Primary education is compulsory and free, for children aged 6 to 12 years.

It consists of 3 cycles of 2 years each:

• first cycle: 6-8 years
• second cycle: 8–10 years
• third cycle: 10-12 years

The average number of students per classroom is approximately 25 in Spanish schools. The purpose of this level of education is to provide all children with a common education that makes it possible for them to acquire the basic cultural elements, learning oral expression, writing and arithmetic, as well as a progressive autonomy of action in their environment.

Teaching of foreign languages begins fully in the first year of the second cycle (8 years). Although, as is becoming common in most countries, languages is a key focus within education and a second language (English) may be taught at all age levels.

Curriculum: General academic

Leaving Certificate: Graduado Escolar (School Graduate)