(I know it’s been ages, and I’m sorry this is now a week or two out of date – we have just been so busy. Hope you are all having a lovely Easter weekend and I’ll write about our Semana Santa in June or something…xxxx)
In the week before we left the UK the children went back to their English primary school in the snow, wearing hat, scarves and gloves which have now been consigned to the garage (actually we have plans for Fin’s gloves, but more on that later…) Three weeks ago, after two months ‘off’, they started at their Spanish primary school – a HUGE learning curve for them and us. As much as we wanted to give them a ‘settling’ period in the new house (and new country), in the end this was about as fast as we could have done it anyway. The list of documents required for a pupil to start school in the Communitat Valenciana is as follows:
- Birth Certificates
- Parent’s Marriage Certificate (or document stating they are both legal guardians of child)
- Passports or ID card
- Papers issued by the Town Hall Education Department confirming a place at the school (to get these papers, you need to take the Certificate from the Padron office (Electoral Roll) that states you do indeed live in the correct catchment area.
- SIP number of child (like NHS number, issued in person by the Social Security office)
- Medical Certificate including immusation record (issued by Spanish paediatrician at the Centro Medico)
Having managed to move countries and take over a business within a couple of weeks, you would think that this would be a piece of cake, but sadly not, we have learned that you need at least 2 visits to any given office to get what you were after (especially as said offices often move location without warning, so most of your morning is taken up looking for the new premises, at which point they have gone for a coffee) Oh and don’t forget that (as we found in Asia) what they tell you on the phone is only half the story; ‘yes, you can pick up the SIP number at the medical centre’ requires the pre-requisite ‘but first you need to go to the Social Security office in Denia’. Of course this is all a lot easier if you’re travelling and only have laundry to do for the rest of the day, rather than running a new business as well, but I digress.
So, eventually we got everything together and presented ourselves, as requested, at the school to complete the paperwork and have a look around. No es problema, we did that, and then the secretary said ‘So I’ll take the children to their classes and you come back and get them at lunchtime, ok?’ Urmm, tried not to look too panicked for the sake of the girls who clearly thought this was a great idea, and off they went. So that was it – they are now in school from 9am-12.30pm and then 3-4.30pm. The rule at school is ONLY Spanish is spoken, so at the moment they are coming home for a siesta, which is giving them a welcome break, but Fin is already feeling the pull of non-stop gossip and play for 2.5 hrs (oh and a bit of lunch as well).
Next hurdle was the school bus. We submitted our papers (again) to the Town Hall, they thought about it for a couple of weeks and then we went back to pick up the Certificado de Distancia, which clearly states that we live 4.405 kms from the Arenal School. Hurrah! That was on a Friday, Monday morning we turned up at the bus stop, expecting to have to explain our presence, but the Directora had already put them on the list and off they went. (Mother has now bitten nails down to the quick, making typing quite painful…)
So that’s it – they have had an amazing welcome into school from the staff and the kids, the teachers have added an air of normality and the children have all been very friendly and helpful – translating a little and lending books etc. We are now in week 2 of the school bus, and school appears to be completely acceptable. Apart from a couple of very small wobbles they seem to be settled, one of us runs down to school to pick them up for lunch (the bus is morning and evening), there is, of course, also the mass buying of all school related kit – books, pencil cases, ROLLER BLADES for sport, and now the need for a catcher’s mitt, fashioned from an old glove, some cardboard and some duct tape – for baseball practice apparently! The homework is proving slightly challenging due to it all being in Spanish, but once translated they seem able to do it fine, and it’s good practice for me as I try and do it without the dictionary. Although we have made it very clear that until the end of this school year they have only 2 academic goals; make friends and learn as much Spanish as they can, yet again these amazing girls have made us so proud with the way they have just adapted chameleon-like to their new environment.
The rest of life is a jumble of shop hours, stock orders, banking, gas and wood supplies, mosquito net repairmen and making sure we squeeze in some kind of social life too – so pretty much the same as anywhere then! Not much time for blog updating but I will persevere and try and get a few pics up soon as well…
Take care
All love CRFS xxxx
