Registering with schools for the first time ....

Thanks Sam. So I just wanted to make sure I understand correctly ... once your child is in a school the place isn't gaurenteed ... and they could actually have to move schools if the classes are oversubscribed. Seem's really unfair on little one's once they've made friends etc???

Hi, to be honest, I am not sure.  We were told last week that a new school has to be built to accomodate the extra children, but this could take a couple of years, so we think the class will stay where it is and after the summer hopefully the class will stay with the Teacher for another term.  Ideally my son should stay with his teacher until he starts Primary School at 6 years old.  I do think this may be a "one off" as there seems to have been an "explosion" of children being born in the Mijas Costa Area.  I was also informed recently, that they have re-zoned the areas for schools also.

You have to remember that officially kids don't start school in Spain until the age of 6.  Before that, schools aren't obliged to take in kids if they don't have places for them.  From 6 onwards they have to give them a place.

Justin

So from 6 onwards do they def stay in the same school then?

Sam, can I just ask ... the school your son's at is also in our zone ... would you recommend that one? Are you happy with it etc ... also the one next door to it ... Tamixa? Do you know anything about that one? Or how those two compare to Mijas Pueblo?

Sorry to bombard you!

Thanks ...

Hi there,

I cant believe that your son might have to move schools, that sounds very odd!. Normally, it is the policy of the Junta de Andalucia once a child is enrolled to continue there until he or she finishes primary school, unless the family moves. You still have to fill in a form to say you still want a place for the following year but they are normally obliged to offer the place once in.

Normally, if a school is oversubscribed they have to decide based on the points system who will get a place, but this is carried out in the first year of Infant school (3 years) and if there are too many children for too few places, the child will be offered a place at their second or third choice of school, depending on the number of places there. But I have never heard of them deciding once they have already started there! I am sure you must have some grounds for an appeal. (Reclamacion - although if you do, dont hold your breath, it took them a year to reply to me when I made one and they still didnt answer it properly). After all, if they have accepted the children and given them a place there, they must surely be legally obliged under the Junta's own laws (see their website) to continue there. How can they miscalculate so badly! Is Maria Zambrano the new one in Las Lagunas? 

As for keeping the same teacher, well it depends on what kind of contract the teacher has. A lot of them are just given temporary contracts, which means that after one year or two years they are moved to a different school. This is what happened to my son's first teacher, who was lovely. She taught my friend's son at a different school one year, the following year she moved to our school and taught my son and then last year she had to move to yet another school!

Apart from that, I think my son is quite happy there. He is in Infantil 4 years and is learning to recognise and write numbers, letters and beginning to read some words and short sentences using pictograms. Personally, though, I think the real education happens through his classmates (good and bad lol). There are reports at the end of every term, and you can make an appointment to see the teacher to monitor progress.  Like I said before, it seems such a big step going to school at 3 but once they are in, they are usually fine. Plus I do think its good when they all start together and all know each other when they do start Primary. If the area is being re-zoned then for SpainMamma - maybe it would be better to try to get a place now when you can rather than risk losing out next year. I think it depends on the area though, some areas are much more heavily oversubcribed than others, you might be okay. 

Hi Caz.I

Is your child at Maria Zambrana too?  We did have to go to the office last week to double check if we had to re-register them again for the upcoming year but were told no, they were now in the system.  You are correct that it is a very unusual situation happening at Maria Zambrano and unfortunately not made any easier by the fact that even the Spanish do not really know what is going on.

Apparantely, unknown to me at the time of registering my son at Maria Zambrano this time last year, (as this is the closest school to our house it was the first choice and he had the most points for it.) the school had received 5 x more applicants for the ages 4 than ever before.  With regards to appeal, as know one knows what is happening, including the teachers, (my son's teacher came to school two weeks ago with a local spanish paper which stated that they were going to erect a prefabricated building between Maria Zambrano and Tamixa, and transfer the excess children to that one!) it is still a mystery.  As Justin quite righty states, the schools are not obliged to give children a place until they are 6, so we are not really sure what went wrong there lat year with the Administration.  I know that they have posted on the message board that there were no places for accepting 4 year olds for this coming September.

With reference to my views on the school itself, my son seems very happy there, he has integrated very well and was fluent in Spanish before he moved there which was great for him.  He is only one of two English children in his class, (the other child is also fluent in Spanish) and the class size is not bad with 16 in his class. He adores his Teacher, has made some great friends and seems to be doing very well for his age.  It is a bit like a rugby scrum at the end of the term when you meet with the teacher to discuss progess, but they do give you a very good report on topics covered to date, plus he does get "homework" of sorts each week.  So yes I would recommend his school so far, despite the uncertainty.

I agree that you should also be looking now for schools for next year as the process can take some time.

With reference to Tamixa, I cannot help as this was not given to us as an option.