Enrolling: documents and late arrivalsArticle 4 of 8 · 2 min read
After you get a place: confirming enrolment (matrícula)
Once your child has been given a school place, you must confirm it by completing the matrícula inside a short deadline.
Key rules
- Deadline: Your allocation notice gives the last day to confirm, normally 5 to 10 working days after the assignment; your region sets it.
- Missed deadline: Without a justified reason the place is treated as given up and may go to another family, so contact the school or commission straight away with your reason.
- Documents: Submit the form with identity papers and proof of address; reports, photos and the bank form can follow after your child starts.
Confirm the matrícula before the last day
After a place is assigned you confirm it by completing the matrícula at the assigned school. Read the allocation notice as soon as it arrives and note the last day. For the September start the confirmation period is usually in July; for requests made outside the normal period the school tells you a date directly.
How to confirm
- Get the matrícula form from the school's secretaría (the school office) or from your region's online education portal.
- Fill it in.
- Submit it with the identity papers of the parent or guardian and of the child and your proof of address, in person or online, depending on what your region and school allow.
Previous school reports, the health card or vaccination record, photos and a bank form for fees can follow after your child starts, within 10 working days of the school's request. Foreign school reports follow the apostille and translation rules in Preparing your child's foreign school records.
The child enrolling must be your child or a child in your legal care. A guardian who is not the parent also brings the document proving guardianship; see Enrolling a child when parents are separated or apart.
This applies to public schools and publicly funded private schools (concertadas). They have no matrícula fee; canteen, transport and materials are charged separately. Forms, portals and dates are set by each region and school, and your allocation notice and the school's website give yours.
If you miss the deadline
Explain why you were late (illness or travel, for example) and ask for the deadline to be reinstated. Whether you get the place back depends on vacancies and local rules; if it cannot be reinstated, submit a new out-of-period request (how to ask). Children of compulsory age keep the right to a school place, but it may be at another school.
Before the first day
Once the matrícula is accepted, ask the school about start dates, uniform or materials, and canteen and transport arrangements.
More in Enrolling: documents and late arrivals
- Moving to Spain outside the spring enrolment window
- Joining a Spanish school in the middle of the school year
- Can my child enrol without a residence permit or address registration (padrón)?
- Preparing your child's foreign school records for Spanish enrolment
- Enrolling a child when parents are separated or apart
- Documents you need to enrol your child in a Spanish school
- Enrolling with children: what changes
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