Enrolling Your Child in a Spanish School: A Guide for Americans

Enrolling your child in a Spanish school is a regional process built on national rules. Spain’s education law, the Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOE) as amended in 2020 by the LOMLOE, makes schooling compulsory and free from 6 to 16, while each region sets its own application window, points scale and school year. An American family can apply to a public school or a concertado, a privately owned school funded under an agreement with the region, in the spring before a September start or through a mid-year route. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal or educational advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

What can keep an American child out of the school you want?

Spanish law guarantees a place, not a particular school: article 78 of the LOE guarantees pupils arriving from other countries a place at compulsory school age, in the year that best fits their circumstances, knowledge, age and record. What decides the school:

• Missing the spring window. The 2026-2027 windows closed between March 18 and June 1, 2026 (table below), and Andalusia’s admission FAQ says a late application loses its priority.
• The birth-year rule. Catalonia’s preinscription FAQ assigns the school year by year of birth, and Andalusia requires a child to turn 6 before December 31 to start primary unless specifically authorized, whatever grade a U.S. school gave.
• No registered address. Proximity points follow the padrón, the town hall’s register of residents (how to register). Madrid’s information sheet and Catalonia’s guide check it electronically, Madrid asking for a padrón certificate only from a family that opposes the check; Andalusia receives the address from INE, the statistics institute, unless you object.
• Madrid’s English sections. Joining the English section of a bilingual instituto, a public secondary school, from a non-bilingual Madrid public school or any other school, abroad included, takes B1 English for the first two years of ESO and B2 for the last two (admission page).

The 2026-2027 admission calendar in four regions

Behind the points, article 84 of the LOE makes siblings, proximity of the home or a parent’s workplace and family income the priority criteria when places are short, and no criterion except proximity may exceed 30 percent of the maximum score. No 2027-2028 window was found for any of the four regions on September 26, 2026. Andalusia’s order fixes March 1 to 31 every year, and Catalonia’s Order EDF/66/2026 already sets the 2027-2028 school year from September 8, 2027 to June 22, 2028.

Public, concertado and the stages of Spanish school

Under the LOE, basic education (primary, ESO, meaning educación secundaria obligatoria or compulsory secondary education, and the basic vocational cycles) is compulsory and free for everyone: 10 years, normally from 6 to 16, and a student may stay in ordinary schooling until 18.

The second cycle of infantil is free too. Public education runs through public schools and concertados, private schools under the concierto regime (article 108); neither may charge families for the free teaching, and extracurricular activities and services such as the canteen are voluntary (article 88). The grade column is the Education Ministry’s U.S. equivalence table, which says it has no legal value. Article 9 of the LOEX gives foreign children under 16 the right and the duty to education, including free compulsory basic education, in a sentence that does not mention residence status, and foreign minors under 18 the right to post-compulsory education. The same article makes foreign residents with children of compulsory school age prove their schooling, by a regional report, when renewing a residence authorization or applying for long-term residence.

Which year your child joins

In the two regions whose pages state a rule, the year follows the calendar year of birth. For 2026-2027, Catalonia’s FAQ places children born in 2023 in I3, the first year of infantil’s second cycle, those born in 2020 in the first year of primary, 2014 in the first year of ESO and 2011 in the fourth. Andalusia’s FAQ wants a child to turn 3 before December 31 to start infantil’s second cycle and 6 to start primary, unless specifically authorized. The Madrid and Valencian pages read give no table.

Up to the fourth year of ESO, U.S. Grade 10, the Education Ministry’s page on joining the Spanish system says no convalidation is needed. Bachillerato takes recognition first: per the homologation page and the U.S. table, Grade 10 is homologated to the ESO diploma (Graduado en ESO) without a fee, while Grade 11’s convalidation for the first year of bachillerato costs 24.88 euros on the Ministry’s 2026 form and 35.55 euros in Catalonia (fees page). The Ministry handles these files except in Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country (Education Office for the U.S.), and a Catalan school may enroll the pupil conditionally until October 15 while the file opens (instructions). See the U.S. high school diploma guide.

A lower year is the exception. Under Royal Decree 157/2022, a late-arriving primary pupil one cycle or more behind in curricular level may be placed in the year below; under Royal Decree 217/2022, an ESO pupil two or more years behind may go a year lower and rejoins the age group once the gap closes. Madrid’s late integration page, updated July 9, 2026, applies these thresholds after an initial assessment; Valencia’s 2019 instructions say more than two years, wording older than the decrees. Plan on the national rule.

Applying region by region

Community of Madrid

Per Madrid’s information sheet and admission page, updated September 14, 2026, the SAE (Servicio de Apoyo a la Escolarización, the placement service) placed pupils until June 12 after the March window; enrollment ran June 11 to 25 for infantil and primary and to July 3 for secondary. Families who could prove a move to the region during 2026 could apply in the ordinary period with proof of the future home or work address, and both parents sign unless a sworn declaration explains why not. A home or workplace in another municipality of the region scores 8 points.

In the extraordinary process you apply at a school with vacancies or in person at the SAE, which also places late applicants. Its form accepts a NIF, an NIE or another identity document and has a box for a previous school abroad. Under the calendar order, classes end on June 18, 2027.

Catalonia

The spring application is the preinscripció. The Department of Education’s guide set the lists for June 10 and enrollment for June 22 to 30, 2026. For a child never schooled in Catalonia you attach a birth certificate or family book and the passport where it applies; a copy of the vaccination card is due at enrollment.

Once classes have started, a child not yet schooled in Catalonia can ask for a school with vacancies, online or at the municipal school office (oficina municipal d’escolarització) or town hall. The territory’s admissions commission (comissió de garanties d’admissió) decides the school, and the procedure is free. Classes end on June 21, 2027 under Order EDF/66/2026, which the Generalitat’s calendar page summarizes with the holidays.

Valencian Community

Applications are online, on the Generalitat’s Adminova platform, under the resolution of February 25, 2026 listed on the Conselleria’s calendars page. A family with only a passport goes to its first-choice school for an access key. Income scores 4 to 7 points, and in a family applying in the region for the first time, each sibling who also applies scores 15. Identity can be shown with a TIE (the foreigner’s identity card) or NIE, a study visa, a passport or a home-country document; a first enrollment needs a birth certificate or family book and the previous school’s leaving certificate with the academic record.

Under Annex VIII, the July 2026 extraordinary phase ran July 13 to 16 for infantil and primary, July 17 to 20 for ESO and July 23 to 27 for bachillerato, with vacancies on its page. Once the year starts, you apply to the Comisión Municipal de Escolarización, the town’s placement commission, which assigns a place. The calendar resolution ends classes on June 18, 2027.

Andalusia

The official pages disagree on the 2026 deadline. The order of February 20, 2020 fixes March 1 to 31 every year, as do the Education Department’s news release and FAQ for 2026-2027, while its calendar page shows March 1 to April 7, 2026 without giving a reason. Plan on March 31. Income, disability, a large or single-parent family and working guardians also score. For a first enrollment the school checks the date of birth in registries, or asks for a birth certificate or another official proof, plus academic records.

After the main allocation, territorial commissions may still place a late application. Under article 51 of Decree 21/2020, open once the spring enrollment period ends, a pupil who arrives later applies at the chosen school or the provincial office (Delegación Territorial); a school with vacancies enrolls directly, otherwise the Delegación assigns one and you enroll within 2 business days. Until classes start, the 2026-2027 instructions give new vacancies to the spring waiting list first. Calendars are set by province: classes end on June 24, 2027 in Málaga and June 23 in Sevilla and Cádiz; check your Delegación’s calendar in the other five provinces.

Language support for children who arrive without Spanish

Article 79 of the LOE makes programs for pupils with serious language gaps run alongside ordinary classes, and article 87 allows up to 10 percent more pupils per class to take in late arrivals.

• Madrid: the Aula de Enlace, a bridge classroom for pupils who arrive without Spanish from the third year of primary on, and SETI, a translators and interpreters service for families (late integration page).
• Catalonia: the aula d’acollida, a welcome classroom for foreign pupils in their first 24 months in the Catalan system who do not know the school’s language of instruction (36 exceptionally), for at most 12 hours a week, under the Department’s September 2024 guidance; the XTEC page adds a gradual entry into the ordinary class. The pages read do not name that language; ask the school.
• Andalusia: the ATAL (Aulas Temporales de Adaptación Lingüística) teach Spanish to immigrant pupils from the second cycle of primary to the end of ESO, outside the class for at most 10 hours a week in primary and 15 in ESO, normally for one year (2007 order); the region’s integration page adds a free virtual Spanish classroom run with the Instituto Cervantes.
• Valencian Community: no current program page was found; the Conselleria’s newcomer page links to the 2019 instructions, so ask the school what language support it runs.

Pick the town first, then the window

Choose the municipality first, because the address you rent or buy drives proximity points in all four regions (the lease guide). Then register on the padrón, gather the child’s passport, birth certificate and recent school reports (the pre-move checklist), and apply in the spring window, or through the mid-year route if you land later; children joining you through family reunification use the same routes. The pages read do not say whether a U.S. birth certificate needs an apostille or a translation for enrollment, so ask the school before you leave.

A family whose child enters infantil, primary or ESO can apply alone. Ask the placement office named above for your region when no school has room, and get professional help when a teenager’s bachillerato file needs recognition or you want to contest a lower-year placement.

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