Schooling in Mallorca: public, concertada, and international

Bring a school-age kid to Mallorca and the same fork shows up as on the mainland: free public school, semi-private concertada, or one of the island's international schools. The curriculum question is identical to Barcelona's, public and concertada both mean Catalan-medium instruction, but the price points differ in two useful ways: concertada fees here generally run lower than mainland Catalonia's, and the international schools span a wider range, from a German Auslandsschule at the bottom to a British-IB school at the top.

The three paths

Public school (escola pública) is free and zoned by your home address, run through the Conselleria d'Educació i Universitats' annual escolarització process. Since the 1997 Balearic decree on linguistic normalisation (reaffirmed by the 2022 Balearic Education Law), Catalan is the vehicular language in practice at almost every centre, with Spanish taught as a subject rather than a medium. It's a strong option for younger kids who'll absorb the language fast, less so if you're only staying a year or two.

Concertada schools (escola concertada) sit in the same semi-private, state-subsidised middle ground as on the mainland: tuition is officially free, admissions run through the same escolarització window as public school, but a "voluntary" monthly fee is standard practice at most centres. The good news for Mallorca specifically: those fees generally run lower than mainland Catalonia's, where some concertada schools charge €300 to €500 a month. Here, plenty of centres charge nothing beyond the odd materials fee, with others landing somewhere under €300.

International schools sidestep the Catalan-immersion question with a foreign curriculum taught in another language end to end. Mallorca's five main options split roughly into German (Eurocampus) and British (Bellver, King Richard III, Baleares International, Queen's College) tracks, with tuition spanning from around €7,400 a year at the cheapest to €15,465 a year at the top.

How public and concertada assignment actually works

Both run through the Conselleria's annual escolarització process, which assigns places by zone of residence with a points system for proximity, siblings already enrolled, and a few other criteria. You list preferences across both public and concertada centres on the same application. The window typically opens in spring, with places confirmed before the following school year starts in September.

For a newly arrived family, the documents to have ready are the child's padrón (proof of address registration), passport, vaccination record, and any academic records from a previous school, translated if the receiving school asks for it. Arriving mid-year doesn't lock you out, schools generally hold places open for incoming families where capacity allows, outside the main spring window.

Timing: international admissions move on their own calendar

Public and concertada follow the spring escolarització calendar above. The island's international schools run rolling admissions instead, and popular year groups at the more established names, Queen's College and Bellver International College in particular, can fill up well before September. If an international school is the plan, start the application as soon as the move is confirmed, not after you've found a flat.

Arriving in August? You are not too late for a public place. Ask the Conselleria's escolarització office about matrícula viva, the out-of-window route, and go in person once school offices reopen in the last week of the month. Term starts in the second week of September, and book lists appear on each school's own site in the days before. Bring passport, vaccination record, padrón certificate and the previous school's records, translated.

What it actually costs

Public school is free. Concertada is nominally free with a voluntary monthly fee that, in practice, is expected at most schools, budget for somewhere up to roughly €300 a month, generally less than you'd pay for the equivalent concertada tier in Barcelona. Among the international schools, Eurocampus Deutsche Schule is the cheapest at €7,392 to 10,359 a year (plus a recurring annual enrolment fee), followed by Bellver International College at €7,650 to 12,750 and King Richard III College at €7,875 to 14,880. Baleares International College runs €8,371 to 15,465 depending on which of its two campuses, and Queen's College in Son Vida sits at the top with a flat €15,465 a year. Registration or deposit fees on top of tuition are common across all five, the school-by-school comparison below has the published numbers.

The choice here is the same one Barcelona families face: it's not really public-vs-private, it's a language question. Public and concertada both mean Catalan immersion; the international schools buy you German or English instruction (and a curriculum that travels if you move again), for a real and recurring bill. Worth visiting at least one zoned school before ruling it out, especially if your kids are young enough to pick up the language fast.