School – Complementary Services: Schoolbus, School Meals, Activities

When you register your child at a public school in Spain, there are several complementary services that you can apply for.

If you do not live in the town itself, but outside the town´s limits in the ´campo´, you might be entitled to register your child to make use of the free ´transporte escolar´, the schoolbus. Provided that you live near enough one of the ´paradas´/ stops of the various itineraries that are offered. For that regular ´transporte escolar´ you apply when you matriculate the child, so in June/July.

In exceptional cases, e.g. if your child needs to go to a specialised school that is outside the town where you live and there is no schoolbus transport available, you might be eligible for ´ayuda individualizada transporte escolar´. HERE is a link with info for Andalucia. Window to apply opens early October.

If one or both parents work, and the regular school hours are difficult to incorporate in your work schedule, you might want to look into the services of ´comedor´/school meals and ´aula matinal / ´actividades extraescolares´/ before plus after school activities.

The comedor services are usually on weekdays from 14 to 16 hrs and the aula matinal starts at 07.30 hrs. The children will be entertained and supervised until school starts. After school activities from 16 to 18 hrs, but in most cases only from Monday to Thursday. The latter usually only become available a bit later in the schoolyear, the children will get information about what kind of activities will be offered on what days through the school, often in collaboration with the schools ´AMPA´/ parents´ association.

Whether or not the comedor and aula matinal services / actividades extraescolares are free of charge, or available at a discount, or at full rate, depends on your income. On the forms you will need to tick a box that allows the school, through the Junta, to check with the Tax Office about this. If Hacienda does not (yet) have any data from you, you might be asked to provide the latest tax return from the country where you last declared your income tax.

In most autonomous regions the form to apply for Servicio de Comedor/Transporte Escolar is a combined one, filled out at the same time you would ordinarily register a child for school, so in March when he/she starts school for the first time and in June if already ´in the system´ (July for secondary schools). However, the form also provides for extraordinary and even exceptional ´plazos´, to be used when for some reason these dates could not be met.

LINK to the website of the Junta de Andalucia with more info re the ´ciclo infantil´ children 0-6 yrs old.

LINK to the website of the Junta de Andalucia with more info re ´primaria y ESO´/ primary and secondary school, children ages 6-16.

Suggest for other regions to check with the school that you have chosen for your children or have a look on the Junta´s website, look for ´educación´ – ´servicios complementarios´.

Here´s the LINK to the Valencia Government´s website.

LINK to the forms to fill in to make your applications in Andalucia.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.