Hi everyone. I am moving to Spain next June permanently. I am a complementary therapist and undertaking a level 7 diploma in advanced therapies before I leave, I’ve been trying to find out wither I could sit my degree in Spain, if they have the course and how funding works if there is any. Also i have looking into my daughters education I feel so far that state school doesn’t seem to step up, is it to the standard of main stream school in the UK? As it is my 1St priority. Also with regards to tax as a lone parent how would it work is it the same as the UK? medical insurance for my daughter how would that work.

thanks

Hi Emma , Lou at Cpc holding here ,congratulations on taking the plunge , firstly the subject of your daughters education The Spanish state school system is very good however your daughter must be fluent in Spanish prior to starting or she will fall behind and be held back at least one year . It has always amazed me how many English people simply put non Spanish speaking children into a state school and just hope for the best , obviously you are thinking ahead so if the language is a problem perhaps you should look at the private English schools which are not so expensive depending on the area you are going to .

You can do a degree course in Spain but again the universities are totally Spanish speaking and grant funding is not normally available .

The health service in the more cosmopolitan areas is brilliant and in my experience knocks spots of the U.K I have found the hospitals to be clean and well managed and the level of medical care to be fantastic once you are paying social security / national insurance both you and your daughter are fully covered .

The tax system in Spain is completely different to the U.K AND TO ADVISE PROPERLY ON THIS i WOULD NEED TO KNOW IF YOU WILL BE AN EMPLOYEE OR SELF EMPLOYED ,  I can tell you that there is not an expat tax credit system in place but their are tax allowances according to circumstances .

Lou at CPC HOLDING

Lou, where’s your evidence that non-fluent children fall behind? From what my teacher friends tell me, and from the experiences of friends and their kids, children from non-spanish speaking countries do not fall behind in their education; sure, generally secondary school age children need extra help with Spanish, but that’s all. My friends tell me that for primary age kids they don’t really need any extra help.

What I would say though is that in my humble opinion, infant and junior school education is as good as, or better than in the UK, but the secondary school system hwere isn’t as good as the UK - or at least the results are not as good here as in the UK.

Hi Expat,
evidence of five children having gone through the spanish state school system the oldest was 7 when we moved and he struggled terrible in school . I honestly belive that having the basis of the language is important .

my younger ones learned much quicker than the 7 yr old , who after 12 months still struggled with the basics .