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

Your child’s place in a Spanish school comes from national rules applied region by region. Spain’s education law, the Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOE) as amended in 2020 by the LOMLOE, makes school compulsory and free from 6 to 16, and each region then sets its own application window, points scale and school year. You can apply to a public school or to a concertado, which is simply a privately owned school funded under an agreement with the region, either 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?

The law promises your child a seat, though not necessarily the one you have in mind: 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. Which school you end up with comes down to these points:

• Missing the spring window. For 2026-2027, the windows closed between March 18 and June 1, 2026 (see the table below), and Andalusia’s admission FAQ warns that an application sent late loses its priority.
• The birth-year rule. Catalonia’s preinscription FAQ sets the school year by year of birth, and in Andalusia a child must turn 6 before December 31 to start primary unless specifically authorized, whatever grade a U.S. school gave.
• No registered address. Proximity points come from the padrón, which is simply the town hall’s list of who lives where (how to register). Madrid’s information sheet and Catalonia’s guide check it electronically, and Madrid asks for a padrón certificate only if you oppose that check; Andalusia receives your address from INE, the statistics institute, unless you object.
• Madrid’s English sections. To join the English section of a bilingual instituto (a public secondary school) from a non-bilingual Madrid public school or from any other school, abroad included, your child needs B1 English for the first two years of ESO and B2 for the last two (admission page).

The sections below take each of these in turn, so you can see where your own family stands.

The 2026-2027 admission calendar in four regions

Underneath all those points sits article 84 of the LOE. When places run short, siblings, a home or a parent’s workplace nearby, and family income come first, and no criterion other than proximity may count for more than 30 percent of the maximum score. On September 26, 2026, no 2027-2028 window could be found for any of the four regions. Andalusia’s order does fix March 1 to 31 every year, though, 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 is compulsory and free for every child: primary, ESO (educación secundaria obligatoria, the compulsory secondary years) and the basic vocational cycles, 10 years in all, normally from 6 to 16. Your child may also stay in ordinary schooling until 18.

The second cycle of infantil is free as well. Public education reaches you through two kinds of school, the public schools and the concertados, which are private schools under the concierto regime (article 108). Neither may charge your family for the free teaching, and extras such as the canteen or extracurricular activities are voluntary (article 88). The grade column comes from the Education Ministry’s U.S. equivalence table, which states that 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 says nothing of residence status, and it gives foreign minors under 18 the right to post-compulsory education. That same article requires foreign residents with children of compulsory school age to prove the children are in school, through a regional report, when they renew a residence authorization or apply for long-term residence.

Which year your child joins

Where a region’s pages give a rule at all, your child’s year follows the calendar year of birth, and two regions spell it out. For 2026-2027, Catalonia’s FAQ puts children born in 2023 in I3, the first year of infantil’s second cycle, those born in 2020 in the first year of primary, those born in 2014 in the first year of ESO and those born in 2011 in the fourth. In Andalusia, the FAQ asks that a child turn 3 before December 31 to start infantil’s second cycle, and 6 to start primary, unless specifically authorized. The Madrid and Valencian pages that were read give no table.

For a child joining up to the fourth year of ESO, which is U.S. Grade 10, the Education Ministry’s page on joining the Spanish system says no convalidation is needed. Bachillerato asks for recognition first. According to the homologation page and the U.S. table, Grade 10 is homologated to the ESO diploma (Graduado en ESO) without a fee, while convalidating Grade 11 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 everywhere except Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country (Education Office for the U.S.), and in Catalonia a school may enroll your teenager conditionally until October 15 while the file is opened (instructions). The U.S. high school diploma guide walks you through the rest. For a college degree, see U.S. college degree recognition in Spain.

Being placed in a lower year is the exception. Royal Decree 157/2022 allows it for a primary pupil who arrives late and is one cycle or more behind in curricular level, and Royal Decree 217/2022 for an ESO pupil two or more years behind, who 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 still say more than two years, in wording older than the decrees, so the national rule is the one to plan on.

Applying region by region

Community of Madrid

Madrid’s information sheet and admission page, updated September 14, 2026, lay out your timeline. After the March window, the SAE (Servicio de Apoyo a la Escolarización, the service that finds pupils a school) placed pupils until June 12, and enrollment ran June 11 to 25 for infantil and primary and until July 3 for secondary. If your family could prove a move to the region during 2026, you could apply in the ordinary period with proof of the future home or work address; both parents sign, unless a sworn declaration explains why one cannot. A home or workplace in another municipality of the region is worth 8 points.

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

Catalonia

In Catalonia, the spring application goes by the name preinscripció. The Department of Education’s guide set June 10 for the lists and June 22 to 30, 2026 for enrollment. If your child has never been schooled in Catalonia, you attach a birth certificate or family book, plus the passport where it applies, and you bring a copy of the vaccination card at enrollment.

Once classes have begun, 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 the town hall. The territory’s admissions commission (comissió de garanties d’admissió) chooses the school, and the procedure costs you nothing. Order EDF/66/2026 ends classes on June 21, 2027, and the Generalitat’s calendar page sums it up along with the holidays.

Valencian Community

Here you apply online, on the Generalitat’s Adminova platform, under the resolution of February 25, 2026 listed on the Conselleria’s calendars page. If all your family holds is a passport, you go to your first-choice school for an access key. Income brings 4 to 7 points, and when a family applies in the region for the first time, each sibling who also applies scores 15. To show identity you can use a TIE (the foreigner’s identity card) or NIE, a study visa, a passport or a home-country document; for a first enrollment, you hand in a birth certificate or family book and the previous school’s leaving certificate with the academic record.

Annex VIII set the July 2026 extraordinary phase: July 13 to 16 for infantil and primary, July 17 to 20 for ESO and July 23 to 27 for bachillerato, with the vacancies posted on its page. After the year starts, you turn 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

Andalusia’s official pages do not agree on the 2026 deadline. The order of February 20, 2020 fixes March 1 to 31 every year, and so do the Education Department’s news release and FAQ for 2026-2027, yet its calendar page shows March 1 to April 7, 2026 with no reason given. Plan on March 31. Income, disability, a large or single-parent family and working guardians bring points too. For a first enrollment, the school checks your child’s date of birth in the registries or asks for a birth certificate or another official proof, together with the academic records.

Even after the main allocation, territorial commissions may still place a late application. Article 51 of Decree 21/2020 opens once the spring enrollment period ends: a pupil who arrives later applies at the chosen school or at the provincial office (the Delegación Territorial), a school with vacancies enrolls your child directly, and 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. Each province sets its own calendar: classes end on June 24, 2027 in Málaga and on June 23 in Sevilla and Cádiz. In the other five provinces, your Delegación’s calendar holds the dates.

Language support for children who arrive without Spanish

If your child arrives without Spanish, article 79 of the LOE has the programs for pupils with serious language gaps run alongside ordinary classes, and article 87 allows up to 10 percent more pupils per class so schools can take in late arrivals. Spanish classes for adults and the regional languages are covered in learning Spanish in Spain.

• Madrid: the Aula de Enlace is a bridge classroom for pupils who arrive without Spanish from the third year of primary on, and SETI is a translators and interpreters service for families (late integration page).
• Catalonia: the aula d’acollida is 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 that pupils move into the ordinary class gradually. The Department’s 2026-2027 secondary school rules say the welcome classroom teaches Catalan intensively.
• 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 over one year (2007 order); the region’s integration page also mentions a free virtual Spanish classroom run with the Instituto Cervantes.
• Valencian Community: no current program page was found, and the Conselleria’s newcomer page links to the 2019 instructions, so ask your child’s school what language support it runs.

Pick the town first, then the window

Start with the municipality, because the home you rent or buy sets your proximity points in all four regions (the lease guide). Next, register on the padrón. Then gather your child’s passport, birth certificate and recent school reports and apply in the spring window, or take the mid-year route if you arrive later; children joining you through family reunification follow 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.

If your child is entering infantil, primary or ESO, you can handle the application on your own. When no school has room, turn to the placement office named above for your region, and bring in professional help if your teenager’s bachillerato file needs recognition or if you want to contest a placement in a lower year.

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