Hi Karen

It is a very personal choice as nobody knows your children like you do, this said if you really want them to integrate into the Spanish life properly in my opinion there is no doubt that to do this they should go to a Spanish school, here they will learn the language very quickly and make freinds in the area where they actually live. To be honest there are lots of places where you could look and one of the reasons we chose Albatera was because of the close proximity of airport ( 30 minutes) and the closeness of major cities (Elche 20 minutes Alicante 30 and Murcia 30) we are also only 30 minutes from the coast which you tend not to visit too often in reality, well at least this is our case, but its there when you have visitors and at christmas when we do visit as the atmosphere is great! We are also on the bus route to the local british school iof Alicante as we did in fact send our eldest son there, as he was too old to go to Spanish school being inthe middle of his GCSE´s. He settled and enjoyed school but at this time didnt integrate like the younger too did as his freinds were farther afield.

You really need to visit as everyones idea of what area feels right can be different and first hand experience of an area is really the only way to tell, visiting and speaking to locals etc

Talking on forums can also give you invaluable advice from people who have already done it.

I have lots of advice about schooling here on the website have a look at these links

Advice about different aged children and how they could cope etc

http://www.livespainforlife.com/LivingInSpain/Schooling/ChildrenandtheMove/tabid/104/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

The Spanish Education system and choices here

http://www.livespainforlife.com/LivingInSpain/Schooling/TheEducationalSystem/tabid/100/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

Happy researching!

Sharon