MumAbroad

State Education in the Costa Blanca, Murcia & Valencia is co-educational and free. Places are allocated according to where you live and although education doesn’t begin until the age of six many babies start at nurseries (guarderias) at the age of four months and almost all are at school (preescolar) full-time from the age of three. All children have the right to free education, however in many schools the demand simply outweighs the number of places resulting in a point system at the initial stages and then often a lottery is drawn with many parents unable to secure a place at the first school of their choice. Unlike in many European countries, there is limited job mobility within Spain, meaning that children normally remain at one school for the duration of their education and therefore it is not as common for places to open at a later stage.

In this section you can find all the international schools and nurseries in Costa Blanca, Murcia and Valencia listed in alphabetical order. Where possible we have also interviewed the Head Teacher and spoken to mums whose children attend the schools. For those interested in a local school you will find a brief explanation of each of the stages of schooling for children and the list of schools broken down into nurseries, preprimary and primary and secondary.