Hi
We have found you are not guaranteed to get your children in straight away, irrespective of when the school term starts. Some schools have waiting lists, others say they can't cope with more immigrants. You need to follow the paper chase first. First you have to register with the education authority which is in Remolins, the old part of the town, and produce evidence of your NIE and theirs, proof of where you are living. They asked us for our certificates we had to get from our local town hall of Convivence - proof of who was living in the property, even before they did the police checks, to prove the kids were with us.

But you always need loads of photographs and photocopies of everything. These you can get done with little problem over here.

The schools they will consider you for depends on where in Tortosa you will be living  (*see my mail link at the bottom)

The Education authority then TELLS YOU which schools your children will be considered for subject to availability. They then liaise with the schools and then ring you to ask you to come pick up forms and a letter of instruction to the said schools, for a meeting. Usually same day or within the hours as we found.
The schools teach in the medium of Catalan but will speak to you in Castellano. You not guaranteed to find English speakers available. We can arrange for someone to go with you. All forms are usually in Catalan with no English translation supplied. (The NIE forms are in Spanish.)

It is all very daunting at first, but do lean on the Expats out here and they have done it all before or know someone who has done it. So don't struggle alone.

Have you already purchased property out here or are you renting.?  You will need  a Spanish mobile number for them to contact you, if you don't have a landline .They won't ring you back on a Uk mobile number.

You can pick up a Movistar pay as you go phone, quite cheaply.


However, we have gathered that the Junior schools integrate the immigrant children far faster into regular  classes, faster than the high schools. They kids do get extra Catalan lessons and the rest of the time they have to take part in normal school, games and extra-murial activities.

The Junior school will also start them on learning Castellano as a  second compulsory language. But I think you as parents will be advised to learn Catalan first.

Though most Catalans can speak Spanish, some won't.

In getting back to the previous email on health matters with your children you must register them immediately with a local doctor. Your E111 is only for emergencies. The schools do ask for your doctors details. It also helps if you ask at the local surgery in NI for a computer print out of each of yours medical file. Most don't charge for that. Then when you register at the Medical centre of Cat Salud, they will get your history up on the computer as soon as possible.

If you wish to email me privately then please do so. roseann@BrighterSpain.com
Be happy to help.