Spanish Schools
Whilst we did not the worries of putting children into Spanish school (as they are grown up) we do have experience of helping clients register their children into school and we have seen them happily settle down, learn Spanish and in fact prefer it to their previous English schools. They have made Spanish friends, whom they help with English homework and vice versa! and their families get invited to the BBQs.
It is natural to worry about children but as other people have said they are resilient and soon adapt to their new surroundings. Yes the Costa Blanca area has a lot of English speaking people (many of whom are other nationalities i.e. Dutch etc) with their children at school but don?t forget you the adults will want someone to speak to and maybe clients if you are starting a business!
The schools are modern, well equipped and fully staffed and you do have the option of private schools as well.
I do not think that schools and children adapting is a major reason not to consider relocating.
I asked one of our clients to comment to add first hand experience to this posting:
Happy for you to include ‘a client’s’ comments and propose the following.
.... Moved to Spain and choose to live in an area where we knew there would be a large number of English speaking neighbours. Our main concern was our (then) four-year old son, who was leaving his friends behind in the UK. We enrolled our son into a Spanish school (with help from Best Choice Villas) and it was with a high degree of concern that we took him on his first day to start full-time school, in a school where they would not speak his vernacular and where he would not have any friends.
We need not have worried. Within a short time, he had made friends with children of many nationalities, not just Spanish and British, and was beginning to speak the Spanish language. Now, two years on, he is fluent in the language, can switch between Spanish and English, and even speaks with that distinctive Spanish sound from the back of the throat.
I cannot contrast the teaching he receives against what he would have had back in England, but I can say that we are very impressed with his level of general knowledge, his social skills, his reading and writing achievements and the fact that he also has a education in a foreign language - English, from the age of 5. Could this be why the continent is so far ahead of the UK when it comes to being able to speak a foreign language.
Of course it was hard at first, but young children learn fast and we, his parents, are 100 percent convinced we have the best thing possible for our child.
Hope this is of use.
Dave.
END.
Hope this helps with your decision and Good luck with your moves.
