Sending my son to school in Spain for a year

[Nateismine]

Hi

Can anyone give me advise about sending my son to school in Spain for a year? General advice and specifics would be good.

I'm English and Dad is Spanish. I don't want him to go (as he is my baby!) but I'm sure he'll have a great time and it will be fab to consolidate the language. We're thinking of arranging it for Year 7. Is this a good time? Anyone know of any schools-I'm assuming that they even have boarding schools in Spain? Thanks.

[Drinkstoomuchcoffee]

We spent time in Madrid back in the day. As far as I am aware the vast majority of Spanish boarding schools are for problem children. If they are not behaving/working hard enough you pack them off to boarding school for some discipline. The ethos is very different to that of UK boarding schools. This may be changing a bit, but there is no real equivalent of a UK boarding school.

The King's School in Madrid - which is more like an English private school- take boarders. Although most of the students are Spanish speakers, their programme is an English language one so probably not what you are looking for. But your DS would probably speak a lot of Spanish while he was there.

Have you thought about summer school with a host family? That would give you the language and arguably a better behaved peer group than a boarding school. Or could he stay with relatives/family friends and go to a day school?

[readingrainbow]

Have you looked into En Famille? It is a French organisation that arrangles year-long exchanges between families in Europe and North America. We did this from Aug 2014-Sept 2015. We were matched with a Spanish family (Spain was dd's preferred country, but their ethos is to match the child with the right family first and foremost). Their daughter lives with us for six months, learned English and went to school here. She went home, and my DD went to live with her family for six months about a week later.

It was a brilliant experience for all of us. My DD was 11 at the time, so year 7 aged. She went to school in Spain and became fluent in Spanish. The family we were matched with are wonderful and we keep in touch regularly. We are hoping to do an exchange with our younger DC in a few years, with the same family.

I can't recommend En Famille enough. They have been arranging these exchanges for 35+ years so have plenty of support in place for the children and parents.

The only caveat is that my DD lost her school place when she went to Spain. That was a nuisance, but when she returned we ended up moving due to a job change and she is now attending a different school anyway. This new school has Spanish as a required GCSE subject so it has worked out in her favour!

[mary21]

If you are in the London area there is a Spanish school. Friends very pleased with it and I am sure they said it was free if one parent was a Spanish national. www.educacion.gob.es/exterior/centros/canadablanch/es/home/index.shtml might be an alternative if you don't want him to go away

[Nateismine]

Thanks, all very interesting. We do have friends in Spain he could stay with but it is a bit of an imposition for a year. I'll look into summers schools- any pointers?

[Noitsnotteatimeyet]

Where would you want him to go after the year in Spain? Most children transfer to secondary school for Y7 so if he were to come back for Y8 you might be left with very little choice and have to put up with wherever had space