The Area

Health & Education

Health
Spain has an excellent healthcare system with modern hospitals equipped with state of the art facilities and staffed by many English speaking doctors. Spain has a reciprocal health care agreement with the UK and visitors should obtain an E111 from their main Post Office. This will allow visitors to access the service here should the need arise. This form only covers ‘urgent’ medical needs.

Should UK residents decide to live in Spain and wish to access to the Spanish state healthcare system, you must either have a Spanish social security record, be retired and have a Form 121 or obtain a Form E106.

Alternatively you have the option of taking out private health insurance and, as in the UK, there are several Private Health Care organisations to choose from.

Education
Your childrens' education is a very important factor to consider when moving to Spain and here on the Costa Blanca there are a number of very good English speaking International schools that follow the English education curriculum. Entry ages vary from 3 years up until the child reaches 18 years and allows students to sit their GCSE’s and ‘A’ levels. International schools have links with Universities in the UK for those students wanting to further their education. Please see our links page for links to British schools in Spain.

Altenatively, the Spanish education system has improved dramatically over the last 10 years and residents have the choice, should they wish, to place their children into these schools. All lessons are conducted in Spanish; this does not seem to present much of a problem to young children who tend to pick up the language very quickly. Learning another language gives your child an ideal insight into the Spanish way of life, it can also offer the opportunity for the family as a whole to become integrated into the Spanish community.

Many International schools are changing over to the International Baccalaureate that is fast becoming the internationally recognised qualification for Europe. This is also being accepted by UK universities and other higher education institutions.