thepenofmyaunt

Personally if I thought I might be wrong about something so I might need to apologise I'd probably keep quiet in the first place. It's not a bad way to live your life I find.

I was waiting for a comment like this and I take exception to your suggestion, Debra, which I find rather puerile and insulting. I think I'll just have to ask this question elsewhere so I can get a more grown up answer. It's a shame that living in France makes people so suspicious of their fellow man

I'm just clearing out my inbox and have found an e-mail that I had completely forgotten about. Our tenants were awarded aide au logement which I assumed was because they have a large family. However, before we agreed to them renting the property they provided payslips from overseas employment which showed a substantial income in order to prove they could pay the rent. I don't know anything about French secu benefits but having looked into it it seems to be something that is awarded to families of modest means. It is paid directly to them not us but I am now worried that if they are claiming a benefit that they are not entitled to we are implicated because we signed the form for them. The form was just confirmation of the amount of rent they were paying. I'm really not sure what to do. I'm not suggesting that they have deliberately defrauded the secu, it is more likely that they didn't understand what they were claiming as they spoke no French nor am I suggesting informing CAF. I just want to be sure there will be no repercussion on us. Any ideas?

I have now found out that under French law notice can only be given by LRAR or acte d'huissier. The notice period runs from receipt of the letter or acte. Doesn't help us at all but might be of interest to others

Hi and thanks for your responses. I have since found out that according to French law, notice can only be given by LRAR and the notice period starts on the day you receive the letter. Looks like there is nothing that we can do but thought the information might be useful to others.

Our tenants have given notice of their intention to vacate in 3 months. They sent it by e-mail rather than lettre recommande as they wanted us to know as soon as possible and we accepted it also by e-mail. Is this legally binding or does it have to be by LRAR in order to be legally binding

Thanks for that. Unfortunately it doesn't answer my question as to whether or not the tenants can change the date of their notice once it has been accepted.

Our tenants have given notice which we have accepted and have now made arrangements to come to France to do the handover of the keys, etat des lieux, etc. They now want to change the date (by several months) which doesn't suit us at all as we have potential new tenants who want to move in before the new 'end of tenancy' date and are not free to return to France at that time. Does anyone know if we can insist that they stick with the original date? Any advice gratefully received. Pen PS. They are on a standard 3 year French tenancy agreement

Interesting thread. We have WiFi at our gite but only because the tenants in the main house who manage it for us have telephone/internet. They are now leaving and we will rent the whole property out as a holiday let so no-one will be permanently resident there. I don't really want to be forking out for a telephone line/broadband just for guests but if we have to does anyone know the most cost effective way to do this?

My daughter was severely bullied in 6eme by a bunch of french girls and her English 'best friend' who sadly didn't have the strength of character to stand up for her friend. The difference I found between France and the UK is that in the UK all schools have bullying policies (obviously a lot depends on how they are implemented) whereas in France very few have and they have little interest or motivation to resolve the problem. Some of the biggest bullies in France are the teachers so there is little hope for the children. Mine both suffered racist abuse from members of staff. In the UK their school has a vertical tutoring system whereby each tutor group is made up of children from each school year. It means that there is far more mixing among year groups and the younger ones know there are older ones/6th formers to look out for them. Bullying is practically non-existent. A year 7 in my daughter's tutor group was being picked on by two others in his year. The photos of the bullies were held up during tutor time and other tutor group members were asked to look out for him. Some 6th formers then took the bullies aside and explained that they would not stand for it and it stopped instantly. In France I had to threaten to take my child out of school to get any action and then it was pretty half-hearted. Bullying in France is called l'intimidation

This was not my experience at all. The brighter children were selected to do Latin however it was done as an additional lesson and all other lessons were with the rest of their class. All classes were mixed ability, one of the reasons we returned to the UK as it didn't work for my eldest. In their secondary school here they are streamed from the middle of year 7. It seems to work very well.

Clarkkent, a very intelligent and thought provoking post.  I missed the documentary but plan to watch it on catch up.  My childrens' head teacher, who retired at the end of the last school year, turned the school round from a very average one to an outstanding one which is hugely oversubscribed and chosen in preference to grammar schools.  She leads a team of thoroughly committed and motivated teachers who believe in providing the best education for each child according to their ability. Head teachers in France are employed centrally and are nothing more than administrators. They never spend time in the classroom and can only stay in the position for 4 years (in the public system - I can't speak for the private one). Schools in the public system do not appoint teachers, this is again done centrally, so a schools has what they are given rather than being able to develop an 'ethos' or  select the best teachers available.  There is no opportunity for innovation or experimentation, they must simply teach a curriculum that has not changed since the 1950s and which doesn't recognise the different ways in which children learn  There is a huge amount of disquiet among French parents about schooling and in most of the tv and radio interviews with the author of the book, the vast majority agreed with him. Sadly, too few non-French parents have any involvement in their child's education, though to be fair, schools do not often welcome parental involvement, and really have no idea what is going on.

Norm, it was very hard to decipher your replies as you seem to be struggling with the technology somewhat. Must be having to deal with all those yokels. How dreadful that people had regional accents.  You were clearly traumatised by your experience and no doubt scuttled off back to the shires or somewhere the locals were far more civilised and spoke the Queen's English.  I can only apologise for my own level of education but most of it took place in France so I'm clearly at a disadvantage. I checked out all the Grandes Ecoles on the various lists of top universities, as someone with such an interest in education I'm sure you know the ones I mean, which assess universities on many different criteria including employability of graduates, and found only two GEs listed.Whether this is because the rest are not included or are not good enough, only the people drawing up the league tables know. I'm certainly not party to that information which is why I said SOME and not ALL but a certain assumption could surely be made that if two have been assessed then maybe the others have been too. The Option International has absolutely nothing to do with the Bac International.It is purely an option where some subjects are taught in English or American English if the option is americain rather than anglais. A friend's daughter is at lycee in Bordeaux doing a Bac S Option International.  It has no additional merit for university entrance in the UK over the French Bac and certainly does not compare to the IB. My children are lucky enough to go to an excellent local school, designated outstanding by OFSTED, for what that's worth, with a  'Superhead' who is paid more than the PM - and worth every penny of it for her inspired leadership. People send their children there in preference to grammar schools across the border. To be honest, I can't be bothered to answer your last paragraph which shows a rather shocking lack of knowledge of both the UK and French systems. Do you have children at school in either place?  Fortunately, I've got recent first hand (as a parent as anyone with a modicum of intelligence would have realised) of both systems. Do you?  French children have to know something? Have a word! They have to regurgitate facts and theories with no need at all to understand what it is they are regurgitating. They are not required to think for themselves or demonstrate any sort of understanding of their subject.  Homework is also routinely copied from the internet.  One of the biggest comments made by teachers about my own French-educated children is how limited their general knowledge is compared to their peers. Make whatever snide remarks you want to about Somerset, both here and on another thread I see, but I KNOW my children are getting a much better education here than in France based on my own experiences, not some vague recollection of years gone by or the garbage that is often spouted on the Franco forums, mostly by people who have no experience at all of the education system except what they heard from the equivalent of  'a man in the pub'. Did you know that people in Somerset were recently voted the happiest in the UK by an EU survey. Maybe you should come back for a visit.

With Bristol Uni (ranked 27th in the world and well above the TOP French university), Bath Uni, Southampton  and UWE all within easy reach, we don't need one do we now Norm?  Ella, this article mentions the Sorbonne. Might be interesting reading for you. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article7061130.ece

Well it's hardly surprising then is it?  You're not exactly in the boonies there! I wouldn't say that the M20 is representative of the pace of life in the UK. Come to Somerset where I live. Quiet, empty roads, lovely quality and pace of life, the happiest people in the UK according to a recent EU survey. Not dead like France but not manic like the big towns. All the benefits of French life but without all the hassles, they more or less speak English - and our cheese is better too. I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.

Ella, I went to the Sorbonne. To be frank with you, I wouldn't bother.  I'm sorry if this sounds a little harsh but you will get a far better education at a UK university and if you do a language course you will get to spend a year at University in France but with the support network of the  uni behind you. French university is very different to the UK. There is no pastoral care and your lecturers will do just that, lecture you. They will have no interest in how you are coping outside your classes and, without a good level of fluency in the language you may struggle.  The only advantage you will have is that university in France is cheap but then you do get what  you pay for. Good luck with whatever you decide to do and enjoy your year as an au pair.

It's available in more than 100 schools and colleges in the UK, both state and independent Over 100 schools is not actually that many. The International Baccalaureate has been categorically rejected by many of the top UK education establishments. The French Baccalaureate has absolutely nothing in common with the International baccalaureate. They are two totally different things and France does not actually recognise it.   But then the dumbing down to the lowest common denominator in the UK system and the constant testing and examining is also downright degrading as the results are worthless too Complete rubbish!  My children were tested far more in France that they are in the UK. You really shouldn't believe everything you read in the media.  For decades the same complaint has been levelled at just about every education system in the world, including France.  I think the emphasis in some subjects has shifted but does that make them 'dumbed down to the lowest common denominator'? I don't think so and I'm experiencing the UK education system first hand.   Yes but there is a higher level of Education that sits above Universities in France which are not included in those figures of which there are around 250. Universities in France until more recent times were often concidered the place that those who failed to get in to a Grand Ecole would go. Many of the Grandes Ecoles are included in the University rankings. ENS in Paris comes in top in France at 33. Cambridge, on the other hand, comes in first.  It should be noted that there are a number of different university rankings but France has only 3 Grandes Ecoles in the top 200.      

We also moved back to the UK (about a year ago now) and have no regrets at all.We are still in a rural area but close to a small town. I love all the opportunities that are on offer here and we've thrown ourselves into all the things we couldn't do for the last 6 years. We have the added advantage of light traffic and quiet roads, excellent pubs, fabulous restaurants of all types and the children go to a fantastic school, which is a huge relief after the French system, which I personally think is dreadful.  We had a great time in France and have no regrets about that either. I know loads of people who have moved back for a variety of reasons, mainly families though. I agree with Sprogster too that the media spent a disproportionate amount of time selling 'the dream' in France and for many, it simply wasn't a reality. I've noticed a huge drop in the number of programmes about France and there seems to be more about Spain, Portugal and Italy. Maybe France has just gone out of fashion a bit too.

Woolybanana, the important word here is 'global' league tables not European ones so perhaps you need to wipe that pigs excreta off your glasses and read things properly. UK universities take, on average, 16% of their student body from overseas leaving plenty of space for British students. It's an income generator for them and a much needed one in the current climate. In an ideal world university education would be free but it's far from being an ideal one.  We have been very lucky to enjoy free university education for so long and were one of the few countries in the world that had them. I think people should just stop moaning about fees and just get on with it. They are here to stay. If the media weren't like a dog with a bone about the whole thing it would probably have passed into insignificance by now.  My friends in the US, Canada and Australia don't bat an eyelid about student loans as it's all they've known and couldn't believe that I didn't have to take out loans to go to university.  I wonder if it's any coincidence that the majority of top universities are not free.

The best thing to do is find the courses you are interested in then contact the Universitie/colleges directly as they all have different criteria for the French Bac

Not according to any of the global university rankings. The top university in Belgium barely makes it into the top 100 compared to the UK which has around 18. Might be cheaper but you get what you pay for. Belgian Universities rate even worse than French ones and they are pretty awful.

Just curious really. On many of the forums the subject of returning to the UK for university has cropped up but I'm wondering how many actually managed to get a place.  Some people have said in the past that it is easier for British students in France to get places as they get their Bac results earlier than the A Level results come out.

[quote user="Gluestick"] Well, if pedantry is your bag, factually, you ought properly to award its original title: The Anglo-Persion Oil Company: which was the the true precursor of British Petroleum. NIOC (National Iranian Oil Corporation) was not created until 1948: and that was the first time the word "Iranian" appeared. [/quote]   As pedantry is my bag, can I point out that it's the National Iranian Oil Company not Corporation. I was born in an NIOC hospital in Iran and that's what it says on my birth certificate. Also, the word 'Iranian' appeared as far back as 1938 when the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was re-named the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company before it became the NIOC in 1948.  Also, the link you posted is incorrect because the NIOC never 'became BP', in fact the NIOC is still going and is the second largest oil company in the world after ARAMCO. After the coup against Moussadegh in 1954 it was taken over by a consortium of  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company/US/French/Dutch companies and it was the AIOC not the NIOC that became British Petroleum in 1954.  My father was on secondment from BP to the NIOC.    

[quote user="chessie"]Let them wear their 'black shrouds' in their homes if they feel so strongly.     But they are in the West, where such attire is seen as a rejection of the western way of life - for all the good and bad that goes with it. [/quote] According to research done in France, the majority of women who wear the niqab/burkha are French converts to Islam, they are also well-educated, mainly Bac+3

You're surely not suggesting they should have come in and shaken hands or kissed the lady behind the bar. She'd have been very offended.  So they didn't speak any French, so half the British people that live in France don't. When I go to my local cafe I always kiss the lady behind the counter and she always brings me my coffee to the table, and I live in the UK. This episode is hardly representative of  'la difference' I would have though!