Going to school in Spain: three kinds of school, and an address that chooses

Spain has three kinds of school, and the names say exactly how the bill runs:

• The público is state-run and free.
• The concertado is a private school (often Catholic) that is funded by the state. The education is formally free, though many concertados ask for "voluntary" contributions of tens of euros a month.
• The privado is fully private, with school fees on the international model.

For público and concertado the same admission applies.

The education act (LOE) knows only two categories, public and private. The concertado is a private school that under the régimen de conciertos, a funding agreement with the government, provides teaching the law declares free.

Your home address is your school choice

Admission runs per region, but the priority criteria are laid down nationally. They only apply if there are more applications than places. First count:

• siblings at the school;
• the proximity of your home address or of the workplace of one of the parents;
• family income per head.

After that count: parents who work at the school, a large or single-parent family, a multiple birth, foster care, a disability in the family. None of those criteria may yield more than 30% of the maximum score, except the proximity of your address, which may exceed that.

Precisely for that reason your registration with the municipality, the empadronamiento from phase 4 of the step-by-step plan, is also the key to the school. Your choice of home determines your list of schools. Whoever first looks for a school and then for a house is doing it in the wrong order.

The regular application period falls in spring for the school year that begins in September. Madrid shows how tight that calendar is:

Step (Madrid, school year 2026/27)	When
Submitting the application, on paper or online	11 to 25 March 2026
Definitive lists of admitted pupils	27 May 2026
Enrolment for infantil, primaria and special education	11 to 25 June 2026
Enrolment for ESO and bachillerato	11 June to 3 July 2026

If you arrive outside that period, and emigrants do so almost by definition, there's a fixed route. The regional placement service (in Madrid the Servicio de Apoyo a la Escolarización, SAE) assigns a school with a place. That service also does so for whoever found no place in the regular round. So your child always ends up somewhere; it's just that with late entry you choose from what's left.

Starting without Spanish: it's taken care of

Compulsory schooling runs from 6 to 16. A child who doesn't speak Spanish is no exception for the system but a familiar situation. The law guarantees entry at compulsory school age, taking account of knowledge, age and school history.

Madrid calls a child who enters the Spanish system after the start of primaria (primary school) a pupil with integración tardía, late entry. After an initial assessment Madrid determines whether the barrier is the language, a lag against the level of the class, or both.

The reception has a name there: the aula de enlace, literally "link classroom". It's for children without Spanish from the third year of primaria and in the rest of compulsory education. It is expressly not a separate class. The support runs simultaneously with placement in the regular group, with which the child shares as many hours of the week as possible. The aim is to join fully as quickly as possible.

A second measure is placement one year below what the age would give, only within the same stage. Young children (nursery age, first years of primaria) usually start directly in the regular class. At that age immersion is the fastest teacher.

What this means for your choice: ask the region (not just the school) what language support there is, especially for teenagers. For them the transition is the hardest, and a good reception class makes the difference between a tough year and a lost year.

Two more practical things:

• Schoolbooks and materials aren't free everywhere. Many regions have loan schemes; ask about it at enrolment.
• Bring to that enrolment what every Spanish parent brings: identity documents, your empadronamiento and the vaccination booklet.

In bilingual regions your child is taught in or with the regional language. You already knew that from the choice of region, and at school it becomes concrete. How enrolment falls into the chain of your first weeks is in the article on your first weeks.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Spain or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.