Barcelona?

[newmumwithquestions]

Hello,

Exciting opportunity coming up. Probably moving to Barcelona as DH has been offered a job there. We’re just waiting on confirmation of the package and confirmation that I can keep my job.
We’re looking at renting for 2 years, then probably coming back though who knows, see how it goes!
So what do I need to know? We have 2 primary aged children so need schools for them. We’d love them to learn Spanish/Catalan but they speak none at the moment so realistically it’ll be an English speaking school (or ideally mixed language) so they aren’t totally out their depth.
Also how bad is traffic in the morning? We’ve a bit taken aback at how expensive rents areI so will need to live outside and commute in, even then we’re struggling to find much we fancy that’s affordable (have had to tone down my dreams of a beach villa 😝)
Any tips? And is it worth it? Financially it’s probably not the best move…

I've no advice but I've been to Barcelona and it's a stunning city.
I wish I could live there.
You could move just to make me envious 🤣

best of luck, I hope there are more cons for going and it all works out

Hi - I've been living in Bcn for nearly 2 years with my 2 children aged 6 and 2 and I love it!
It's an amazing city for to be with children - they're welcome everywhere and the lifestyle is really outdoorsy. Parts of the city are really expensive - we live in Gracia, which is lovely, but our flat is tiny and we pay a lot for it. The pay off is we live in a beautiful area with lots of families and interesting shops and restaurants really close to the centre. I find that it's easy to spend less here than in London too as life revolves around the beach/countryside/socialising in plaza's, and food and drink is a lot cheaper. There are areas that are close by to Gracia that are considerably cheaper though - you could look at Guinardo or Horta or some of the outer neighbourhoods like Sants or Les Corts.

Re. schools - if you want your children to speak English, then it'll have to be an international school and these are quite pricey. Most of them are based in Sarria ( a very expensive area) or you have the British School of Barcelona which is in another town along the coast - Castelldelfells. My eldest goes to Barcelona Montessori school which is English speaking and teaches the British Curriculum which is good if you're planning on returning to the UK. They do have Spanish teachers and they learn Catalan too (which I think is a requirement here for all schools).
Let me know if you have any more questions - I don't know much about the traffic as we don't have a car, but it does look a little crazy busy!

Thanks XongDramaQueen! I know we’re lucky to have this opportunity

Thanks LucyHannah. Am off to google the areas now - recalls my helpful. Am lucky that we’re likely to get some help towards schools - at least initially. But then what school we choose dictates the area we’ll remain in as we won’t want to chop and change schools. I think it’s also the adjustment as we live rurally now so accepting that we’ll have less space is hard, even though I see there will be advantages! (Listens to wind and rain). I’m looking at idealista to give me an idea of rents, or are there better places to look?

Sounds exciting!
We've been in BCN for just over 2 years, and our daughter just started at a local school (first year of primary in the Spanish system, which is the same age group as Y2 in the English system) after doing Reception/Y1 at a British school here.
She's settled in very well and is getting to grips with the languages bit by bit, but that's partly thanks to having some exposure during her first two years here. It would obviously be scarier for your kids to go straight into the deep end!

To add to what LucyHannah said, the British School of Barcelona has also recently opened an infant/primary campus in the city.

For housing, Idealista is a good place to look, pretty much the standard here. Fotocasa is another popular one, but I think most agents just advertise on both.

Before changing schools we used this consultant to help us with the local school application process, and she was great. Even though our language skills had developed enough to be able to understand the school websites, application forms, and just about handle open days, it was a great benefit having advice from someone who had been through the process and understood our UK-centric perspective.
It sounds like you won't need such a service if you're getting help from the company, but I would recommend the blogposts on her site to help orient yourself with the different types of school (e.g. this one and this one)

@IsoscelesKramer it would be good to hear more about your experience putting your daughter in a local school after sending her to a British one. We're currently deciding whether to go back to the UK or stay and put her in local. Does she go to a concertda or public? How much of a struggle is it for her with the language? Ours has catalan lessons in her school currently and has spanish friends but doesn't really speak any well! Just worried about what the change would mean for her. Are there many other foreigners at the school? Sorry to hijack this thread!

@LucyHannah1983
It's a bit early to say too much, since she's only been there since September, but I'd say it's going at least as well as we could've reasonably expected!

She'd had Spanish lessons at her old school, but no Catalan. Although the classes now are mostly Catalan, I believe the teacher explains things to our daughter in Spanish as well to give her more chance to understand.
She seems to be managing fine keeping up with class activities, and the way she describes her day to us suggests she must be understanding a reasonable amount. She still does not speak that much, I don't think, but we'd expected that to take longer anyway. Basically we're going to reassess in the new year to see if she needs any extra tutoring, etc.

It's a concertada school. We would have looked at public as well, but since we were starting in the first year of primary there were no spaces at the public schools in our area (I understand that although schooling is only compulsory from age 6, most kids start in infant school so the places were filled by kids coming up from the lower years).
There are a few other foreigners, I think, but not a significant proportion (and none in our kid's class). Although at the visit before we applied they gave us the impression they had experience of cases like our daughter's and were comfortable handling that situation and confident that she'd get up to speed.

@IsoscelesKramer thanks so much for that info - good to hear that she's settling in well! Think I'm going to start looking at concertada's in the area, thinking that they seem more likely to have places at different age groups.

@newmumwithquestions
Schools will be in Catalan, not Spanish. Schooling in Spanish only isn't available in Catalunya. Some private schools have some subjects taught in Spanish.
International schools will teach both Spanish and Catalan.
commute the real question here is not traffic, but parking. Which will be a real nightmare . Barcelona is a very busy city. Lots of buses and tube so public transport should strongly be considered.

Pickpockets no one has mentioned this, so I am going to. Barcelona is an amazing city I miss dearly, but one thing I am glad I left behind are pickpockets and bag snatcher.s In Catalunya, stealing someone's possession up until 400 euros is not a chargeable crime, so police has no power to charge and arrest someone even if they catch them in the act. For this reason, there are thousands of successful or failed attempts to steal bags , wallets, phones from residents and tourists alike every single day. When I was living there, the average of reported thefts was 848 per day. You never put a bag on the floor next to your chair, you never put it at the back of your chair, you always carry a bag with a zip, you don't walk with your bag on your back and so on.... You leave your bag next to your towel and go for a swim, there will be no bag when you come back....
Housing when looking at flats, you need to pay attention to these two words "interior" (indoor) "exterior (outdoor) as they represent the type of windows you will get. Interior windows are often windows with not lights as close to a wall or interior court. Some rooms will have zero light. You also need to consider heating. Many houses have radiators, which is great, others have air con, which is crap, and a big chunk have nothing which is horrible . Air con in the summer is nice, but having heating in winter is better.
When visiting a house, if you notice a closed "shop" with the iron curtain down, come back at 12am because the shop might well be a busy bar or club and really noisy ( as in unable to sleep noisy) . If possible, a flat that includes a parking space would be gold.

Health care will be amazing and totally free. The kids will be seen by a paediatrician and you don't have to fight the system to get a specialist referral. Amazing parks, awesome museums , happy people, great food (in the real restaurants not the shitty tourist traps) , the beach, the mountains for skiing 3 hours away) .....

Where is your DH's work located? IF you are opting for an international school in the Barcelona Alta (Sarria Pedralbes, ...) look at any house on the train line between Sarria and Sant Cugat.

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice. I hadn’t thought about car parking 😳 so that was a good spot. Unfortunately we’ve hit a personal level snag and this is all on hold. 😥