2026 School Year
This is a new type of school year for us- a new level of adaptation you could say. We will have our two kids in TWO different schools this year AND two different TYPES of schools. If you watched my series on youtube about finding a middle school for my oldest child, then you already know all about this.
The goal during that process was to try to find a school that was near the primary school of my youngest, but that was also easily accessible or walkable for us as well. The schedules needed to be slightly staggered, but not so much so that I couldn’t leave the house with both kids, and not have an hour between start times at the two schools.
First Grade (Primaria de Primaria)
Because we are returning to the same school as last year, we already have some of the required supplies. This allows me to carry things over, reuse them, etc, thereby reducing the expenses for this school, for this school year.
UNIFORMS: The school is a small private spanish school. The kids wear “PE uniforms” or “chandals” on “PE Days”. There are two PE days, so there are two days per week that my child will need a school uniform or school chandal. In our case, I only needed to get one pair or shorts and a new shirt, costing a total of 29€.
The next two fees were “quick and dirty”. They simply required a bank transfer directly to the school, but no actual shopping- just a lot of working for that money!
TEXTBOOKS
You will find different things that happen at different schools as far as books go. Public schools will have a book bank. You pay a small yearly fee, of around 25-35€, and are then able to “rent” the books for the school year. They must be returned in good condition though, and the students can no write in them. Some concertados also operate in this way. You can choose to skip the book bank and buy your own books. Your child may be interpreted as the “rich kid”, depending on the school- so decide accordingly.
Other schools will give you a textbook list, and you have to go buy the books. Your cost will vary based on whether you can find the books used or not. They are normally all available on amazon dot es.
The third option is that the school will write and publish their own textbooks. This can happen at both concertados and public schools. This is the case for us. As a result, the fee for books is paid directly to the school. For this year, that set us back 241€, which is a typical level. I have bought books before at a concertado, and they cost about the same… or even a little more.
MATERIALS FEE
Materials fees have been typical for us at all schools, although the level of expense has varied. We once went to a concertado, where we payed about 30€ PER TERM. At our current school, we pay one fee for the whole year. In our case, the fee was 160€. Dividing that by 3, and it comes out to 53€ per term, which is about double what the concertado was.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
School supplies are the typical things bought by parents for their children to take back and forth from home to school every day. They vary slightly by school, but there are some consistent pieces. For example, the equivalent of Number 2 Pencils, glue sticks, a ruler (or more for high levels like a compass, protractor, etc), a pencil sharpener, and a pencil case (called an estuche). High grade levels of primary will require pens in black, blue, green, and red, certain types of notebooks depending on the school, they almost all require some sort of plastic page protectors. Our school wants a pre-bound notebook of page protectors, while other schools have wanted a 100 count package of loose page protectors. These are used to transport stacks of papers back and forth from home to school, and often ultimately put into a large binder (which will be on your list to buy), at school for “save” as proof or evidence of work. However your school organizes this, will be the format in which they ask you to buy the items. Other things needed are color pencils, double pointed markers, a drawing notebook, wipes, and more.
The total cost for this expense this year ran us about 20€, and thankfully, I was able to find everything at only two stores, which is a huge improvement from previous years!!
Monthly Tuition
As one of the more affordable private schools in Zaragoza, and probably all of Aragon and Spain, we pay 170€ per month for tuition.
Grand total paid prior to the first day of school: €621
First Year of Middle School (1° ESO Educacion Secondaria Obligatoria)
Stay tuned.