Público, Concertado or Private in Valencia: The Decision That Sets Your Calendar

the short version: Valencia has three school systems. Público and concertado share one admission process and one calendar, and that calendar opens in spring. Private and international schools run their own admissions, their own fees and their own waiting lists, some of them years long. Families usually pick the school first and discover the calendar second, which is the wrong order. Pick the system first, because the system decides when you have to move.

Every family relocating to Valencia asks the same question: which schools are good.

The question underneath it, the one that actually determines what your child can get into, is a different one: which of the three systems are you aiming at, and are you still inside its window.

We watch families spend three months comparing schools across all three systems as if they were one market. They are not one market. They have different admission rules, different costs, different languages of instruction and, most importantly, two separate calendars that do not wait for each other.

This page is the decision, laid out plainly. It sits under our guide to international schools in Valencia.

why we can tell you this

Most relocation content about Spanish schools is written by people who have read about Spanish schools.

Our founder lives in Valencia as an expat, and his own children have been through both the concertado and the private systems here. That is the difference between explaining how a baremo works and having sat with the paperwork, the deadline and the language question in front of you.

It also means we will tell you when the more expensive option is the wrong one for your family. Which brings us to the systems.

the three systems, honestly

público

State schools. Tuition is publicly funded, so there is no tuition fee. Families still pay for materials, some activities and lunch where they use it.

Teaching happens substantially in Valencian, alongside Spanish and an increasing amount of English under the plurilingual programmes. For a family arriving with children who speak neither, this is the single biggest factor in the decision, and it is the one most often underestimated. We cover it separately in our guide to Valencian in Valencia schools.

Admission is decided by a points scale, not by application quality. Points come from things like your registered address relative to the school's catchment area, siblings already enrolled and specific family circumstances. You do not persuade your way in. You qualify.

concertado

Privately run, publicly funded. This is the category that has no equivalent in most countries our clients come from, and it is the one they get wrong.

A concertado school is not a private school with a discount. It is a private institution whose subsidised places sit inside the same public admission process, with the same points scale and the same calendar as the state system. Many are religious foundations, often Catholic, with varying degrees of emphasis in daily life.

Tuition for the subsidised places is covered, but families typically pay a monthly contribution described as voluntary, plus uniform, materials, lunch and extracurriculars. Add those together before comparing the number to a private school fee, because the headline is misleading on its own.

For a lot of relocating families this is the best-value option in Valencia. It is also the one they never seriously consider, because nobody explained the category to them.

private and international

Own admissions, own fees, own calendar. British, American, IB, German and French curricula, and Spanish private schools with strong bilingual programmes.

They do not use the public points scale. They decide, and for the strongest schools they decide against a waiting list. Published guidance for 2026 puts waiting times at the most sought-after Valencia international schools at one to three years, with applications wanted nine to twelve months ahead of the intended start date, and Reception, Year 7 and Year 12 filling first. Verify current status directly with each school, because these lists move and admissions pages are optimistic by nature.

Fees vary widely by stage and school. We keep the verified comparison in our Valencia international school fees table, sourced to each school's own admissions page.

the two calendars

Here is the part that costs families a school year.

Público and concertado run on the regional admission calendar. Places open in spring, and the Conselleria publishes the exact dates each year, so confirm them for your target year rather than trusting last year's. Working backwards from a spring opening, the preparation has to start in January: registered address in place, documents gathered, catchment understood, shortlist built.

By the time the window opens, your decisions should already be made. The window is for submitting, not for deciding.

Private and international schools run their own clocks, and those clocks are longer. A family targeting September 2027 at a competitive international school is applying in the autumn of 2026.

Two calendars, both of which reward the family that started early, and neither of which cares that you were still comparing.

which system fits which family

We describe fit rather than ranking schools, because the ranking depends entirely on your child.

Público tends to fit families staying long term, comfortable with their children becoming genuinely bilingual in Spanish and Valencian, arriving with enough time to register an address and qualify on points, and who want their children inside the local community rather than an expat one.

Concertado tends to fit families who want smaller structures and a defined ethos without international-school fees, who can accept the language reality of the region, and who are prepared for the religious character many of these schools carry.

Private and international tend to fit families on a defined assignment, families whose children need continuity in a curriculum they have already started, families arriving mid-year when the public window has closed, and families for whom the language transition would cost their child a critical academic year.

There is no single right answer here. There is a right answer for your child's age, your timeline and how long you plan to stay.

what to do if you have already missed the window

Arriving outside the admission period is common and it is not a dead end. It is a different procedure.

Places that open outside the ordinary process are handled separately, and availability depends on the year group and the specific school rather than on your points. Practically, this means the shortlist you need is a different shortlist, built around who actually has capacity now.

Missing the spring window does leave the private and international route open, because those schools admit on their own terms throughout the year when they have space. Read that as a route, though, rather than as a safety net. Demand for the well-regarded schools is high, the same year groups fill first whatever the season, and a family arriving in June asking about September is competing with families who applied in the autumn.

So the honest version is this: missing March moves you into a smaller market at a higher price with less time. It is recoverable. It is considerably more expensive and more stressful than the version where you started in January.

frequently asked questions

Is concertado the same as private?

No. A concertado school is privately run and publicly funded, and its subsidised places are allocated through the same public admission process and points scale as state schools. A private school controls its own admissions entirely. The practical difference for a relocating family is that concertado places follow the regional calendar and private places do not.

Do we need to be registered in Valencia before applying?

For the público and concertado process, your registered address is a significant factor because catchment proximity carries weight in the points scale. Families arriving from abroad usually need to resolve registration first, which is why we treat it as a January task rather than a March one. Our walkthrough on empadronamiento without a lease covers the common blocker.

What language will our children be taught in?

In público and concertado schools in the Valencian Community, teaching is substantially in Valencian alongside Spanish, with English under the plurilingual programmes. Private and international schools teach in the language of their curriculum. For families arriving with no Spanish, this is usually the decisive factor, more than facilities or reputation.

Can we apply to schools in more than one system?

Yes, and for most relocating families we recommend it. The público and concertado application runs through the regional process, while private and international applications run in parallel and on a different schedule. Running both is how families avoid arriving with nothing confirmed.

where this leaves you

If you are moving for September and you are reading this in the autumn, you are on time for the international route and you should be preparing for the regional one now.

If you are reading this in February, the honest answer is that your realistic options have narrowed, and the work is to find who has capacity rather than who is best.

Either way, the decision to make first is the system, because the system sets the calendar, and the calendar is the thing that closes.

We build that decision for families as a written shortlist: the three systems assessed against your child's age, language and timeline, the schools worth your applications, and the dates you personally have to hit. If you would like us to build yours, The Shortlist is where it starts. And we do not stop at the shortlist: on The Application we file with you and we attend the appointments.

Khristian Rueda is the founder of Spainlander. He lives in Valencia with his family, and his children have attended both concertado and private schools in the city.