We are an American family who moved to Spain last year full of excitement. We left behind an exceptional school in the United States, with a wonderful community, amazing children, and extraordinary support from the staff. When we discovered Lighthouse American School, we thought we had found something very similar. We visited many schools before choosing this one.

Our educational consultant advised us not to choose this school because of its very small class sizes. She explained that she generally does not recommend such small groups because, if conflicts arise between children, the dynamics can become very difficult and students have very few opportunities to build friendships outside that small group. She said this lends itself to bullying. Despite her advice, we enrolled our daughter because we loved the school's educational philosophy, facilities, and welcoming atmosphere. We even believed the small class sizes would be a great advantage.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the worst educational decision we have ever made.

My daughter, who is now six but was five at the time, is a very sweet, quiet, and sensitive little girl. Our greatest fear about moving to another country was that she would struggle to adjust, and sadly, that is exactly what happened.

Our experience during that school year was deeply painful. Our daughter experienced repeated incidents with one student that caused her tremendous emotional distress and, from our perspective as parents, were never effectively addressed. There were also other behaviors from students that we considered completely inappropriate for children of that age and that deeply concerned us.

One student kicked her in the face (and was not expelled even though she admitted to it). She was called "stupid," called "dark" for an American, and was bullied by first graders. She was only five years old.

There was even an incident where a first-grade girl dug her fingernails into my daughter's hand during gym class, and my daughter just sat there because the other girl refused to let go.

The saddest part is that if your child does not participate in this behavior, they often become the next target of the bullying. Many children end up joining in simply to survive socially, based on what I witnessed and what other families shared with us.

What shocked us the most was realizing that, in such a small class, when there is an ongoing conflict between two children, the child being targeted has almost no opportunity to distance themselves, make new friends, or start over. That lack of alternatives left our daughter feeling increasingly isolated and vulnerable.

As the months went by, we lost confidence that the situation would improve. Eventually, we felt we had no choice but to withdraw our daughter from the school before the end of the school year.

Our daughter was profoundly affected by this experience, and as parents we deeply regret having made this decision. That is precisely why we are writing this review.

From the outside, Lighthouse American School appears to be an ideal school. We thought so too. Unfortunately, our experience was completely different.

We brought these incidents to the attention of the school administration on numerous occasions. We shared our concerns, documented what our daughter was telling us, and asked that appropriate measures be taken to ensure her safety and well-being.

From our perspective as parents, we never understood why the school did not consider expelling the student who, in our experience, was responsible for many of these incidents. We also spoke with other mothers whose children had negative experiences involving this same student, yet the school took no meaningful action. In our opinion, the school's response was inadequate and failed to properly protect our daughter or the other children who were affected.

The most painful part was realizing that, in the end, it was our daughter who had to leave the school, while the other student remained in class for the rest of the year. That was the moment we completely lost confidence in the school and in its ability to provide a safe environment for its students. They even told me on a call that they were completely aware of what that child was capable of, and I have been told by numerous moms that this student had issues the entire year with being aggressive to other kids.

If you are considering this school, I would strongly encourage you to ask detailed questions about how they handle conflicts between students, what protocols they follow when a child repeatedly displays behavior that harms classmates, and what specific measures they take to ensure that every child feels safe and protected. I would also ask specifically about your class, as it seems some classes are great because there are no bullies in it, and others are the complete opposite. This really is a luck game.

In addition, I don't know whether it was because of the emotional toll she was experiencing, but my daughter learned almost nothing during the school year. By the end of the year, she barely knew her alphabet, numbers, or basic subtraction. We felt she had actually lost much of what she had already learned in the United States, and the quality of education she received was far below the standard we had been accustomed to in the U.S.

Since leaving, she has been in tutoring for 3 months and has learned more in those 3 months than after almost an entire year at Lighthouse.

It is also important to mention that we personally know two other families who ended up withdrawing their children from this school because of bullying.

We truly wish our experience had been different. Sadly, it was not, and we would never want another family to go through what we experienced. I truly would not write this review if I felt it was unfair. We are an easy going family with wonderful kids, and the least deserving people of this experience.