PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION

EDUCACIÓ INFANTIL

Pre-primary education (educació infantil) is for children between the ages of 0 and 6, and is divided into 2 stages-:

  • Nursery school (llar d'Infants): from 0 to 3 years of age. Before the age of 3, you can take your children to nursery school (also called a escola bressol or guarderia in Catalan). Nursery education is not compulsory, but it is important as it is enables children to start to develop social skills and their psychomotor activity (psicomotricitat) , and to begin learning oral Catalan.

Information on your local nursery school network is available from your town or city council. Like all other education centres, nursery schools can be private, or owned or sanctioned by the state.

  • Kindergarten (parvulari): for children aged 3 to 6. Education is not compulsory for children in this age group, but it is advisable as it helps them adapt better to school life. They begin to learn to read and write, are introduced to mental arithmetic and find out about their surroundings.

Kindergarten education is free in state-owned centres called pre-primary and primary schools (such an establishment is called a CEIP or Centre d’Educació Infantil i Primària in Catalan), and is partially subsidised in state-sanctioned private centres.