When do children go back to school in Malaga?

The Malaga fair is over and, although there is still a week left in August, families with school-age children are already thinking about going back to school or college and preparing the necessary materials for the new teaching year.

Children from 0 to 3 years of age, the first stage of infant education (nurseries or nursery schools), will begin the academic year on Monday 2 September, while for students in the second cycle of infant education (3 to 5 years of age), primary and special education, their start date is 10 September. A few days later, on Monday 16 September, students in secondary, baccalaureate and vocational training will start. Also on 16 September, the academic year will begin for elementary and professional artistic education (music, dance and plastic arts and design) and adult continuing education.

For language and higher artistic courses, the start of the academic year has been set for Friday 20 September. The academic year 2024/25 will end on Monday 23 June in for primary education and Tuesday 24 June for the rest of the students.

One of the recurring themes in the days leading up to the start of the school year is the cost to families of getting their children back to the classroom. The most important investment is for books and, in other cases, school uniforms.

However, in the case of Andalucía, textbooks are free for students in compulsory education (primary, secondary and basic vocational training) and are given to students at the beginning of the school year as a loan. For the last academic year, 2023/24, the Junta has already renewed the primary school materials to adapt them to the new educational law. And this new academic year, students in the first, second and third years of secondary school, as well as those in basic vocational training, will be using new books for the first time. The investment in this free textbook programme amounts to 105 million this year. Last year, the Junta spent 93 million euros to renew primary school textbooks. The high investment has left fourth-year ESO pupils without new textbooks, who will have to continue using textbooks not adapted to the latest teaching material.

In public schools, pupils are not obliged to wear a uniform, which is another major expense for families.

The more far-sighted will already be thinking about public holidays and possible school holidays during the school year. The 2025 calendar will allow for few school holidays (understood as a working day between public holidays), as some of the holidays fall on a Friday, Monday or even a Saturday. This is the case of 12 October, a public holiday, which falls on a Saturday. All Saints' Day, 1 November, is a Friday. And the public holidays in December fall on a Friday (the 6th, Constitution Day) and the 8th, Sunday (Immaculate Conception Day), which in this case falls on a Monday.

The "bridge" as such can only be made to coincide with Labour Day, 1 May, which is a Thursday.

The school calendar in the province of Malaga maintains the 'Semana blanca' (white week), between 24 February (Monday) and 28 February (Friday), which includes the Andalucía Day holiday and the day of the educational community. The Christmas holidays will be between 21 December (Saturday) and 6 January (Monday).

Holy Week will be from 14 to 16 April, in addition to Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Local public holidays that fall on non-teaching dates (in school holidays) are recovered on 7 January (together with Epiphany, which is Monday) and 2 May (a Friday, which will allow for a long weekend together with the Labour Day holiday on 1 May), when the two local holidays coincide with this holiday period. In localities with a local holiday in a non-teaching period, 2 May is also recovered.

In the case of schools whose two local holidays coincide with the school term, the two corresponding local holidays shall be public holidays.

The ordinary school year for primary school ends on 23 June, and on 24 June for the rest of the school year. For the second year of Baccalaureate, the end of the academic year is brought forward to the third week of May.