THE WAYPOINT SUR
Finally, parents can relax.
Which September you are in
September's school coverage runs three different things together: official term dates, national spending averages, and shopping baskets priced off shelves. Each measures something real. None of them is a substitute for two facts about your own school.
Which calendar it follows, and what its fees include. On the Costa those two answers vary more than the coverage suggests, and they take about ten minutes to establish.
"All schools", with a qualification
Málaga's provincial calendar for 2026/27, set by a resolution of 20 May, reads at first as though it covers every school, public and private, universities aside.
It narrows in its own opening paragraph, and in the 2009 decree behind it, to centres teaching the curriculum set out in Andalucía's education law. Spanish-curriculum private schools are inside it, including those with no state funding. Foreign-curriculum schools sit outside it.
Today, Thursday 10 September, is the start for preschool for ages three to five, primary, and special education. The first day is given to receiving pupils rather than teaching, and schools may run shortened or staggered hours for it. Compulsory secondary and bachillerato — the two years between compulsory school and university begin on Tuesday 15 September.
Aloha College in Nueva Andalucía, Marbella, authorised to teach the British system, opened its autumn term on Tuesday 1 September. That is Aloha's date, not a universal international-school date. Your school's own calendar supplies yours.
The dividing line is curriculum, not nationality. A Spanish family at a British school follows the British school's calendar, and a Northern European family at the local concertado — a state-funded private school follows the 10 and 15 September one.
Two €505s, from two different methods
The cost coverage carries a similar trap, because two organisations have published figures that look almost identical.
idealo, a price-comparison site, priced a basket at €505.16: paper textbooks at €371.73, stationery at €50.80, a backpack at €32.73, a tracksuit at €20.97, sports shoes at €28.93. That is what the goods cost in shops.
The OCU, Spain's consumer organisation, asked 773 parents about 1,096 children aged three to eighteen what they spend. Its equipment figure is €548, of which €43 is the parents' association fee, leaving €505 across textbooks at €192, supplies at €89, and clothing or uniform at €224.
So the same nominal item, textbooks, is €192 in the survey and €371.73 in the basket. One prices goods, the other records what families expect to spend. (Confirmed September 2026.)
OCU's annual totals are €1,294 for a state school, €3,450 for a concertado and €8,761 for a private one. On the Costa that last figure is below what a single international school charges in tuition alone, a sign the national private category is too broad to plan against here.
Read the inclusions, not the headline
The question worth asking is what the fee actually covers. Schools differ on that more than you would expect.
Aloha College's published fees include textbooks and exercise books, subject materials, accident insurance and compulsory curricular day trips.
The British School of Málaga prints a two-column list. Included: school lunch, which is mandatory, compulsory textbooks on loan, curricular materials, and digital book and Chromebook licences.
Not included: the uniform, the Chromebook itself, external examinations such as IGCSEs and A-levels, school trips, after-school activities, breakfast and snack club, and the bus.
Its annual tuition is €8,780 in Nursery and Reception, rising to €12,050 in Years 12 and 13, on top of a €1,100 annual enrolment fee. A local return bus place is €555 a term. (Confirmed September 2026.)
Two schools, two quite different packages. A quoted fee tells you little until the inclusion list sits beside it.
If you are looking for a place now
Andalucía's ordinary admissions round for state and concertado places ran from 1 March to 7 April 2026, with enrolment in June for the younger years and July for secondary. That round is finished for this year.
Which is not the same as nothing being available. Places come up mid-year, and the provincial education office handles vacancies outside the round. Schools without state funding set their own application arrangements, so ask about late applications and availability. Aloha runs two application periods, 1 November to 31 January and 1 March to 31 May, and considers anything outside them subject to space. Our guide to how admissions timing and waiting lists actually work covers that route, and our guide to the Spanish school system for expat parents covers the state and concertado side.
Spanish-lite
¿Qué currículo sigue el centro? — Which curriculum does the school follow? Start with the curriculum to establish the calendar. For admissions, also ask whether the place is state-funded.
¿Qué gastos se pagan aparte? — Which costs are paid separately? Worth asking for in writing, and worth reading next to the fee.
The bottom line
Two families on the same street can run their year through two different school systems, with different term dates, different admissions windows and different bills. The national figures in this month's coverage are real, and they are built from categories too broad to say much about your household. Your school's calendar and its written inclusion list will tell you more in ten minutes than any average will.
Nearly there — A. and the WaypointSur team, checking which September we paid for.
