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As a teacher on the Costa Blanca and living in Javea, I have been very involved in many children's? education here and often talk to parents who are trying to make the decision about where to send their children to school.
There are three main choices. Do you put your children in the Spanish public system, the Spanish private system or the British private system? There are advantages and disadvantages to all three.

The Spanish Public System
The main advantage of this option is that it is free. However, you will need to pay for all books and equipment at the beginning of each academic year. The primary schools of Javea generally have good reputations. The many parents I have spoken to, all seem pleased with these schools.
The secondary school in Javea, El Instituto, does not have the same reputation. In my opinion, the teaching is very laid back and the students are not ?pushed? if they are falling behind. Students who do not ?pass? the year are held back to repeat the year again. This often happens with children who are struggling to learn the language.
Another problem is that there are a large number of disruptive children who affect the learning of others.
Another advantage of this route is that your child will be put into a completely Spanish environment and so will learn the language very quickly. The problem with this is that it is not the easiest situation for a child to be placed in and their education will be stunted in favour of them learning Spanish. If the child is young enough, they tend to adapt a lot quicker and catch up with their studies. If they arrive later on in their education, this is a lot more difficult to achieve. Some children (especially if at high school age) find it very hard to adjust to this very different environment.

The Spanish Private System
This option's main disadvantage is that it is not free. Fees are a lot lower than UK private schools, but are still a significant amount of money, especially if you want to enroll more than one child. Expect to pay between ?5,000 and ?10,000 per year.
The other disadvantage is that there are no private Spanish schools in Javea so the child will have around an hour's bus journey to and from school.
The advantage over the Spanish public system is that there will be smaller class sizes, better resources and a stricter ethos.

The British Private System
Here you have the choice of two schools in the area, Lady Elizabeth School (LES) and Xabia International College (XIC). Both have excellent GCSE and A level results for non-selective schools and teach from ages 3 ? 18 years.
The advantages are that your child will continue with their UK education and will be able to go back to the UK for further education or employment. The schools also provide the opportunity of attending Universities within Spain or elsewhere in the world. It is a much easier transition for them as the system is the same as the UK and everyone speaks English.
LES is situated in Lliber which is over an hours bus ride from Javea, whereas XIC is based near the Arenal Beach area of Javea.

The disadvantages are that they are, again, fee paying schools (expect to pay between ?6000 and ?9000 per year). Also, the school day is conducted in English so the students don't learn Spanish as quickly as if they were submerged in a Spanish speaking school. However, the language classes are excellent, with extremely high exam results. Children can learn the language by joining in with the Spanish community by making Spanish friends or joining an activity (e.g., music, football etc,) that is conducted in Spanish. In my experience, most children who move to Spain and enroll in an English speaking school before their teenage years can speak very good Spanish by the time they leave school.

Before choosing any of these options, I thoroughly recommend that you visit the schools that you are considering, as this is the only way to see for yourself if the school is right for your child.

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