Schools in France

[Bunty]

Hi,

I could really do with some help, I'm currently reading a book about moving to France and reading the section about schools has made me do a complete u - turn. I have 3 boys aged 8 and twins 6 and I'd really appreciate hearing some of your, and your childrens, experiences of school. We are looking to live on the Charente/Dordogne boarder, either North or South. I also can't find any listing of where schools are located, town or country, so a web address would be handy please.

Thanks,

[giantpanda]

Originally Posted by Bunty

Hi,

I could really do with some help, I'm currently reading a book about moving to France and reading the section about schools has made me do a complete u - turn. I have 3 boys aged 8 and twins 6 and I'd really appreciate hearing some of your, and your childrens, experiences of school. We are looking to live on the Charente/Dordogne boarder, either North or South. I also can't find any listing of where schools are located, town or country, so a web address would be handy please.

Thanks,

HI!

You have to enter : pensionnat

See here;

pensionnat en dordogne - Recherche Google

Yours,

giantpanda

[Bunty]

Hi giantpanda,

thanks for your reply. I've had a look at the link that you sent me and it seems to be about boarding schools?? I was looking for a website where I could find out which town and villages have schools.....
Any tips?

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Is there something in particular that has you concerned about the schools in France? I say that because the schools in France are highly centralized and basically the local mairie can tell you where your kids will go to school (at least within the public system). You may want to try checking the websites for the towns you're considering living in, as they should have some link to information about the schools that cover the town residents (i.e. whether the schools are located in the town, or in another town nearby).

You might also want to take a look at the Eurybase report on the French schools (in English!) here http://www.eurydice.org/ressources/e...gral/FR_EN.pdf The Eurybase data base has very extensive reports on the school systems throughout Europe, including the administration of the schools, financing and what subjects are taught in what year.

If you're looking for private schools, especially English language schools, you should try and get a copy of the AAWE Guide to Education AAWE - Guide to Education, Vital Issues, AAWE News, AAWE Directory which lists most of the English language programs available in France, both public and private.
Cheers,
Bev

[FLID]

hi bunty, i dont know if this will be any good to you, but here goes. we've been here 2 yrs, and we have 4 kiddies around the same age as yours, when we arrived here, the local public school were actually needing more children, so they were more than willing to accept ours, so basically they started more or less straight away. bear in mind i can only give you a rough idea on my experience with this french school, mine all started a week before the summer holidays, so the headmistress decided it would give them more time to learn and adjust if, when they returned after the holidays, they would go into the same class they were in, in england, basically they put them all back a year straight away, i did not see this as a bad thing. there is a thing called "redoublement" where, if your child does not do well enough, or they think they need to repeat the year they will keep them back, which does mean they stay in the same class for two years, its not a totally bad thing, cos it can give the kids an incentive to try that bit harder, but on the bad side,it does mean there can be 12yr olds still in the same class as 9yr olds, luckily since we got here ours have seemed to sail through(touch wood) so far and have not been kept back. our kids seemed to have adjusted and settled in quite well, and are happy at their school, its best to do what you can at home with them too ie; homework, reading etc..., i know you'll already do that in england, but there is a bit of extra workload here for them, and us. be aware that if you dont drive, or you only have one car, which your partner takes to work, if the school is too far to walk, you probably will need to put them in the canteen for dinners, they r very good value, and mine get three lovely courses, they even have menus which they bring home! however if you have several children,like you and i, then i will tell you, it does add up, but that may or may not matter, depending on your income. mine also go on the bus, which you pay twice a year, again good value, i can give you some rough prices if you like? it picks them up at the front door in the morning and drops them back at teatime, very handy, if you cant drive, like me! there r a few school fairs through the year, the biggest ones been the xmas one, is very loooong! and the summer one, which r both fun for everybody! the school hours r a bit longer over here 9 till 5, which mine do. they do have little cot beds at school, cos some of the younger ones have a nap in the afternoon, they do alot of little school outings and picnics, which mine really enjoy! im not sure what made you do a u-turn, from my experience we havent had any problems with the school side of things (yet) anyway, i hope this might of been some use to you, if you need to know anything else i can try and answer your questions, all the best, flid

[roxy]

Hi, this is my first post, so hope it comes out ok. I enjoy reading Flid post and wondered where are you located in France? Sounds like you have it all sorted.
We are looking to relocate to the south of france, around nice/monaco area. I have 2 children 3 and 5, they are currently both in a british school in Qatar and I am a little concerned about the schools in France. My main worry is that I can't seem to find a british school in this area, im unsure of the start ages etc etc..
Does anyone know of goos schools in the area we are looking at? It has to be a day school and pref on the British curriculum. Thanks so much.

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Most of the English language schools in France tend to be located in the Paris area. There is an International School in Nice that teaches in English. Their website is here: ISN - Accueil They mention that they do both British curriculum and IB (International Bac).

Some French public schools have English language sections, where they teach in English, but to the French national curriculum. But generally those don't start until college (junior high - about age 12 or 13) or lycée.

Public (i.e. state) school in France usually starts at about age 4 (it varies a bit by region) so your 3 year old is still a little young. You may want to look into the halte garderie for the little one.
Cheers,
Bev

[FLID]

hi roxy, hope you r well,
i probably wont be much use to you, cos i only have bits of information based on my own experiences, which is not alot at the moment, nowhere near the amount of bevs very good and useful advice, i only came on a few days ago to chat to people in similar cicumstances, im glad you think we have stuff sorted, by eck, someone has to but hey there is light at the end of the tunnel eh anyway bev has give you the information about schools in nice and stuff, i can only tell you that my two youngest had to be three and a half to go in full time, which they were just, so we kind of threw them in the deep end, the school mine are in does take them at three yrs, but normally only half days, unless under certain circumstances, ie:both working etc, thats like bev said the garderie kind of thing, you do have to pay a little bit for this, but its not much, very good actually, i once had to put mine in for half an hour, for a job interview, and it only cost about 2 euros for all four of them, however,we r a long way away from where your planning to go, as you asked, we r in the loire valley, somewhere in the boonies, as bev calls it, a word which i would like to borrow, if thats ok with bev?
tell me to bugger off and mind my own business, but can i ask how come you want to put them in a british school? have i got that right? its just that you r the second person that has mentioned your concern of french schools? im wondering if we were lucky that we just happened to stumble on a nice one, also where we r, they only go four days a week, mon,tues,thur,fri, they did used to go saturday mornin, but they've knocked it on the head now ( one extra lie-in for us) i dont know if this was any good to you, maybe i just like talkin too much take care, flid

[Bevdeforges]

Hi Flid - you can use the word "boonies" anytime you like. It's not really mine. More an abbreviation for "boondocks."

Just to answer one question you posed there - lots of folks who have a tendency to move around like to keep their kids in "the same" school curriculum, like the British schools or the American schools. I guess it's a bit less disruptive to the kids. Changing countries can really make a huge difference in the school systems, not to mention the language issues.
Cheers,
Bev

[FLID]

hi bev, i totally see it from that point of view, like i said, we definetely threw ours in the deep end (with good intentions of course), luckily for us it did pay off really well though, they've all adapted really well and within six months were speaking fluent french, which is now getting better by the day, and r fast overtaking me.