Choosing a school for Liam hasn't been easy. He's going to be 3 at the end of August and will be starting preschool in September. We decided to choose a combined montessori-primary-secondary school so that he won't have to go through the upheaval of changing to a new primary school at aged 6 (if we stay here in Barcelona, that is; you never know!).
Our first choice is called Sant Felip Neri. It's a small, private, non-denominational school in the heart of the old town close to the Cathedral, about a ten-minute walk from our house (which could be twenty or twenty-five mintues at preschooler pace!)
Have a look around: http://www.xtec.es/esc-santfelipneri/
We went to their open day with Liam and Malachy and really liked the teachers and their methodology and generally the whole feel of the place (strolling around the classrooms and grabbing a peek at the student's projects on the walls and desks, etc. was fun and enlightening!)
Getting into school here is like getting into college back in Ireland. You choose your top 7 schools (public or private, doesn't matter -they all go together) and then there's a points system, which is mainly based on where you live and work, giving priority to kids from the area or kids with special needs. Because most kids end up on the same points and there are generally more applicants than places for enrolment, the Department of Education assigns you a number when you apply and then holds a draw, pulling the numbers out of a hat (or some such random selection procedure). We're all in the raffle! We've got our fingers crossed that Liam gets in (Malachy would get in automatically afterwards because being a pupil's sibling gets you loads of points). Cross your fingers for us, won't you?!
© JamRobBlog
No comments:
Post a Comment