Episode 6 of Oh Mother Where Art Thou, a parenting podcast.
The Barcelona based podcast about life as a parent, what we do for fun and where to go for help!
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Kat Lovell
Kat Lovell is a mum of two beautiful boys and married to a Catalan man. Kat is English from Bristol and has lived in Barcelona for 9 years.
Kat is a Relocation and Lifestyle Consultant, as well as being able to help with anything people need to live in Barcelona, she also specialises in school applications and the local school system. She has already helped over 50 families find and apply for schools in Catalonia.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
What we talk about:
- Kat’s job, what she does and why she started
- Why she moved here and about her family and friends
- Language in their home
- Kat’s bike accident and then her IVF experience in Barcelona
- Kat’s birth stories
- SCHOOL APPLICATION PROCESS:
- How old kids go to school
- Types of schools – public, concertada and private
- The difference between public and concertada schools
- Grades and results and changing methodologies
- STEP BY STEP
- Make a spreadsheet
- Get a list of schools in your catchment area – link below
- Update your spreadsheet with open day information, some start January
- Attend Open Days
- What to expect
- Tips of what to look for and what to ask
- Choosing your schools
- Favourites list
- Amended list based on data and probability
- Tactics to call on the last days of applications
- Where to give in the application
- The lottery explained
- The school Kat chose for her son and how she feels about it
- How we found school application is terrifying and feels like a big commitment
- What Kat has learned helping parents apply for schools
- What advice she would give parents entering the process
- What Kat can do for parents if they are looking for help
Links and recommendations
SCHOOL APPLICATIONS
Your catchment area – the Consorci link to find the school catchment area for your address within Barcelona. There is also other great information on this site, if you need they have a translate option at the bottom of the page.
Pre-enrollment guide for last year – Consorci made guides in multiple languages for the process last year 2018-2019
Generalitat – The main pre-inscripcion link for all the school applications in Catalonia. The first year of school at 3 years old is P3, the segundo ciclo, second cycle (after nursery).
Documentation needed – a list in spanish of all the documentation you need, basically ID for parents and students, proof of address and also documents to prove any additional points.
LINKS FROM PODCAST
Barcelona Babies – English facebook group for parents in Barcelona. The group was started 4 years ago by Miriam Jaffe as a group of friends and has grown organically to 3.4k members.
Sarah King – Graphic Designer recommended by Kat in the interview. Sarah designed Kat’s website and is actually fantastic!
Get Involved
I’d love to hear your comments or your experiences, leave comments on our social media or you can email me direct, all the links below.
Oh Mother Barcelona 