School and education

1. The system in brief

• Escola infantil — 0 to 3, optional, usually fee-paying
• Infantil — 3 to 6, optional but attended by nearly everyone, and free at state schools
• Primaria — 6 to 12, compulsory
• ESO — 12 to 16, compulsory, with a leaving certificate
• Bachillerato or Formación Profesional — from 16, optional; the bachillerato leads to the university entrance examination

Schools are state (público), state-funded but privately run (concertado, often church schools) or private. Oversight lies with the Conselleria d’Educació of the Valencian government, not with the municipality: ceice.gva.es

2. Admission

Enrolment runs through a formal process, the admisión escolar, usually in spring for the following school year. Anyone arriving outside that window applies for a vacancy and is allocated a free place — not necessarily at the school of your choice.

Places are awarded on a points system, the baremo. Points come from, among other things:

• Proximity of home or workplace to the school — usually the decisive factor
• Siblings already at the same school
• Income and particular family circumstances

This is why the registration certificate matters so much: it proves your address, and the address decides the points.

3. The language of instruction

For a child arriving from abroad that means two new languages at once. Younger children generally manage well; from secondary level it becomes harder. Support programmes for newcomers exist; ask at the school itself.

If you would rather avoid it, there are international schools nearby — in Albir, Benidorm and Alfaz del Pi — following German, British or Norwegian curricula. They are private and charge fees.

4. Recognition of foreign qualifications

Moving mid-way through a stage requires an assessment of the record (convalidación); for completed qualifications there is recognition (homologación) through the ministry. Both take time.

• Certificates with a sworn translation and, depending on the country, an apostille
• The application can be made before you arrive — that saves weeks
• Until it is decided, the child is enrolled provisionally

5. The school day

• School year — September to June, with long summer holidays and Altea’s local public holidays
• Comedor — school lunch, fee-paying, with means-tested support
• Escola matinera — early-morning care before lessons, at many schools
• Textbooks — largely covered by the Xarxa Llibres scheme, returned at the end of the year
• School transport — for outlying homes, applied for through the school

6. Documents

• A current registration certificate
• Parents’ identity documents and NIE
• The child’s birth certificate, translated and apostilled
• Vaccination record or a medical certificate
• Previous school records, translated
• The child’s SIP card, if already issued

Which schools exist in Altea and where places are free is published by the Conselleria and the municipality. This page deliberately names no schools and rates none — both change, and the choice is a personal one.