Looking for english/American school in Murcia/Alicante Region

Hi.

I'm planing tomove to Spain in 2013 for professional reasons. We will move to Alicante. My kids are in a american school.they don't study spanish. Are there american good american schools in the region of Alicante/Murcia?

Is spanish mandatory in the english/american schools?

My kids are 14, 12and 5 years.

Thanks for help.

Alia

 Hi Alia,

As far as I know there are no American schools in Alicante as there are probably few Americans. There are English and Spanish schools none of which I know of. El Limonar is popular but situated in Villamartin. Often these private schools pick up from a wide radius as do the buses around our area to transport pupils to King's College, Murcia. All English schools teach Spanish.

Try googling English schools in Alicante and you should find some.

Thanks Daveil for he insights. You're right, all schools teach spanish, which means I have to start courses for all the family to be able to reach a reasonnable level in 2013!!

kind regards.

alia

As has been said all international schools teach spanish but lessons are in English. This is good for your 2 older children but I would suggest that the 5 year old goes to a local spanish school, at least at first.

I say this as we put our then 7 year old into spanish school and within 2 years he spoke spanish as well as any local child of the same age. It is widely said that children that go to international school always lag behind with their spanish language skills. Also the junior schools in most areas are extremely adept at integrating non spanish nationals into their schools.

As to your other point I beleive the St. James college on the polaris site of La Torre in the region of Murcia is very good and in the Alicante region the Lady Elizabeth school in the Jalon valley is also very good.

HTH

SpanishHomeSeeker

My daughter will be starting to go to Majal Blanco School in Santomera just over the border in Murcia. It is a government subsidised school which is Spanish but have a real focus on English. It is a small school. They don’t teach Valencian so there is more time given to the more important subjects. I do have friends who send there children to the British school in Alicante.

There are some Americans in the area,  in the village of Cox there is a very small English speaking community with a couple from Florida. I am very happy Living in Cox, my wife & most of my friends are Spanish. I was the first Brit in the village. Now there is a expat community I have made a lot of  really nice friends and enjoy the two cultures very much..

Hi Alia

I believe there is a school of excelence which has english as its first language.

Itscalled Kings College (The British School of Murcia) & has children from 3yrs plus. It opened in August 2007 so very modern

It is on the Polaris World La Torre golf resort 

It is an Internationally recognised school & there are about five others in Spain. I thinkKings college is built on about 30 yrs of experience.

I  have found a write up about Kings & there is a telephone number (0034 from the UK) 968 012 617.

I may be mistaken but I think it is a fee paid school.

Best of luck

Jan

Hi. Thanks for the tips. I started to contact the schools to get more information. it's right, Kings college is a private and I have to pay tuition fees.

That's a good start of my action plan!!! I hope to be able to fix the other matterrs ( housing, residence....). I hope  the integration in the spanish society will be easy.

Thanks again to all for support.

alia

Hello Alia,

I just wanted to add my experience in case it helps.   (Maybe too late) We moved from the USA to Spain, San Javier- Murcia, with a 12 and 5 year old.  The decision was to put the 5 year old in the normal Spanish school system and he had a nice Pre-K school setup nearby.  He learned quickly enough to make himself understood, within the first few months.

The older one, was placed at the near by private, (fee paying) Castelar International school.   It was a very disapointing experience.  The vast majority are local kids that are either family related or long time friends of local surrounding communities.  The school, after the economical crisis, had an important withdrawal of registered students and it is now suffering financial difficulties.  Pool has not been opened the entire year, no tenis or other sport facilities outside hall and football field. If your kids are not into football they will soon find themselves left for last in the playground field.  Teachers are higher ratio Spanish speakers, some with limited English.  Subjects are in both languages but you will have subjects like math divided into two complimentary areas one been in English and the other in Spanish.  Everyone has to atttend both.  If your are not up to speed in Spanish, you will have problems following the overhall course material.  Because of their financial difficulties, they do not have much to offer for extra curriculum or teacher's aid to take someone appart and focus on Spanish.   No Psychologist on board to help kids with integration problems or counseilling.  Teachers are given a sheat sheet by an external Psychologist, in case of need to help a student.

Since you are required to have a certain level of Spanish by school end, to pass Spansh education requirements, you will have to pay and arrange other ressources to privately teach Spanish to your kids.

With this experience,  I will recommend that:

* You look for well attended and funded schools.  Look specially for the offer in subjecst like sports, art, computers, music, etc.  These are subjects first eliminated in case of financial problems or you will find that the same teacher who teaches sciences, teaches english, computer and other subjects requiring specialization.

* Look for an English/British school with curriculum in English and Spanish offered also at beginer's level, even if the student enters 5th grade.

* Be prepared to pay around euro 500-600 per month, plus registration fees, plus uniform, plus transportation.