu's they issue give a detailed nutrional breakdown of their meals will the calorific value also, my son loves them,so I can quite happy to keep him in Comedor.

The only advice I can give you which has been passed to me by numerous English and Spanish parents is not to worry too much, concentrate on intergrating them into the Spanish System so they pick up the Spanish really well, it makes it easier (apparently) to move them for when their "real" education starts at age 6!

Good luck