The Spanish School System Explained
The removal van is booked and the flat in Andalusia is waiting. Now your children want to know when school starts in the morning and who will pick them up. For parents from the UK or North America, the Spanish school system holds a few surprises, starting with a school day that ends at lunchtime. Lessons stop just as your own working afternoon begins, and the long summer holidays need a plan of their own.
So how do you fit that timetable around a full working day, when does the school year start and end, and which stage does your child belong in? This guide gives you the school hours for every stage, the term dates for Andalusia and the rules for getting a place at the school you want. If you are thinking of keeping your child out of school altogether, read our article on the legal status of homeschooling in Spain first.
School Hours in Spain: What the Andalusian School Day Looks Like
Children in Infantil and Primaria at Andalusian state schools usually have lessons from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Friday. Teenagers at the instituto (secondary school) start earlier and finish later, with six one-hour lessons that typically run from 8.15am to 2.45pm. Each school fixes its exact times in its own school plan. Check the timetable of the school you apply to before you plan your own working hours around it.
Many parents expect a long siesta break in the middle of the school day, but the lessons run straight through the morning. For the rest of your working day, you rely on the school’s opening plan (Plan de Apertura), which follows the rules in Decreto 6/2017 of the Junta de Andalucía. Primary schools that take part offer up to three services on top of the lessons, and you book each one separately:
- Aula matinal (from 7.30am until lessons start): supervised early drop-off at the school. Without a discount, you pay €17.51 a month.
- Comedor (up to two hours after lessons end): lunch with supervision, usually from 2pm to 4pm, and some schools let you collect your child from 3pm. The public price is €5.54 a day, and families on lower incomes pay less or nothing at all.
- Actividades extraescolares (until 6pm, on Fridays until 4pm): afternoon activities such as sport or languages on the school grounds. Each activity costs €17.51 a month without a discount.
At the instituto, the school day ends at about 2.45pm. Ask the school directly whether it runs a comedor or afternoon activities. The decree leaves it to each school to decide whether it offers these services.
How Spanish public schools cover the whole working day
The Timetable Is Just One Piece of the Move
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The School Year 2026/27 in Andalusia: Start, Holidays and End
The Junta set the frame for every Andalusian school year in Decreto 301/2009, and each provincial education office (Delegación Territorial) adds its own local days off. The offices publish their calendars by mid-June, so your child’s days off can differ by a day or two from those of families in the next province. For 2026/27, these are the dates you can plan your family year around:
- First day for Infantil and Primaria: Thursday, 10 September 2026.
- First day for ESO, Bachillerato and FP: Tuesday, 15 September 2026.
- Christmas: at least from Christmas Eve to 6 January, in some provinces a little longer.
- Semana Santa (Easter week): at least from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, 21 to 28 March 2027.
- Last day of lessons: not before 22 June 2027. Students in their final Bachillerato year finish earlier because of the university entrance exam.
Between the last day in June and the first day in September, your children are off school for almost three months. For working parents, that long stretch is the biggest organisational task of the school year. Start planning the summer by Easter at the latest.
Summer camps (campamentos de verano) are how many Spanish families bridge the gap. Town halls, schools, sports clubs and language schools all run them in July and August, so you can pick the mix that suits your child.
- Public Camps (Campamentos urbanos): run by the town hall or the school itself, usually in the mornings. Ask at your Ayuntamiento (town hall) in spring for dates and prices.
- Private Camps: Surf clubs, tennis academies and English schools offer camps in July and August. Your kids burn off energy and pick up a lot of Spanish along the way.
Beware of the “Semana Blanca”:
On top of the national holidays, Andalusia has its own quirks. Andalusia Day (Día de Andalucía, 28 February) is a day off at every school in the region. In provinces such as Málaga, the education office has in recent years given pupils the whole week around it off as the Semana Blanca (white week), and that winter break catches many expat parents off guard.
The Spanish School System vs. The UK/US: The Reality Check
Before we get to the paperwork, let’s look at what daily life in an Andalusian classroom feels like. If you are arriving from the UK or North America, a few of your expectations will need adjusting. Weighing up a private alternative? Our guide to international schools in Andalusia covers fees, curricula and admission.
- The Comprehensive Approach: Forget grammar schools, 11-plus exams, or middle school tracking. Spain relies heavily on comprehensive education. Kids of all academic levels learn together until they are 16.
- Compulsory Education: It lasts exactly 10 years (from age 6 to 16).
- The Academic Pressure: The pressure hits much later in Spain. The early years are highly social and play-based. Real academic stress doesn’t kick in until the Bachillerato (ages 16-18), driven by the notoriously tough university entrance exam (Selectividad / EBAU).
- The Andalusian Language Advantage: If you move to Catalonia, Valencia, or the Basque Country, public schools will primarily teach in the regional language (e.g., Catalan). As an expat, this is a massive hurdle. You don’t have this stress in Andalusia. Here, Castellano (standard Spanish) is the absolute baseline.
The Stages: From Guardería to Instituto
To understand where your child fits in, let’s break down the different stages of the Spanish education system.
Guardería (0–3 Years): Nursery / Daycare
For the little ones, there are Guarderías, officially called escuelas infantiles. The Junta, town halls and private operators run them, and many private nurseries take part in the Junta’s support programme for families. How the free nursery place for one-year-olds works is covered in our article on free nursery in Andalusia.
- Free care from age one: In public nurseries and those in the Junta’s programme, you no longer pay for the care of one- and two-year-olds since the 2026/27 school year. Meals are still charged.
- Babies under one: The public price is €240.53 a month for care plus €92 for meals, and families get income-based discounts linked to the Spanish IPREM index.
- Private Nurseries: Fully private international nurseries set their own fees, so ask for the complete price list including meals before you sign.
From our own experience:
Both of our kids went to private nurseries in Andalusia. Unlike in many Northern European countries, finding a spot is usually not a struggle here. A real bonus for working mothers: Spain’s maternity deduction (deducción por maternidad) is worth up to €1,200 a year for each child under three, and it rises by up to another €1,000 if you pay for an authorised nursery.
Infantil (3–6 Years): The “Real” Start
This is where the culture shock hits many expat parents. In the year your child turns three, they can start Educación Infantil in September, long before school becomes compulsory.
- The Location: This no longer takes place in a nursery, but on the grounds of the primary school (Colegio).
- The Strategy: While legally voluntary, it is highly recommended. It is free (in state schools), and the kids learn the school routines early. If you wait until the compulsory age of 6 to enroll your child, they will be at a massive disadvantage regarding the language, and friendship groups will already be firmly established.
From our own experience:
We were nervous about sending our 3-year-olds to a “real” school. But the reality is wonderful. Although Infantil is attached to the primary school, they usually have their own building and playground. The teachers are incredibly warm, there is a lot of hugging, and parents are heavily involved. You address the teachers by their first names, and the integration is seamless.
Primaria (6–12 Years): Primary School
Primary school lasts 6 years in Spain. The teaching style can be slightly more traditional and “frontal” than in the UK or US, but the tone remains incredibly warm.
A warning about the “Bilingual” label:
Many public schools in Andalusia market themselves as “Bilingual.” Do not be fooled. In practice, this usually means that some subjects, such as science, are partly taught in English by Spanish teachers. It does not mean your child will become fluent in English, and if you want native-level English, you need an international school.
El Instituto (12–16 Years): High School
At around age 12, all children transfer to secondary school.
- What is the ESO? You will constantly hear the acronym ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria). This is the mandatory 4-year secondary stage.
- The Location: The building is called an Instituto.
- The Goal: At the end of ESO (age 16), everyone graduates with the same basic diploma. After this, paths divide: Academic (Bachillerato) or Vocational (Formación Profesional).
The Spanish school stages at a glance
|
Stage |
Age |
Key facts |
|---|---|---|
|
Guardería (subsidized) |
0–3 years |
free care from age one; under one: €240.53 a month for care plus €92 for meals |
|
Private nursery |
0–3 years |
fees set by each nursery |
|
Infantil |
3–6 years |
free in state schools |
|
Primaria |
6–12 years |
lasts 6 years |
|
ESO (Instituto) |
12–16 years |
mandatory 4-year secondary stage |
|
Bachillerato or FP |
16–18 years |
path to university or vocational training |
Bachillerato (16–18 Years): The Path to University
If your child wants to go to university, they stay at the Instituto for two more years to complete the Bachillerato (equivalent to UK A-Levels or a US High School Diploma with APs).
The Alternative: If university isn’t the goal, students switch to Formación Profesional (FP). This is a highly respected, practical vocational training system that leads directly into the workforce.
The Enrollment Process (Escolarización)
In Andalusia, the Junta allocates school places centrally. Between 1 and 31 March, you submit your application (Anexo III) for the following September. You can hand it in online via the Secretaría Virtual or directly at your first-choice school.
How to gather points (Baremación): If a school has more applicants than places, the school ranks the families with a points system.
- Siblings: Having a sibling already at the school is the ultimate jackpot (14 points).
- Home Address (critical): Living in the school’s catchment area gives you 14 points, a neighbouring area still 10.
- Workplace: If you work in the catchment area instead, you get 10 points, or 6 in a neighbouring area.
Your Application Checklist
- The Form: Anexo III. Name your first-choice school plus up to four more in order of preference. If none of them has a free place, you can tick a box on the form so that the Junta offers you another school with vacancies in your area.
- IDs: Passports and NIE numbers for parents and the child.
- Proof of Address: You must be registered on the Padrón at your home address. The Junta checks this electronically unless you object, in which case you bring the certificate (Volante de Empadronamiento) yourself.
- Birth Certificate: An international birth certificate or the Spanish Libro de Familia.
Our Expert Tip: “Concertado” is not always better
Many expats assume that paying for a school means better education. Spain has semi-private schools called Concertados (state-funded, often Catholic). By law, their lessons are free, but many ask parents for a “voluntary” monthly contribution.
The reality: Many public schools in Andalusia are pedagogically just as modern and inclusive. With a Concertado, you are often paying for the “social circle” rather than better lessons, so visit both options and trust your gut.
You have chosen a school, but what about the language? Even if your kids are young, throwing them into a fully Spanish environment can be overwhelming.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Choosing a province with schools in mind
Which school your children end up attending depends a great deal on where you settle. The Andalusia Masterplan compares all 8 provinces on schools, prices and transport links, and its 3 model families show a fully costed budget.
Final Thoughts & Your Next Step
The Andalusian school system is not better or worse than the UK or US systems, just different. A school day from 9am to 2pm sounds short. With aula matinal, comedor and afternoon activities, though, your child can stay at school from 7.30am until 6pm, Monday to Thursday. Starting Infantil at three may feel early, yet it gives your child a warm, social start and gives you real support as a working parent.
From our own experience: The initial panic was completely unfounded. What makes the real difference here is the incredible warmth of the teachers. The close relationship with the kids and the strong involvement of parents make you feel instantly welcome.
Your immediate next step:
Before you stress about school applications in March, you absolutely must register your address officially. Read our complete guide on How to register on the Padron right now. Without this registration, you lose the points for living near the school you want.
Still unsure about which school path to choose?
Drop your questions in the comments below – we are happy to help you figure it out!
