In general, elementary school is similar between the two countries. But as you would expect, there are a couple key differences; pre-k, schedule, food, required schooling and optional schooling.
Pre-K. Unlike the US, there is no differentiation between pre-k and kindergarten. Children between 3 and 5 can attend public school and are placed in different “P” grades; P3, P4 and P5. School hours for P-grades are very similar to elementary school hours, with about a half-hour reduction in overall attendance.
Schedule: Overall attendance hours between Spain and the US are very similar. Whether here, or Spain, students attend school an average of 6 hours. Students in the US, tend to attend school from 8:30ish to 2:30ish, about 6 hours. With daycare for the children of young age required between 2:30 and 5 to 6pm.
In Spain the schedule is different. Children start later and get off school later with a break in between (lunch). Children start school at 9am and end school at 5pm. However, between the hours of 1pm and 3pm they have lunch. As a parent, you can choose to leave your kid in school during lunch, or pick them up from school. If you choose the former, you are expected to pay for school lunch and you cannot pack a lunch for your kid.
Food: Food in school cafeterias is made fresh daily and it is made up of multiple courses. Nothing is pre-made. Kids get an appetizer, entree and dessert. However, lunch is expensive. In the US we’re paying about $2 per lunch. In Spain it was $10 per lunch. Part of that $10 cost is the fact that you get “included” care between 1pm and 3pm.
Required Schooling: Students under the age of 16 are required to attend school. As far as we know, there were no options for “home-schooling”. School attendance is validated at various stages of life in Spain, so you cannot really evade this. School grades map like this:
| US | Spain |
| 1-6 | 1-6 |
| Junior High (7) | 1st ESO |
| Junior High (8) | 2nd ESO |
| Junior High (9) | 3rd ESO |
| High School (10) | 4th ESO |
| High School (11) | 1st Bachillerato |
| High School (12) | 2nd Bachillerato |
Optional Schooling: At the age of 17 (about 11th grade) you have the option to attend Bachillerato (Bachelors School). This schooling is optional and if your grades are not good enough to attend, you can be denied. Furthermore, because Bachillerato is optional, it means young adults can begin looking for full-time work after 4th ESO. In addition, the school load of Bachillerato is pretty heavy. In our experience, we’d compare Bachillerato to community college in the US. The drop-out/failure rate, due to the work-load expectation was in the 70% with a lot kids needing another year to pass.
