Nurseries and Pre-School Care in Spain

There are many options available to those wishing to find care for younger children. English nurseries, Spanish nurseries and a whole range of international and bilingual nurseries offer care ranging from supervised play to a structured pre-school curriculum.

Most will state that their primary aim is the individual creative development of each child and many appear to provide a high level of care.

By law all nurseries must be registered and all staff should hold some form of childcare qualification. In fact many Spanish carers have achieved a Bachelors degree in infant education.

The level of nursery care is often very high. However, do check staff-to-child ratios to ensure your child is likely to receive consistent, relaxed, quality care.

Visiting a number of nurseries is advisable before enrolling your child. We recommend that you meet the staff, ask about the provision of healthy food and how your child will be disciplined. Ask how often children paint, dress up, draw, sing, dance, model and be aware that for the day to be stimulating and rewarding for your child activities must change regularly. Some establishments have been known to put all the children in buggies and clean around them half an hour before closing. This benefits the staff in that they leave promptly but does little for your child's development. We also recommend you check staff-to-child ratios which, if low, may affect the level of consistent, relaxed, quality care your child receives. Make sure that during opening hours your child will be priority number one.