High School Immersion in Spain – 15-18 years – 1 month to 1 academic year
This programme is aimed at motivated students aged between 15 and 18, wishing to study in Spain, for 1 or 2 months, 1 term, 1 semester or 1 academic year. You will study at a local “Colegio” (High School) while sharing the daily life of a Spanish host family.
Placements take place all over Spain, including the Baleares or Canary Islands. If you wish to stay in a specific region or city, you can choose it upon application. This option is offered at an extra cost.
Why Spain?
It is often said that there is not one Spain, but many. The Iberian Peninsula, with its long, rich and exciting history, offers an extraordinary diversity of landscapes, cultures, languages, regions, cities and gastronomy.
Every region boasts it’s own identity, history and culture, and the geography is just as diversified. To discover Spain is to fall in love with it’s natural beauty and diversity but also with it’s people’s kindness and cheerfulness.
Placements take place all over Spain, including the Baleares and Canary Islands.
If you wish to stay in a specific region or city, you can choose one of the two options on offer at an extra cost. These are only available for students studying for 1 term, 1 semester or the whole Academic Year.
Option 1 : guaranteed area
- Eastern Region (includes areas of Valencia and Murcia)
- Southern Region (includes Andalusia)
- Barcelona Region (not in the city of Barcelona, but in large towns and cities around Barcelona, including Sant Cugat, Cerdanyola, Sabadell, Terrassa, Rubi, etc.)
Option 2 : guaranteed city
List n°1:
- Zaragoza, Valencia, Alicante, Cádiz, Murcia, Huelva
List n°2:
- Sevilla, Rivas-Vacia (Madrid), Barcelona
If you wish to choose either of these options, please indicate 2 destinations on your booking form.
During the academic year, our local partner organises group excursions for all the visiting students to Madrid, Sevilla and Malaga. All information on these trips will be provided on on the spot by your local coordinator.
Lessons
You will attend a local public high school where you will be placed in the grade appropriate to your age, academic achievement and Spanish ability. However, the final decision will be made by the school’s headmaster and the Spanish Ministry of Education. You have to attend all classes, such as any Spanish student.
The subjects taught vary according to the class and usually include: maths, Spanish, English, a science course (physics, chemistry or biology) and physical education.
You will be placed in the same classes as your Spanish peers and will stay with the same group for the majority of the day. In Spain, teachers move from one classroom to another. Usually, lessons take place from 8 – 8:30 am to 2 – 2:30 pm with a 30 or 45 minutes break before noon. Students buy a snack at school or bring it from home. They have lunch when they return from school at around 3 pm.
The Spanish way of teaching is close to the one encountered at university. It means that teachers deliver a lecture course and that students have to take notes and do the homework requested. A Spanish student dedicates 2 to 4 hours a day to self-study, mainly in the afternoon (note revision, assignments to submit, projects). Yet, teachers are extremely open to advising you in order to overcome any potential difficulties.
Students are handed their school report in December, March and June. Grades (between 0 and 10) display everyone’s performance obtained throughout the term for each subject. Foreign students have to strike a 5 for each subject, which is considered a very decent performance, taking into account the language barrier.
Schools
You will attend a local public high school where you will be placed in the grade appropriate to your age, academic achievement and Spanish ability.
In Spain, Spanish students take priority over international students. Due to this, the placement of international students can only be confirmed definitively once all Spanish students are enrolled in the school. Therefore, placement in a specific school cannot be confirmed early.
Timetables vary according to the schools, either 08.00 to 15.00, or 09.00 to 13.00 and 15.00 to 17.00.
Please note: private or semi-private schools are available upon request and at extra cost.
Education in Spain is divided into three stages: primary school (6 to 12 years), secondary school (12 to 16), and Bachillerato (16 to 18).
The “Bachillerato” corresponds to the last two years of secondary school, it completes the four years of “compulsory secondary study” (enseñanza secundaria obligatoria in Spanish). International students will enrol in the following grades:
- 3 ESO: 14-15 years
- 4 ESO: 15-16 years
- 1 BACHILLERATO: 16-17 years
- 2 BACHILLERATO: 17-18 years
The Spanish educational system is based on continuous assessment. There is no national exam that marks the end of study, the end of school diploma is given depending on the results obtained throughout the year.
The academic year is split into three terms:
- 1st term: September to December
- 2nd term: January to March
- 3rd term: April to June
Exact dates of each term depend on the region of Spain. There is a winter holiday (about 2 weeks) and an Easter holiday (1 week to 1 week and a half)
Spanish Host Families
Your host family is the defining feature of your study abroad experience. They will help and assist you in becoming fully accustomed to Spanish culture and feeling part of the local community.
Families take an active interest in choosing a student to host and sharing their homes, lives and culture with their guests, through which they can get to know a new country.
75% of the families have already been hosts to foreign students and most of them have children of their own. All families are of Spanish nationality.
Students will be placed in single or shared room with a same-sex and same aged-child. The family provides all the meals, except those taken at school.
The Spanish way of life is typically Mediterranean, and the mealtimes are extremely different from Northern Europe. Lunch is taken around 15:00 and dinner around 21:00.
The local correspondent is an experienced staff member who knows the host families and is in regular contact with the students and their Spanish parents throughout the programme.
They regularly organize meetings to ensure that your experience is going smoothly, both with your host family and at school. Your local coordinator is on hand to lend assistance in case of any issues and should be your first point of contact on the ground.
A 24hrs emergency hotline is available for any urgent issues that arise during your stay.
On option
Students can choose to attend an orientation week-end in Barcelona (2 nights on site), which takes place in September and in January, from Friday to Sunday. This optional orientation is offered at extra cost to long term students (1 term, 1 semester and 1 full academic year). It is be an amazing opportunity to meet other international students taking part in the programme while visiting Barcelona and accustom yourself to all aspects of the forthcoming experience.
On Sunday morning you will travel to your host family. Transportation to your destination is provided by our local partner.
This orientation week-end includes: 2 nights full-board accommodation (shared rooms in a youth hostel), orientation meeting in English, a city tour and the supervision. It also includes airport transfer on arrival (from barcelona airport) and the transportation (most likely by train or plane) from Barcelona to the area of stay.
Dates 2023-2024
- 1st term: 09/09/22 to 21/12/22
- 1st semester: 09/09/22 to 22/01/23
- Full academic year: 09/09/22 to 25/06/23
- 2nd term: 27/01/23 to 02/04/23
- 2nd semester: 27/01/23 to 25/06/23
1 and 2 months stays are possible between September and late January
Orientation weekend in Barcelona (for 1 term, 1 semester and 1 academic year stays)
- 08/09/23 to 10/09/23
- 02/02/24 to 04/02/2A
Prices 2023-2024
| Tuition & full-board board accommodation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | € 3.795 | ||
| 2 months | € 4.295 | ||
| 1 term | € 4.950 | ||
| 1 semester | € 5.495 | ||
| 1 academic year | € 8.195 | ||
| Optional extras | |||
| Guaranteed choice | 1 term | 1 semester | 1 academic year |
| Region (East, South, Barcelona) | € 450 | € 450 | € 450 |
| Cities 1 and Community of Madrid | € 400 | € 600 | € 1.200 |
| Cities 2 | € 450 | € 750 | € 1.500 |
| Other extras | |||
| Special diet (per month) | € 100 | ||
Prices include :
- Pre-application interview
- All enrolment, lessons and exam fees in a state school
- Full-board accommodation in a host family
- Personal assistance and support from your local coordinator throughout your stay
- Regular contact and progress reports
- Certificate of completion
- School reports at the end of each term
- Arrival/departure transfers from/to the nearest airport or station to the place of stay
- All documents required for a visa request (non-EU residents only)
- 24 hour assistance
Prices do not include :
- Roundtrip journey to the place of stay
- Local transportation
- Pocket money: around €150 per month suggested
- Books and course materials (between €150 and €300, depending on the school)
- Travel and medical insurances (including rogatory Civil Liability)
- Visa fees (non-EU residents only)
- Late registration fees, if applicable
- Any additional costs related to Covid 19 (e.g. quarantine, testing etc.)
