Moving To Puerto Pollensa, Can You Help ?

Hi to all fellow members. I have some questions regarding our proposed move next year.

I would be most grateful if anyone can pass on any brief information regarding these questions, even if only a single answer.

1, SCHOOLS, : What are the state schools like in PP.They are for an 8 & 12 year old.

Are they within the town and are there any other English children who attend. Have the schools got a good reputation or is lack of discipline a problem ? ( sorry to ask ! )


2, HEALTH, : What are the insurance costs per month for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. Are childrens health costs free on the spanish health service after i register us all with the local authorities ?


3, PROPERTY, : What are the approxoimate costs for a rental 3 bedroom apartment within the vicinty of PP. The period would be 1-6 months or 6-12 months and what would the approximate cost for the utilities water, electricity etc, be per month. I appreciate this is subject to the season.

Would You know of any suitable properties ? However, i have already contacted local rental agents and in October 07, i shall be there for 2 weeks to finalize this issue with them and register the children at their respective schools.

Thank you in advance for any reply.

D.

I lived there for 7 years with my family.

We enjoyed the experience and the children grew up learning 2 other languages.

The schools have no problems with discipline.
Children of 8 and 12 will find it a struggle. The curriculum is very different to the English one as are the schools.

I rent my house out and you can expect to pay about 800-900 euro monthly for an apartment, less if your lucky!

Utilities are very reasonable, but the wages are rubbish, however this may not effect you.

anyway, good luck

Hi urbutis,

Many thanks for your reply. Yes we are aware it won't be easy, but what is in life !

For the record, we have just started weekly, private, spanish lessons right up until 18th December and this will be of great assisistance for the children and us as well .

Kind Regards,

D.

[pollensa]

Hi pinewalkstroll,

hopefully someone else can answer this for you but I think that the main language in the local schools may be Mallorquin (catalan dialect). It's definitely worth learning Spanish but you should be aware of this in case your children think something has gone wrong when they don't understand a lesson!

I may be wrong so it is worthwhile finding out a bit more about the schools before you register.

Hi,
Just a quick heads up on schools. We moved exactly a year ago and my son was 12 when he joined the local institut. All lessons, school books and school letter home to parents, including parents evenings are conducted in Catalan. Very different to Spanish, if you are familiar with Spanish. My son has picked up Spanish without too much problem, but is still struggling with Catalan. Extra lessons outside school help, but it is a struggle and can hold them back as their grades are based on their school exams and results, which if they don't speak, write and read in Mallorquin Catalan they will not understand. However, the good news is that there is no stigma attached to repeating a year at school in the same way that there is in England and at the end of it your children will be fluent in two new languages with an apptitude for learning languages that they probably wouldn't have gained living where you are now maybe? Good advice would be to join, tennis lesssons or the local football teams as this helps integrate them with their peers at school. Everyone I have spoken to and I would now agree that sending your children to the local school is a must as if you send them to International schools in Palma, when they get home from school they are tired, after a whole year may not have a grasp of the local language and do not have local children to play with when it is the long school breaks. Hope this helps?

hi Lou,

How do you manage as a parent helping your children with their homework. I found it very frustrating, I could understand the Spanish, but the Catalan was tough!

However i am hoping my children will not forget their languages and I really want my daughter, who joins secondary school in a year to continue her Spanish studies.

Urbutis

Hi Lou,

Many thanks for your very informative reply. I said in a earlier post that it won't be easy and i was right :rolleyes

Our son will be 13 on 1st January and our daughter will be 10 on 30th Jan. As we intend to be there in early Jan 08, we will have to try and make sure they learn some Catalan as well at the spanish language school we are starting next week until late December. I've no doubt they will both have to try really hard, but as the spanish teacher said, "Their brains at that age are like sponges and they will absorb it a lot quicker than you will ! "

As a matter of interest, is Mallorquin Catalan any different from the Catalan spoken on the mainland ?

I hope to telephone the school within the next few weeks to provisionally register with them, so a place is secure for Jan 08 and when i arrive for 2 weeks on the 11th Oct, i shall bring all the relevant documentation to officially register them .



Thanks,

D.

[pollensa]

There is some interesting info about Catalan in the Balearics here weib.caib.es/Recursos/abast/home.htm As I understand it spoken Mallorquin is a dialect of Catalan & so there are some differences. I think that written Catalan may all be the same. If you think about the English language & the differences in Scotland, North & South of England etc. you find that in the spoken language there are differences in certain words.

Re schools, I've heard from a friend that there are 2 'streams' of Education which is why there is a secondary school at the back (near Confort) & the college in front of the Pto Azul but I'm afraid I don't know any details.

Lou, can you help here?

Hi to you pollensa,

Thank you for your help to-date. That link to Comunicaio Basica En alalengua Catalana is brilliant and my printer is working overtime as we speak !

It will be a great start for the children so again, many thanks.

D.

Great to see you are getting lots of replies on the schools, hope you get more answers for accommodation and health too.
Yes the homework situation is very frustrating, this is an area, I didn't consider, and I looked at all the issues we might have, another was sitting in my first parents meeting and not understanding a word. Made me appreciate how my son must have felt on his first day. I'm afraid it is pure perseverance and major use of catalan/english dictionary. Re: junior/senior schools, it's set up like this. The school entrance is based on year of birth not on Sept/Sept like the UK. The junior school is one year longer here, for eg., my son started senior school in UK at 11 but here he had to be 12. There are two junior schools, the largest of which is new and next to Polisport. The senior school is near the BFS and Azul and the day starts at 8am with two breaks of 15 and 20 mins. Lunch is not taken at school as the Spanish take their main meal of the day between 2/3, (saves on indigestion at night I can tell you!), classes are made up of approx 25-28, the teacher think these are huge but my son had a class of 35 in England so we think it is great. 2 days a week they finish at 1pm and 3 days at 3pm. Junior school is 8.30 til 1.30 every day I think. My son's class is typically made up of 2/3 Mallorquin children, 20 Spanish mainland, 1 or 2 English and 2 or 3 other nationalities. Good idea to get a heads up on the paperwork, photos need to be supplied, I think you need a document to say you are living in the port, I think it is an apadronmente, so you made to be living here before you register them. Birth certificate, final report/letter from their old school, passport or residencia.
Spanish is spoken in the breaktimes between children, during sports, locally in the town but Catalan is spoken in class, written in class and homework is conducted in Catalan as well as all school paperwork and communication. There are teachers in the school that speak English and Spanish, but the general consensus is that Catalan should be the form of communication whenever possible. Yes Mallorquin is slightly different to mainland, but as previous post mentioned not dissimiliar to our derivatives in English. Also when speaking with one teacher she said that the English and Chinese find Catalan the most difficult as our languages differ much more than the Spanish or Romanian. However, many children have moved here from England over the years and have adapted and florished in a multilingual environment. I think your children will possibly find it hard at first but will surprise you with how quickly they settle in and learn two new languages while us old folk are still struggling with learning Spanish. My son's quality of life has improved beyond belief since he has been here and we are seeing a confident and happy teenager growing up in a safer and more independant environment. I wish you and your family the same fortune as us. Lou

sorry line 18 of my previous post should read
you may need to be living here to register
not
you made to be living here......
Sorry, Lou

Hi Lou,

Thank you for your kind words. The school information will be really useful and i asked the children to read the content of your e-mail straight away. They are a little more comfortable and it won't be such a shock when they eventually start.

I have the telephone number of one of the schools and we will speak to the headmistress within the next few weeks. I believe she also speaks English so that will be helpful !

The last four lines of your post is the primary reason we have chosen to move to Puerto Polensa and Mallorca in general so once again, many thanks.

If anyone else reading this post has got a suitable 3 bedroom apartment for a 6 or 12 month rental and would like a pleasant, quiet and respectful family as tenants from 5th January 2008 onwards, then please send a pm with details to my inbox on this site....Thanks.

[Quelys]

Hi,
With regards accommodation - I've worked in various estate agents in the Port and you can find 3 bed accomodation from 600€/month if on a 12 month contract, if you rent for 6 months the cost will double as owners take account of having an empty apartment for 6 month in the winter. So best signing for 12months. Good luck in you search

[sws97sdg]

Hi Quelys, interested to hear the price of renting accommodation for the year, what do you get for the 600 euros do you get one with a pool, what about a house or villa, what is the cost of a typical one of those, thanks.

[Quelys]

Depends of the apartment, I rented a few 3bed for 600€/month, generally average accommodation without pool but central location. If you want air con/heating and a modern place at least 100€ more per month. But then if you don't need 3 bed for the same price could you could find 2 bed with pool for example. Obviously if you can go direct to the owner prices better, estate agents add about 15% commission. To rent a villa with pool from 900€/month and a house in the old town anywhere from 600€. Hope this helps.