I am in the process of finalizing a move from USA to Madrid for 18-24 month starting in January 2008. I am looking for advice on school choices for my 2 boys, 5 and 7 years old. We're English speaking, but we'd like the boys to learn as much Spanish as possible during our time there. Any experiences or up to date advice would be very welcome!

Thanks,
Alan.

hey Alan, welcome to the board.

- do you want them to go to a bilingual school?
- how much spanish do they know now?
- do you have a budget for their schooling and if - so, how much per month and per child?
- what will your status be here? legal (with residency) i assume?

there are publick and private schools here and while the public are free, the private ones can cost up to 800 euros (approx. $1,125) a month

this is why i ask the questions above.

the private bilingual schools here are usually based on the british education system and can be very expensive. the top-notch ones are "kings college" ( www.kingscollege.es ) and "the british council" ( www.britishcouncil.org/spain.htm ). there is also at least 1 "american" school here ( www.asmadrid.org ).

the british ones can be VERY exclusive and hard to get into so you need to apply years before you want your child to attend in many cases and even then there are no guarantees.

the only issue is that these schools may be too heavy on the english learning end and you want your kids to learn as much Spanish as possible so you may want to go with a spanish school that boasts bilingual students, "brains" comes to mind --> www.colegiobrains.com ( english version at www.colegiobrains.com/brains_ing.html ). they have schools and nursery schools all over madrid for all ages of kids. they boast "a spanish school with bilingual students".

saludos,
jer...

Thanks for the quick response....a few more details as requested:

- do you want them to go to a bilingual school? YES
- how much spanish do they know now? ONLY A FEW WORDS
- do you have a budget for their schooling and if - so, how much per month and per child? COMPANY SUPPORTED...SO WE'LL GET SOME FINANCIAL SUPPORT
- what will your status be here? legal (with residency) i assume? UK AND US PASSPORTS

We'd like to make sure the boys get immersed in the Spanish language and culture...otherwise, why go there?....but with some support so that their first few months do not turn into a nightmare!

Any experiences or advice welcome!

Thanks,
Alan.

Hi. You've also got Colegio Nervion (www.colegionervion.com) which is a bilingual school, which means about 12 hours a week are in english and the rest in spanish.

There's also SEK (www.sek.es)

There are a bunch of bilingual schools. I think one big question is where you will live or work because a lot of the schools are outside of Madrid in Pozuelo or Aravaca. And the kids here already go to school until around 5pm (depending on school). And transport time to that and it's just too late getting to school.

topmadrid.com offers a long list of colegios bilingues to chose from.

-Jamie

hey Alan.

another thing to keep in mind is if you want them to have playing fields and other installations like they have at u.s. schools (swimming pool, etc...).

if they are used to a suburban type school in the u.s.a. and you want them to be at one here as well, you will have to put them in one of the schools outside the city as those are the ones with the fields and other space-consuming instalations.

many schools do offer bussing as an optional service.

saludos,
jer...

I can't really make any suggestions about private school (my five year old son goes to a Spanish public school--his isn't bilingual), but I did want to suggest that you try to find a way to get your kids speaking or at least understanding as much Spanish as you can before they come.

Even at the English language and bilingual schools a LOT of the social interaction between the kids (on the playground, etc.) is in Spanish. The more vocabulary they master ahead of time, the easier the transition will be for them. Also, with just a little work, the 7 year old (and maybe the five year old, too) should be able to get a good start on learning to read in Spanish (that is learning the phonetic system--it's very easy compared to English).

If you want to get together for a "play date" once you're here, send me a PM.

Hello, we may be moving from the Chicago area to Madrid and I would like some recommendations regarding elementary/nursery schools. What private or public Spanish schools would you recommend? My children understand well and speak some Spanish (3 year old boy and 7 year old girl) as they've always had only Spanish-speaking nannies but I'm concerned that if they are in bilingual schools they will spend all their time with the English-speaking children. I prefer to immerse them in Spanish rather than giving them the option of English while in school! Any recommendations? Thanks so much for any advice.