School enrolment is Spain

When enrolling your children in kindergarten or public school, one of the most important requirements is that the chosen center is close to your home your usual place of residence.

What documents do I need to enroll my child in school in Spain?

When registering children, parents must provide a series of documentation, which consists of:

• Identification document of the minor: birth certificate or birth certificate to prove who the parents are.
• Family book.
• Identity document of the parents.
• Register to determine which school corresponds to the minor.
• Certificate with social security number in case something happens to the child and we need medical assistance.
• Not all schools ask for the same requirements, but the ones mentioned above are usually the most common.

In general, in order to make a place reservation, the following documents must be submitted: application form (to be picked up at the school of choice), document proving the child's age and a certified photocopy of the place reservation certificate.

In addition, it is advisable to accompany the application with other documents that may be useful to obtain a higher score, in case there are not enough places: certificate of census registration, copy of the Income Tax settlement form, copy of the employment contract (proves the proximity of the center to the place of work), document that proves the existence of siblings enrolled in the center, document of belonging to a large family and certificates of disability, illness, etc.

All the autonomous communities have the power to establish their own admission criteria and the points that they assign to the students for fulfilling them, and their number can vary in each new school year.

When a student has been admitted to a public or subsidized school, the law guarantees that he/she will remain there until he/she completes all levels of education.

How to enroll a foreign student in a school in Spain?

Students coming from other countries must present the following documents in order to be admitted to a school in Spain:

• The birth certificate or passport (original and photocopy) of the child, with an official translation into Spanish (if necessary) and the parents' passports (original and photocopy).
• Proof of vaccination
• Proof of residence in the municipality (empadronamiento).
• Proof of validation
• Two passport-size photographs (for the student's identity card and school documents)

Depending on the center, they may also sometimes require an interview and in some cases a knowledge test. In addition, it is not necessary for the parents to be legal residents in Spain, they only need to be registered in the country and provide the certificate or census so that the school has the address written down in case of any incident.

Enrollment process at the school in Spain

To enroll, parents must complete 10 steps

These begin at the preliminary stage of the application results and culminate with the formalization of the enrollment.

1. Parents must enter the School Admission System website with the RUN, and in the case of foreigners, with the IPA (Provisional Proxy Identifier).
2. They must enter the password to know the results of the application.
3. When the results appear, you can perform three actions: accept the place assigned to you, go to a waiting list or reject the vacancy.
4. They must download the proof of the assigned quota or go to a Mineducatio support point of the Mineduc to complete this step.
5. Keep the voucher as proof to complete the enrollment process.
6. On the dates designated to formalize the enrollment, each parent must go to the school assigned to the student and complete the enrollment process
7. It is advisable to call the school beforehand to confirm the school hours and avoid unnecessary trips. There are schools that, due to social distancing, accept to complete the enrollment process and send the necessary documents electronically.
8. Submit the documents required by the school.
9. The main ones are the identity card of the parents, of the student if he/she has one, and the proof of acceptance of application that comes with a security code.
10. Fill out the admission form.

There are schools that ask you to fill out additional paperwork regarding extracurricular activities, co-payment commitments, regulations, etc. Receive confirmation of enrollment to complete the enrollment process.

Admission to schools in Spain depending on type of school

Admission to private schools

Private schools are free to establish their own admission rules, so in order to obtain more detailed information about the requirements of a particular school and the documentation to be provided, it is essential to contact the school's secretarial services.

In general, they usually ask for an interview with parents, placement tests for pupils and an assessment of their academic record. Schools that teach in a language other than Spanish also usually require that students have other siblings at the school or that their parents are former students of that school.

Admission to public schools

All public schools offer primary and compulsory secondary education. Some of them also offer

Pre-school education for children from the age of 3. Public secondary schools offer ESO, Baccalaureate and Vocational Training.

The deadline for submitting applications for admission to public schools varies in each autonomous community, although it is generally between the months of February and April. On the other hand, enrolment takes place between May and June, and even July in some regions. Each Autonomous Community establishes the guidelines that parents must follow for the enrolment of students in the different educational levels, as well as the documents to be provided.

 

Admission to subsidised schools

Subsidised schools are private schools that have agreements with the Administration to subsidise part of their teaching. In general, only the compulsory levels (second cycle of Infant Education, Primary Education and ESO) are usually subsidised, so parents only have to pay for the costs generated by the services offered by the centre, such as school transport, canteen, extracurricular activities and any other type of extracurricular activities.

In exchange for this subsidy, these schools are obliged to follow some of the rules laid down by the Ministry of Education, such as the criteria for the admission of pupils or the enrolment deadlines. Thus, both the requirements and the procedures to be followed to access a subsidised school are the same as for public schools.

Although each Autonomous Community determines the process to be followed and the documents to be provided by parents, the most common procedure is to submit a request to the chosen centre to reserve a place. If the school does not have enough places to meet all the applications, the choice of pupils is made on the basis of the so-called Admission Criteria (family income, siblings enrolled in the school, large family, proximity to the school, etc.). Each criterion adds a certain number of points to the application, and the families with the most points are the first to obtain a place.

Dates, deadlines and points for schooling in Andalusia

The most important date will be 1 March, as this is the deadline for parents of 3-year-old children in the first year of primary school to register for school. On this date, students in primary, secondary, special education, secondary school and school-leaving certificate can apply for a change of centre. Applications are accepted until 1 March 2024.
However, the publication of the scaled list will take place from 12 April to 15 April. After this period, the interview process will take place, starting on 19 April and lasting for 10 school days. The public draw will take place on 13 May, so the admission decisions will be published on 14 May. Thus, on 26 May, the allocation of school places to all those who do not have a place in the priority teaching centre will be made public. Finally, appeals and claims can be lodged on 24 May 2024.
There are a number of criteria for admission to teaching centres where there are not enough places to meet demand for places. Thus, if there are siblings in the centre or the family house is close to the school centre, 14 points are awarded . Similarly, there are also presumptions that take into account whether the pupil is born of twins, the family unit's income per capita or belongs to a single-parent family.

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