I am considering taking my three young children and moving to Madrid for a year so they can learn Spanish and experience another country's culture. Could anyone recommend a primary school? My children will be 9, 7 & 5 next year. And by the way we have already spent two full summers in Mexico and loved it.

Hola Jodynville,

One of the board members lived and raised her children in Madrid for a number of years. I know your question has been addressed in the past - I did a quick search but couldn't find the thread(s) that contained the subject matter. Use the search feature (upper right hand corner of screen) and start with schools
and limit your selection to Madrid .... I know its there somewhere.

Can any other members remember more details?

Jodynville -

I would love to hear more about your experiences and situation. I have 3 young boys (5,4,3). What kind of a school would you enroll them in in Spain?

I FOUND IT! (I think) You'll find the relative thread, " Children in Spain " in the "About Spain" forum by Diana.

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Thanks MadridMan - always coming to the rescue! I knew Diane was the board member but I was using schools not children!

Hi, Jodynville,

Puna is right, your question about schools did come up before. You can find the thread here: http://www.madridman.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000013 I think it's worth reading, if you haven't done so already.

I'm afraid I really can't make recommendations about any schools other than the American School of Madrid, simply because I don't know any others well enough.

Could you give us some more information? There are lots of new members that have joined since we last discussed this topic. The new Spanish members in Madrid in particular may know of some good schools.

Where in Madrid do you plan to live? (Madrid is huge, and transportation is an important issue.) Are you looking at public or private schools? (Private schools can be very expensive.) How about parochial schools? Do your children speak fluent Spanish? This information may help.

Good luck!
Diana

We live outside of Mexico City and are due to transfer to Madrid, next summer we hope. We have been here 5 years and our 3 children were very young when we came. They go to bilingual private schools here. To start, go to yahoo and type Colegio Altair Madrid. This will get you started on hours of research, especially if you understand Spanish. Good luck to you.

Diana, I was wondering if you were ever involved with any of the women's groups in Madrid. I have heard there is one for wives of Spaniards, which is what I am. We will not be able to consider the American School, due to the cost. Our 3 kids, 13, 10, 6 are bilingual and we want to buy a house with yard. My husband will work at Barajas. Several schools in Alcobendas look promising but our middle son struggles a bit with ADD and would not make it in a high pressure private school. The English Montessori in Aravaca looks good but I wonder about the traffic to Barajas. Anyway, I am trying to locate the wives of Spaniards club to help me sort this out. I am guessing that not all of them can afford the really expensive private schools yet they are probably interested in intensive English for their own kids.

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Hi, Gail,

I never heard of a club for wives of Spaniards, which would have been interesting, because I fit in that category, too. I do know of (but did not belong to) the American Women's Club in Madrid, which is quite large, and not all the women are American. Many of the women are married to non-American men. You may want to start there - I bet you could get lots of good information from them. They have a website at http://www.awcmadrid.org/ .

You're right about the English Montessori school in Aravaca. It's really too far from Barajas/Alcobendas. I'm also not convinced it's very good, but, of course, things can change over the years, and I base my opinion on things that happened in the 80's, so it's not much of an opinion!

You may want to look into Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. My kids were involved in both, and what was so great was that there were many English-speaking kids from other schools in the groups. Most of them had American moms and Spanish dads. It was also a good way for the parents to get to know each other. You are right that many of these dual-nationality families cannot afford ASM or other private schools. Many had their children in public schools. Our particular scout groups met at ASM, but the kids were from all over. There may be other groups on the east side of the city. It's worth looking into.

Another place to check out would be an English-speaking church, if you go to one. There are several, of different types.

Good luck! I'm sure you're going to love it!
Diana

Thanks for the advice. I don't know anything about the English Montessori. Normally, I am not a Montessori type of person but my experience with schools in Mexico has been so stressful, and I hear that they are modelled after European schools, that I am starting to change my mind. The one in Aravaca has around 350 students, and one further out, at Alpedrete has 700. So, I thought well, those schools must be doing something right, to have so many kids. My barely 13 daughter has 13 subjects, including physics here in Mexico. I can handle that European schools are ahead of American ones. But if they are anything like here, then we are going to have to do some serious thinking, which may include living too far from work. I hope it doesn't come to such a drastic solution. Does anyone know if there are Spanish moms who say no way to such high stress schooling and take their kids to smaller private schools? Even if there is no English offered, I would consider a school like that, because there must be several ways, after school, or Saturday mornings, to keep them going in the English language, in case they want to some day attend American universities.

About 15 years ago a Spanish friend of ours who taught in a public school in Madrid complained bitterly about a new policy that forbade the teachers in public schools to give homework, since the belief was that the students were being asked to do too much. It is true that the Spanish schools are way ahead of the American schools in academics. He was angry because he felt the curriculum was going to be "dumbed down," to use an American expression, and he continued to assign homework anyway.

Are Spanish public schools easier than private schools? Are the expectations lower? Can a student get an equally good education in a public school? Does it depend entirely on the school? What are the benefits of going to a private school in Spain? I would love to hear from any Spanish members their thoughts about this.

Hey Gail and Diana...

I too am married to a Spaniard...We should start our own club right here

The American Embassy in Madrid http://www.embusa.es/indexbis.html has a listing of American schools in Madrid (you might have to ask them to send you the booklet). Awhile ago, I posted the entire list SOMEWHERE but I cannot find it now. But as far as clubs go, there are MANY. Check out
InMadrid English magazine's classified section that has a list of Clubs like Toastmasters etc. http://www.in-madrid.com/classifieds/default.htm

I REALLY tried to get into (meaning emotionally) the thought of joining a woman's club, but most of them were not for me. They were for diplomat's wives who liked having tea in the afternoon. There are, however, some really interesting clubs there, especially the ones that promote "tertulias." GOOD LUCK!

[ 12-10-2001: Message edited by: Tracy Moral ]

A newish website, www.SpainExpat.com , is a pretty good resource on living in/moving to Spain which should help. You might also visit The American Women's Club of Madrid @ http://www.awcmadrid.org - This club seems to be a GREAT idea/resource, but there is a membership fee once living there to participate. Good luck!

Saludos, MadridMan

I taught in several schools in Madrid and also had many private students. Most of my experience was with private schools, mostly good. Some of them can be quite pricy but there are some less expensive ones. The one public school I worked for was a disaster. I only had that one experience (after school) but the conditions were poor. I was not impressed with faciliy or the kids. I wish I had a more diverse experience with the public schools because my impression of that one has unfairly tainted my opinion. The private schools were all good to fantastic. I understand your concern about the subjects- I was blown away by the knowledge of most of my students.
As for social clubs, I was on the young side when I lived there and never explored the expat social life.
I would take Diana's advice and stick closer to home for your school. If your husband is going to be working in Barajas, I'd stick to that side of Madrid. Most private schools have bus service you can take advantage of. I think Alameda de Osuna is a nice community to research. I lived there for a period and it's well connected to the city and close to work.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Duh...the list of American and British primary and secondary schools published by the American Embassy in Madrid can be found in the FAQ section of The Expatriate Cafe.

Here's the direct LINK!

Tracy

Hey Tracy! I am an American married to a Spaniard living here in Spain and would be willing to work with you in starting a "wives club". We live in El Espinar (Segovia), but I am in Madrid FREQUENTLY (3-4 times a week).

With regards to the bilingual school in Alpedrete...be aware, Alpedrete is quite a haul from Madrid (a good 40 minute run not counting rush hour traffic on the A-6). I guess it all depends on your style. When I lived in Philadelphia, I was accostumed to a 45min - 1 hour commute...however, such commutes seem to be counter culture here!

Good luck!

hey, chica--
my friend cindy lived in el espinar until a couple of years ago! small world, isn't it? we visited there in march of this year, but it was windy and rainy and we were too jet-lagged to stick around. we went on to avila that night.

but i hear such great things about your little village!

tara