In 2003, Samantha Moore moved to Spain with her husband and her young daughter. They settled in Torrevieja and started in on the bureaucratic mountain that faces all newcomers to Spain. She found it very difficult to find information concerning facilities for her daughter such as which nursery to choose, where to buy good shoes and which beaches were safest. She found that there was no central point where parents could go to get the information they needed.
As she gathered more and more information, she found herself being constantly asked for advice and information so she transferred all the information she had found onto a website called Torrevieja Kids. She ran the website as a hobby and updated it as and when she found the time, whilst she concentrated on her job as Deputy Head at a well known local school.
However, the site’s popularity kept growing, with its coverage area extending from the Mar Menor in the south to Denia in the north and she was no longer able to give it the attention it deserved. In February 2006 she joined forces with Amanda Payne, former editor of one of the largest English newspapers in the area and a new website designer to revitalise what is a unique and valuable resource for both visitors to and ex-pats living on the Costa Blanca, Costa Calida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almeria. The site was totally redesigned and updated and re-launched as Kids in Spain (www.kidsinspain.es) in May 2006.
Although Sam has since moved back to the UK for personal reasons Amanda has decided to continue maintaining the website which is becoming an increasingly popular with currently over 1000 unique visitors each month, the majority of whom are resident in the UK and Spain. The website is highly placed in many of the main search engines including Yahoo, MSN Search and Google. We also have many reciprocal links with other websites frequented by holidaymakers and those emigrating from the UK (and other European countries)
The purpose of the website is to provide information that families need if they are thinking about moving to Spain or about the facilities available after they have arrived. It provides information about the main towns in the area, how to register with a school or doctor, what to do in an emergency, places to visit, how to get official documentation (many forms are available to download from the website) and much more. It also provides a means for businesses in the area to advertise themselves so that visitors and residents can find shops and services that they may not otherwise have known about. If it's in any way related to children or relevant to families who have emigrated to Spain you will eventually be able to find it on the Kids in Spain website.
We have also put together a 34 page e-book entitled "A Guide to Education on the Costa Blanca" which can be downloaded from the website for a small fee. The guide contains general information about the Spanish education system as well as information specific to the Costa Blanca.
We are constantly on the lookout for more information and encourage visitors to let us know about any good places that they have visited or where they have had good child-related service and welcome all contributions via our forum or by email.
Our long-term aim is to expand and extend the Kids in Spain site to cover more areas of Spain and hope that parents along the Costas will get involved and make it their main source of information about child-related issues.