[size=3]Any advice please?? My daughter is in last year of school here in uk from september. We may of moved by then for an opportunity in june/july and as she will be in GCSE’s year iv’e heard that the UK can help financially witht that but of course education seem to know nothing here!
My son will be 14 this year and both are willing to go back a year but im worried about the lack of spanish and how he would cope.

Just wondered if anyone else been through something similar>
It would be better to wait until next year until she finishes her exams i know, but this is a rare opportunity and one which besides school, will benefit them in life..

Thanks for any advice..

Jo x

Bringing a 14 year old to spain is not a good Idea, let him finish his education in the uk. Life is very hard for
expat teenagers and most end up with menial jobs. The ones I know end up joining the army as little else for them,
His friends are in the uk he will miss them . It could turn out nasty and he would blame you. I have seen it loads of times
and that includes one of my own.

I totally agree with flatpack,let them finish school in the uk.My daughter is due to start secondary school in sept and we are returning to the uk so she can have a proper education and a better start in life.
Good luck with whatever you choose.

I think at that stage of education the only way to do it would be to go to an international school following the UK curriculum - the disruption in GCSE year would still be considerable BUT it would be an amazing experience for the whole family, if you can do it without disrupting the education.  I have to agree that moving into the Spanish system now at this stage would be pretty hard to imagine working.  I am afraid I am not aware of any financial support from the UK for this, I have never heard of that,

good luck with whatever you decide!

Maya

Sending your child to private school is not always a good Idea. The actual quality of the education you get is
not very good. My daughter became friends with some private school kids when we first came here she was 16 years old.
They all took drugs and the only jobs they had was handing out leaflets for discos.
Also the business we had in marbella showed me how snobby they were and some couldnt do simple maths.
Many of those kids have now had to return home now as their parents ran out of money, these kids had to return to a uk council
school with attitudes that would have made life very difficult for them.
Attending a spanish school is great if very young 5 or 6 years approx, but at your sons age bullying is rife amongst
this age group and not speaking spanish would be really difficult.

I think it’s quite a sweeping generalisation to say the quality of education in private schools is ‘not very good’.  I am sure it varies immensely and I don’t know anything about schools in the Marbella area, but I do know we are very happy with the school we have chosen (potentially bankrupting us aside..!), our daughters are primary age, but we did research the senior school and 16+ results in as much detail as we could to make sure we made the right decision.  You need to find out all you can about the management/ownership, the staff team, talk to other parents…  I found it very difficult as the structures were so different to the UK in so far as finding out information (can’t just download their latest Ofsted report!)

It is a hugely difficult choice to make and you need to research it thoroughly, visiting the schools in the area you are interested in.  THey should all be willing to offer your kids free taster days with their potential peer group so that they can be involved in the decision too,

Good luck!

Maya

Hi,
Disagree with you all. I moved to Spain when I was 15 and started my final year in September. I went to xic and it is true the standard of education was rubbish at this school however; I passed all of my exams and gained a near native proficiency in just one year. My parents were advised to send me to an English school because I couldn?t speak Spanish although I believe it would have been better for me to go to Spanish school and if necessary, drop back a year. If you don?t go to Spanish school you don?t get to integrate with the local kids and the majority of the children in the international schools return to England (I think only 5 people in my year stayed in Spain.) it would make their lives in Spain so much easier is they learn to be “Spanish”.you should keep in mind that although children in England finish school at 16, (even if they get bad grades) Spanish children can re-sit the year if they are not doing so well so it is usual to have a mixture of ages in a class. Not going to Spanish school is my biggest regret!!

what is Xic.  I am not saying all people have it hard just the majority.
You said you disagree with what was said yet you agreed with most of it.
.

XIC is xabia international college in javea( alicante). I didn’t read all of the posts so i didnt really mean to direct it at everyones. I just wanted to say dont stay in england just because you are worried about the education. I have had first hand experience as a child of the same age moving to spain and i have friends that went to spanish school and others that went to international school. I came back to england for A-levels because the spanish system recquires you to have spanish qualifications (spanish system covers alot more subjects)

It is very important that parents do think very carefully before uprooting their child away from friends they have probably
had for years putting them in a private school then realising they cannot afford it after a year and then having
to go to spanish school.
If your child is young put them in spanish schools they will learn perfect spanish make spanish friends and
generally fit in to the spanish lifestyle.
would you not have prefered to have stayed in the uk with your old friends.
Now you have had to return to the uk anyway.

Some of our spanish schools also have another type of bullying problem and its the british kids that are doing all the
bullying :wow:

You also have too consider post school, the options for expat kids who have only been in Spain a short time is slim.

Just worth mentioning that the ‘other’ international school in Javea (well the Primary is) offers the option of following the Spanish syllabus as well and matriculating for Spanish university - our girls are still primary age, but we looked at both and made a long term decision, that we HOPE will give our daughters the widest choice possible at 16+ - obviously that is dependent on their Spanish being good enough to follow the parallel curicculum in the secondary (we’re working on that), but like every parent I guess I want to maximise choices and have it all… we hope.

Really value the comments re XIC as it reinforces the decision we made between the two anyway,

Maya