hi can any one give us some information on the area for children, we are moving to tres calas where we have bought a property with my son aged 12 years and daughter aged 15 years. our daughter doesnt really want to move from scotland as she is worried she wil have no friends when we move. we would appreciate any advise and information on the local comunity for kids her age (what is there for them to do) and does any one have kids the same age who is looking for new friends our daughters name is Amy and our sons name is Callum none of them can speak spanish as yet and they are very worried about the move. (PLEASE HELP)

Yours thankfully

Kevin and Sharon

Hi Kevin & Sharon,

I dont think it is because people are ignoring your post, but this is traditionally a quiet time of year, as everyone if either away on holiday, or the kids here in Spain are already on holiday, in which case most parents are up to their eyes trying to keep them occupied.

I can only speak from my own experience about bringing kids here permanently. My son was 6 years old when we arrived here over 3 years ago. He is now fully fluent in Catalan and Spanish, and although he obviously speaks English fluently, his reading and writing of it are absolutely awful, but i am confident that he will catch up over the next couple of years.

Friends from the UK who moved out here with older kids have said that they experienced different problems, for example, local children dont go to secondary school here until they are 12 years old, and depending on what area you live in, the authorities like foreign children to do the last year in primary school, until they get a good "handle" on Catalan, so therefore if your son is now 12, he would normally be in seconday school in the UK, but here, he might be expected to stay in primary school for another year.  I cant comment on your 15 year old, but if she would normally be doing "O" levels next year, i think it is impossible to expect her to pick up a new language and also take equivalent exams. Maybe, it would be a better idea to put her in an international school, where she can finish her education in English, but obviously this will cost money!

As for finding friends, well that is a different story. I have found the local kids to be very accommodating, as they are normally inquisitive if not bordering on nosey, as to why English people want to come and live here, but having said that, we are the only UK family in our village, so, if in Tres Callas they have lots of ex-pats, again it might be different.

Hope this helps

Jools

Hi Kevin and Sharon

We moved here just over 2 years ago, our girls were then 7 and 4.They both speak fluent catalan, are doing ok in Spanish and my now 6 year old is reading brilliantely in English.  the younger the children are the better it is.  I think you will have problems with both your children, i'm sorry to say i think they are the wrong ages to moving over to this area unless you put them in international school which your nearest i think would be Barceloana.  There are not that many British famillies in this are with children.  The spanish children are very welcoming but they tend to socalise more as a family unit.
There are plenty of activities for children, most towns have a leisure centre, volleyball, swimming football etc.  There are plenty of dancing and music schools around.  We have all just started horseriding lessons together.  We tend to do more things together here as a family which is a small part of our reasons for moving to this particular area of spain.  We got fed of of ferrying the girls to Swimming,brownies, dancing etc etc night after night.  the children were always tired but wanted to go to these things because their friends did.  Now we all manage to eat together every evening, play games, go for walks as well as experiancing the most wonderful fiestas that go on througout the year.
This is a wonderful area to live but make sure you are are all as a family 100% commited to making the move.
If i can help in any way please pm or email me
Tracey.

Hi all 
thanx for your words of advice we are going to let amy finish this year of school as it is her final year. Callum has asked if he can learn some spanish and catalan before we move over and he then proceeded to tell me what spanish he had picked up when we were over there for 3 weeks and i was well amazed as was his dad who can speak quite good spanish but i think callum will out do dad soon. 
We are not just moving over because of our dreams we are wanting to make a better life for our children as Amy's life consists of being in front of a computer 5 days a week, she has lots of friends in our village but prefers not to socialise with them out of school as they are dabbling with drink and drugs. She only goes out at weekend when her best friend (who at the moment is sensible) comes to stay.   
We are going to be sending Callum to spanish state school we have spoken to him at great length about this and told him how difficult it might be for the first few months but this is has not put him off only more determinded to learn the lnguage before he goes.
We are not moving over thinking its going to be all roses and sunshine i think we will all find it difficult at times but at the moment my husband works at least 65 hrs a week and i work 40 hrs and we are only working to survive in the uk rat race and we stuggle to find time as a family, we are hoping our move will change this.   

Let me add a bit about my 'ghetto' posting.  Everything people say is true BUT Tres Callas is an urbanisation that went wrong.  It didn't sell well, it has no centre, no culture, no soul.   Anywhere ANYWHERE is better tha Tres Callas.   Go there again and look really closely before you commit.  PLEASE!

Hi all
can i just add that we bought this property in tres calas a year ago and had intended on using it as our holiday retreat but after numurous visits over the year we absolutely love the area. Our house is detatched so it is very private for us 2 minutes down the road we have a bar, restaurant, shops and we are 5 minutes from the beach, our neighbours some who are spanish are very friendly and we have made a few good friends in the area on our last visit.
Thanx nigel for the tip about learning Spanish my husband has the 8 cd pack and that is how was able to learn some of the language, going transfer them onto mp3 if i can and give it a go. 

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I feel an awful lot of Brits move over here with very little idea of what to expect and I have seen more than a few return back to the UK with their tail between their legs. My neighbours have moved to the UK because of the kids. They youngest, 8, integrated fine but the two teenagers didn't. I'm not being pessimist, I'm just injecting a dose of realism as I see it and as I have witnessed it.

Regards,

Snowhite