The many and varied cutures that have gone into the making of Spain, those oft he castilans, catalonians, lusitanians, galicians, besques, romans, arabs, jews and roma amory other people are renowed for their varied cuisins, customs and profilic contributions tot he world’s artistic heritage.

The first stage is nursery school (guarderia), which takes children from around three months up to three years old, but it is not covered by the state. Guardería may be private or state-run but both charge fees (if you’re a working mother you may be eligible for help with these).

The second stage is preschool (escuela infantil) which takes children from three to six years old. Preschools are often attached to state primary schools and are free. Most children attend the three years of preschool education and develop their physical and mental skills. It is placed on learning about various aspects of different cultures, the environment and road awareness skills

Spanish primary school (educación/escuela primaria)
Primary schools are known as escuelas or colegios. It is compulsory for children to attend primary school in the calendar year in which they turn six, and usually lasts until age 12. There are three two-year stages or cycles, making a total of six academic years:

·         Primer ciclo – age 6–8 years

·         Segundo ciclo – 8–10 years

·         Tercer ciclo – 10–12 years

Compulsory secondary education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria)
Secondary education in Spain is divided into two cycles: from 12 to 14 years and from 14 to 16. In both cycles, there are core compulsory subjects and optional subjects.
If students complete the four years and pass the expected standards they can to do their bachillerato, which will allow them to apply to a university.

Upper secondary education
Although not compulsory, students can continue their education in Spain by studying for university entrance or entering vocational studies.

Bachillerato
At 16, students who wish to continue their education can study for a further two years to earn the Bachillerato certificate. A pass at Bachillerato will allow a student to take university entrance examinations (Selectivo).

Ciclos Formativos
The vocational courses provided by the institutos are intended to provide practical training for a working skill such as plumbing, electrical work, hairdressing etc.

State universities and polytechnic universities
There are state universities throughout Spain that provide ‘degrees’ (diplomaturas) and professional qualifications (licenciaturas) and post degree education.

San Fermin & the Running of the Bulls 
Probably the most famous festival in Spain, the Running of the Bulls is a long-standing Spanish tradition. The festival is in honor of the beheading (and thus martyring) of Saint Fermin. Starting at 8:00am, huge numbers of brave souls risk their lives to run through the city accompanied by 7 large angry bulls. The goal, incredibly, is to touch as many of the bulls as possible. The festival wraps up with bull fights.

Las Fallas
It involves days of parades, drinking and dancing in the streets, fireworks, and the ceremonial burning of enormous wooden structures.

Semana Santa
Holy Week in Spain is the annual tribute of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods that perform processioncs on the streets of almost every Spanish city and town during the last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter.

La Tomatina
This is a festival that is held in the Valencian, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during a week of festivities in Buñol. 

After I read your blog I have learned more about the traditional festivals you mentioned and the ways they celebrate them. I did not even know that they have so many different festivals in Spain! In the text passage about ''Semana Santa'' there was some information about the historical background of the festival which I really enjoyed. I would have loved to read more about the festival's backgrounds but maybe this would have been gone beyond the scope of the blog.

I would have loved to read more about the religious or traditional backgrounds of some traditions you wrote about because I think this would have been very interesting as well. Another thing I wondered was if spanish people have special habits or if their behavior differs from ours. You have already mentioned some habits within your texts – I really loved that and so I wanted to know more about it. :) 

While reading your blog I felt like you mainly focused on education which is a pretty good idea because this could be very important for us. And even though this was your main focus you did not forget to give us some information about cultural traditions, cuisine and so on which was nice. Because of that you gave the reader a little overview on what to expect when deciding to move or work in Spain. 

Looking at the information on education that you gave us I would be open for working in Spain because their education system seems to be very structured and nice. I might have to take a closer look at their conditions and how they exactly work with children to decide if I would really want to go there for a longer time. 

But visiting Spain for some time could be very interesting because of the cultural traditions, cuisine and festivals I really liked while reading your blog. 

Kind regards,

Saskia