Moving to Madrid - Public english school?

[SophieC31]

Hello,
We are a french family, living in UK since 2 years and moving now to Madrid in Spain.
Our 2 kids (7yo, twins) are now in Year 2 here in the UK and we would like to maintain them in an english environnement even in Spain.

Due to the cost of private school, we are looking for a state school with good level of English.

Does anybody know a good english state school in Madrid?
Any advices regarding this change, an feedback on a similar situation is more than welcome ...

Many thanks.

Sophie

Send your DC to the French school! Spanish bilingual schools will not be right for your DC.

Thank you for your advices.
Our kids learnt all maths, writing and reading in English, this is way we would like to maintain english curriculum.
But the Private english school are really expensive this is way we would prefer public school with high number of hours in english, currently in Spain all state school provide 30% of english but that seems not enought for us to ensure that our kids catch-up quickly.
However, because we plan to stay in Spain for a long time, having a bit of spanish would be welcome.

Language isn’t everything! The quality of the education in Spanish state schools is low compared to English or French state schools and the Spaniards are notoriously unwelcoming to foreigners. At the French school you and your children will make friends.

Great, good to know.
Thanks a lot :)

Increasingly, state schools in Madrid are teaching lessons in English. However, the teachers aren't native English speakers and the standard of English isn't great. If the kids don't know any English, then it's good enough as they'll pick up very basic English. If your kids already speak English, I don't think this is going to meet your needs which is, presumably, maintaining the fluency they acquired whilst living in the UK. I have friends and family with children who are currently at state schools in Madrid, also being taught many lessons in English. Even after several years, I would say the level of English was fairly basic at best.

Private International isn't an option for you because of cost. Other options to maintain their English would be to have friends who speak English. Madrid has a large community of English speakers, both native and those who speak it fluently as a second language. If your kids keep speaking it even just socially, they will keep it up. Another option which has worked well for friends of mine who have never left Spain (!) but speak English fluently, albeit with an American accent, is watching TV or movies in English.

Good luck!

Spanish parents are very keen indeed for their children to learn English and there is a huge market in bilingual education, both state and private. Such schools are not designed to meet the linguistic and educational needs of native speakers of English and such children are unlikely to flourish in them.

You could look at Colegio Padre Coloma. It's public and bilingual. I don't have personal experience to say whether it's good or not but the reviews online are pretty good from the small amount of research I've done for when mine are older. I think I read that they have two American teachers on their staff.

Another one is Colegio Reina Victoria which I used to live close to. Again, I don't know what it's like personally but it is in an upmarket area and a lot of the kids were picked up by nannies so make of that what you will!

If a lot of the children are being picked up by nannies, the OP won’t be making friends at the school gate. Everyone I know who has lived in Spain as an expat tells me how impossibly difficult it is to make Spanish friends and that it can be an exceedingly lonely experience if you aren’t integrated into an expat community around an international school.

Hi,
There are good state schools in Madrid. It would help if you know where you are likely to be living first then start your research. Most schools are bilingual now which means they follow the bilingual programme which teaches English language along with Natural and Social science and Art in wholly in English. Most schools use the same of similar textbooks so there isn't much variation in content, if any at all. In my experience the level isn't that great. Obviously it could be better or worse depending on the ability of the teacher but that can be quite hit and miss in my experience. I have 3 children in the bilingual public system and have seen a range of Teachers. Some haven't even spent time in an English speaking coumtry for example. I agree with the previous poster who mentioned how hard iy is to break-in and make meaningful friendships with Spanish parents. After 12 years I can count on 2 fingers how many Spanish Mum friends I have!

Hello,

Thanks, I had a couple of recommandations by private messages too.

It helps to take into consideration things that I didn't think about like integration in the community, school friends etc.

I think it is not only a matter of private/public anymore but really about each school vision & staff. We will go there for a couple of days shortly, meeting schools directly will help to figure out where we can image our kids to be.

Any other recommandation of good (bilingual/english/international school (teaching, school values etc) is more than welcome.

Thanks a lot!