Local Schools
 

Hi everyone,

My family and I will be relocating to the Puerto Pollensa area in 2011, we have 2 daughters aged 7 and 5 and would like to find out about local schools in the area. We would be keen to hear about other peoples experiences and how their children get on . Any other info about the area would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I tend to lurk these days on the forum but I felt I must reply to your questions as we made the move a couple of years ago and before we did, I asked lots of questions on here and people gave us some really good advice before we left which I have always been grateful of.

The best thing is to let my daughter give you a brief run-down of her experiences to-date at her local school.

Hi, I started my Primary school (Miquel Capllonch, there is another primary further into town) in the January of 2007 (about half way through the school year). At first I didn't really know what to expect but the teachers and staff at the school were very welcoming and were pretty used to seeing different nationalities of kids start at the the school. When I started, I didn't have any of the text books or exercise books that I needed but the teacher was kind enough to lend me some second hand ones to use until the end of the year. All the lessons (maths, science,ect.) are taught in a dialect of Mallorcan Catalan which I found fairly easy to pick up. They will make sure you learn Catalan first as like I said, it is the main language and then eventually you will pick up the Spanish (which is talked more in the playground).
One thing I like more about school over here is that you don't have to wear any uniform, just something sensible like jeans, t-shirts,ect. (depending on the weather of course!) And probably, twice a week there will be a gym lesson where you come dressed in track suit bottoms and trainers. Also, instead of bringing a packed lunch, you only have to take a mid morning snack, as school starts at 8:30am and finishes at 1:30. Hope that was helpful :)


Before our move I paid a visit to the town for a week in order to pre-register at the schools. For peace of mind I brought over from the UK every legal document relating to the family which they will take copies of. It's also a good idea to start up your bank accounts with the local banks before the move so everything is in place when you finally arrive. You also have to pay for all the school books, pens ect for the year and that works out at approximately 200 Euros per year.

Good luck with the move. We have never looked back and there is not a day when I regret coming here to live. The children are happy and secure when they go out with their local friends from school and if they are happy, then that means Mom and Dad are happy!........Best Wishes, PWS.

Just have to say what a lovely post to read - even though it does not concern me - it really shows another side to the forum. Thanks pws for taking the time with your daughter to put that together. I think if I was in the situation to move with family, that would certainly have tempted me!

Bella, i agree absolutely with you it was a brilliant post. I have very good friends who moved here and at first put their kids in an English speaking school but they lived in PP and the girls naturally made friends within the Port in the end they asked to move to the local school and have done much better since the move. ;)

pws - what a reassuring response yours is. I always regret that I did not make the move 14 years ago after my father died and the kids were young enough to easily intergrate. now I have to wait until they are both through uni.

As an after thought what I am really saying is - if you have the chance go - go for it. Seize the opportunity and live a dream - it may not be for you, but if you do not give it a go you will never know.

My daughter, who is now 17 and doing her A levels has been reading this over my shoulder and her comment was "I wish we had moved there 14 years ago"! :(

In her words:-

I have friends who live there who are English so if you don't pick up the language easily there are many people around you who will understand your situation and will talk to you in English. But although I do spanish A level, the language will be easy to pick up. Its a great lifestyle as its not very dangerous in Puerto Pollenca so you will feel safe letting your kids go out :)
Which is great for your kids, from my experience :) Its a more laid back lifestlye with many friendly people!

From GG now - one word of warning - if you do not have a specific talent/speak the lingo/have sufficient funds behind you, it can be hard.

Live the dream

It seems that children and even young teenagers (who HATE to be called children!) are extremely adaptable to moves. Its the adults who want to go in the first place and then take longer to settle in, whilst the kids throw the panic and tears about leaving, then integrate so amazingly quickly. They are the ones who become bi-lingual within a matter of months and then need to be dragged around in order to translate!
It all goes topsy-turvy again though a few decades later when its the older generation who want to move out away from the UK and its the middle aged kids that throw up the problems! I suppose its a case of grabbing the opportunity if it presents itself as soon as possible and just go for it!

As someone who has taken the plunge, all be it not with children, all i can say is it's the best thing we ever did. Of course living here is different to holidaying which is why we gave ourselves a full year before selling up and making it permanent.
I would advise anyone moving here to integrate with the locals as well as the ex-pat community, it makes life here so much more interesting.
We are now happily living the dream, i wish you good luck with your plans Freefisher. :D:D

Lovely post from a child's view about the school.
We are also moving to the Pollensa area this year with our two sons aged 2 and 6 and the schooling is my only concern really. We haven't been to the local schools yet but I really hope that our eldest son has such a positive transition too.
Thank you! : )