Schools and nurseries in Alicante: how to enrol your children

Machine translation made with AI: it may contain errors. Please check the details in the official sources.

This guide explains how school enrolment works in the Valencian Community for families settling in Alicante and the surrounding area (San Vicente del Raspeig, Sant Joan d'Alacant, El Campello and Mutxamel). It contains no ratings or rankings of schools.

The Spanish education system: the basics

Basic education lasts ten years, from age 6 to 16, and is compulsory and free (Organic Law on Education 2/2006). The stages are:

Educación Infantil (early years education, ages 0-6): two cycles. The first (0-3) and the second (3-6) are both voluntary.
Educación Primaria (primary education, ages 6-12): six years, normally at a CEIP (state primary school).
Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, ESO (compulsory secondary education, ages 12-16): four years, at an IES (secondary school).
Bachillerato (two years of pre-university study) and Formación Profesional (vocational training): stages that follow the ESO.

Schools can be public, concertados (privately run but publicly funded) or private. Public and concertado schools follow the same admissions process.

Admissions: how and when to apply for a place

The Conselleria de Educación (Valencian Regional Department of Education) manages admissions online through the Adminova portal, which also gives access to the "Secretaría Digital". For the 2026-2027 school year, the calendar was as follows:

Infantil and Primaria: applications from 7 to 18 May 2026; provisional results on 4 June; final results on 18 June; online enrolment from 18 to 29 June.
ESO and Bachillerato: applications from 21 May 2026.
Extraordinary phase: this takes place after the ordinary phase, for places that remain vacant.

The calendar for the 2027-2028 school year has not been published yet. Check it on the Conselleria admissions website from spring 2027. Dates may vary each year.

Useful details of the 2026-27 process:

For the first level of Infantil (age 3), children born in 2023 could take part; for the first year of Primaria, children born in 2020.
You can list up to twenty schools in order of preference.
Factors taken into account include siblings at the school, how close your home or workplace is, family income (with authorisation given to the Tax Agency) and others set out in the regulations.
If you arrive from another region or from a school that is not publicly funded, you must undertake to provide the withdrawal certificate from the previous school when you enrol.

Catchment areas

As a general rule, the catchment area covers the whole municipality ("distrito único de localidad", a single district for the whole town). Catchment areas are published on Adminova before the application period. According to Alicante City Council, since 2024 the city has had a single catchment area, so you can apply for any school in the municipality. For each school year, check this on the admissions website.

Valencian and Spanish (Castilian)

Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Sant Joan d'Alacant, El Campello and Mutxamel are listed in article 35 of Law 4/1983 as municipalities where Valencian predominates. In this area, Law 1/2024 on educational freedom provides that families state on the application whether they prefer Valencian or Spanish (Castilian) as the base language when starting Infantil. This demand is used to organise each school's lines (class groups). To apply for both options at the same school, you have to select it twice on the application, once with each language. What is actually offered depends on each school: ask there.

How to find schools

The Conselleria's Guía de centros docentes (directory of schools) lets you look up the public, concertado and private schools in each municipality.
Each school's vacancies are published on Adminova when the application period opens.
Each school publishes on its website and notice board the "circunstancia específica" (school-specific criterion) it takes into account in admissions.

If you arrive once the school year has started

Once the school year has started, anyone applying for a place outside the ordinary and extraordinary phases does so through the Comisión Municipal de Escolarización (Municipal School Enrolment Committee) of their municipality.

Alicante: the City Council's Education Department coordinates admissions and allocates vacant places outside the ordinary period. Schools refer families to the Oficina Municipal de Escolarización (Municipal School Enrolment Office), by appointment. Contact: calle Maldonado, 9; telephone 965 233 948, 965 233 949 and 965 233 950; educacion@alicante.es.
San Vicente del Raspeig: the Council's Education Department has procedures for applying for a place in the extraordinary period (EDU01 for Infantil and Primaria, EDU02 for ESO and Bachillerato). Telephone 965 67 50 65; educacion@raspeig.es.
Sant Joan d'Alacant, El Campello and Mutxamel: contact each town council's Education department (Sant Joan, El Campello, Mutxamel, educacio@mutxamel.org).

Nurseries (ages 0-3)

The first cycle of Infantil is applied for through the Conselleria's process at schools owned by the Generalitat (in 2026-27, children born in 2024, 2025 and 2026 took part, depending on the level).

Alicante City Council has two municipal nurseries, Els Xiquets and Siete Enanitos, run by the Patronato Municipal de Educación Infantil (Municipal Early Years Education Board), for children aged 0 to 3. They have their own application period: for 2026-27, new pupils applied from 4 to 15 May 2026. You apply through the council's online office (with a digital certificate or electronic DNI) or at the nursery itself by appointment. Information and questions: council website and patronato.escuelas@alicante.es.

In the other municipalities, ask the town council and each nursery about what is available for ages 0-3.

International options in the area

Some schools in the area follow other education systems. For reference only, and without any recommendation: King's College Alicante (British curriculum, in Alicante), the Lycée Français International d'Alicante (French MLF/AEFE network, in El Campello) and the Escuela Europea de Alicante (European Schools network, in Playa de San Juan; admission by categories). For admissions, fees and calendar, check each school's official website (King's College Alicante, Lycée Français International d'Alicante, Escuela Europea de Alicante).

Documents you usually need

According to the 2026-27 admissions resolution:

Identification of the applicant and of the pupil: DNI (Spanish national ID), NIE (foreigner's identification number), residence card or EU citizen registration certificate. Anyone who only has a passport must go to their first-choice school to obtain the access code.
NIA (pupil identification number) if the child has already studied in the Valencian Community.
Family address, details of the family unit and authorisation to check income.
Pupils from foreign education systems: documents proving their details, age and academic requirements.

For a place outside the deadlines in Alicante, the Oficina Municipal de Escolarización has asked in previous years for the identity document of the mother, father or guardian and a document proving parentage (libro de familia, the family record book, or birth certificate). When you complete the enrolment, the school may ask for more documents: ask the school.

Disclaimer: general information; check the details with the official source.