Alice, I was trying to find the thread where you explained that residency is not a requirement for enrollment in public school--that in fact the law specifically requires kids go to school even if not residents.

I was telling someone this and wanted to refer them to your wisdom--so can you reclarify that? Thanks.

This was postedby Adrian:
"In general to register your children in schools here you will need a Codice Fiscale, copies of your passport and the childrens, copies of the childrens vacination records and copies of all of their previous school reports. When you become resident then you can take a copy for their school files.

"We had no problems registering our children before we became resident.........however different Commune may have different rules so it is best to check. Most areas run a centralised school system where there will be one school office which does all the admin for the local schools in their area and your Commune will be able to tell you which one."

The owner of the place we were renting is bringing his family - including two kids - from Australia for a year. He's still to apply for the ER visa, but it hasn't stopped him enrolling the kids in local schools without the slightest hitch or question mark. He has a Codice Fiscale from when he bought the house, the title deed for the house, and that's the extent of his paperwork.

Graeme and Mani--thanks for the research but I am still hoping that Alice reads this because she was very clear in her post about not needing residency for enrollment. Maybe it was a conversation on Slow Travel--guess I'll do a search there. We have no problem enrolling Casey--residency wasn't even mentioned as an issue. But I wanted to help someone else feel at ease about this issue.

I tried to remeber the post, and I essentially just said that since Italian constitution states that education is a right, all children living in italy must receive education, which includes the possibility to be enrolled in public schools. This also involves clandestine immigrants, which are allowed and requried to give their children some form of education, so it's obviously also valid for children living in italy with no residency but legally, such as Casey.

Alice, thanks! I will pass this on to Christine.

Thanks for all the input. We are kicking around the idea of doing the kids 1/2 yr in the states and 1/2 + summer in Italy. I am really excited and have been told my dear synchro team will be in Torino for an exhibition.

Hey Barb.......... you guys can stay here when you are in town......... just a thought

Madsville, one thing you must remeber is that the school programs will not match. Italian school programs are quite different from those in the US, even the subjects studied will be different: maths is maths in any language, but the way the various elements of basic mathematics are taught may not match, and in Italy your children may have to face matematical alements thay have not yet studieed in the US, or have to fo through again some elemnts thy hav already studied while their US schoolmates are going ahead with stufff the Italia children will study the next year. Than, if you consider grammar or history things get even more complicated.

Jane, in any case, I suggest you enlist for residency a soon as possible, to have access to public health services (for you and Kan and Casey) and the other services offered by the Italian adminsitration to the citizen and residents.

quote:

I essentially just said that since Italian constitution states that education is a right, all children living in italy must receive education, which includes the possibility to be enrolled in public schools. This also involves clandestine immigrants, which are allowed and requried to give their children some form of education

Just thought I would mention this has been our experience in Spain as well. I know a US family that over stayed thier 3m ( by several years) and had no trouble what so ever putting her 3 kids in school there.I know another family where the dad did a 6m language program and the kids went to Spanish public schools & the mom worked by computer to her office in Ca.Also Kaydee from ST enrolled her child in a local French school with no problems and they had no visas and had long over stayed thier 3m.It was much easier for her to enroll her child in the school than get the visa ( which they never ended up getting,tho tried hard).

So I wonder if this is common in Europe.When we registered our child in her school in Spain via phone,they were very clear that school was open to everyone no matter how long & did not need our visa or anything.( We will just do it from Nov 1 thru April 1st and our focus is more on language/cultural/social immersion than studies because we will homeschool in English).

I know that anyone can go to school for 6m in Austrailia because I know a family who did a RTW trip who did that.I am not sure how it works in America,but I don't think one needs to be a legal resident.

As a homeschooling family on the move,we find it wonderful that schools around the world are so open.Its a great way to connect with the culture.