Berlioz

Thanks Deimos, I'm just about to leave Cambridgeshire, 14c, 100% humidity (Its raining AGAIN) and go to Toulouse which should be 19c and sunny by the time we arrive!

We may to have scale our ideas down from a large to a small chateau  

The web site of the International School in Toulouse is down at the moment, I phoned them. http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-education/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=96  details of International schools and links to Lycee with International Deps that do the Bac with International Option (some subjects taught in english) List of education Depts http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-education/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=99 I opened the french version, and also had the translated version open http://babelfish.altavista.com/  will translate French websites, not totally 100% but you can get the gist although some of the links don't work (so you need the original French site open too) Hope this helps

Thats interesting, is a a humid hot followed by thunder storms ? or a dry hot! I don't expect to find 25c in the winter, just no snow ,no endless drizzle/fog etc lasting for 6 months or so I expect we will drive along the major roads and see what areas look interesting/are reccomended.    

Thanks Patf, that is really helpful. I don't mind SOME rain as I want to have another organic Veg garden. I have done a bit more research and it seems that overall there is less rain in the late summer and Autumn also the temperature is 3-5 c hotter and there are on average 475 more hours of sunshine! It certainly is the endless drizzle lasting all day and keeping me indoors that I really hate and having to have the heating on until June...  We are visiting the Toulouse area and villages within school run distance of Colomiers next week. Does anyone have any reccomendations/ones to avoid?  

Thank you Peter, the weather link was just what I was looking for.  I have visited the Langudoc Pages many times, they are super, I had not seen that article though. So in case anyone else is interested here is the result of my excel homwork, I added Perpignan for an example of a Med climate. I hope the chart comes out Ok. The average temperature and hours of sunshine are better too!

We are going to visit the International School in Toulouse next week. Does anyone have children there? If so which are nice villages/towns which do not have a long  school run  every day? (a list of the not so nice useful too) We don't know the area at all well, I think the closest we have been is Castlenaudary and it was raining that day! At 16+ our daughter is  too old to go into the French system (even if they would take her) without seriously harming her education and her future University plans. All of the members comments have really helped point us in the right direction, thanks    

 Can anyone in the Toulouse area help?  We are hoping to relocate to southern France in Summer 2006.  We had hoped to be in the Herault (34) an area that we know quite well during all seasons, but cannot find an international school for our 16yo as she will not have  time to catch up in French enough to do the BAC with International option. (Education Forum lots of help here) the International School in Toulouse would seem to be an option. ***I have also posted this on the 'Looking' forum as not sure of the best posting place!******** One of our reasons for wanting to move south is that I have a medical condition that is almost totally better in a warm dry climate.  I've looked up lots of climate stats but realise that microclimates may exist or the stats may be a bit misleading as extremes in a year can alter the results.  We live in East Anglia which is actually quite a dry area rainfall wise but we have lots of days when mist/drizzle/damp changes in atmospheric pressure (even in so called summer)  and lack of any sun makes me feel like it is winter already!  http://www.windal.net/weather/ is one site that depressed me is it really that bad? (I contrasted London and Toulouse  If we can't sort out a suitable area we will have to wait until she has finished her A levels and gone to Uni in the UK before we move which would be hard on her younger sister (who we would like to enter the French system sooner rather than later) Any comments (positive or negative or even suggestions of different regions) welcome!

Can anyone in the Toulouse area help?  We are hoping to relocate to southern France in Summer 2006.  We had hoped to be in the Herault (34) an area that we know quite well during all seasons, but cannot find an international school for our 16yo as she will not have  time to catch up in French enough to do the BAC with International option. (Education Forum lots of help here) the International School in Toulouse would seem to be an option. One of our reasons for wanting to move south is that I have a medical condition that is almost totally better in a warm dry climate.  I've looked up lots of climate stats but realise that microclimates may exist or the stats may be a bit misleading as extremes in a year can alter the results.  We live in East Anglia which is actually quite a dry area rainfall wise but we have lots of days when mist/drizzle/damp changes in atmospheric pressure (even in so called summer)  and lack of any sun makes me feel like it is winter already!  http://www.windal.net/weather/ is one site that depressed me is it really that bad? (I contrasted London and Toulouse  If we can't sort out a suitable area we will have to wait until she has finished her A levels and gone to Uni in the UK before we move which would be hard on her younger sister (who we would like to enter the French system sooner rather than later) Any comments (positive or negative or even suggestions of different regions) welcome!

I am working my way through the links on http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-education/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=96 "In addition to the International Schools listed below you may also be interested to learn about the international sections within certain French lycées. There are 12 British sections and 7 American. In addition to teaching the French curriculum students are also taught to A level standard in English. This allows successful students to go on to study for the Option Internationale Baccalaureate (not the same thing as the International Baccalaureate). A full list of these lycées can be found at this site: www.ciep.fr/oib/listetab.htm  

Yes Val I have read your post re the poor English girl dumped into the Lycee. It is indeed lunacy.  If we cannot sort out the education issue then we simply will not move until she has finished her A levels and gone to University in GB, but then she will never feel that France is her home and her sister will be 13 and have to settle in alone.

Thank you for all for your answers.  The person Himself spoke to was from the Beziers contact for new arrivals listed in http://www.ac-montpellier.fr/casnav/nouveaux_arrivants/dispositif/documents/livret-francais.pdf It does say on page 7 that it is a condition of entry to speak enough French. I think we will investigate the diocese Catholic Lycee suggested by Tourangelle and perhaps try and visit/contact the recteur when we are back in Beziers in a couple of weeks time. We have also heard that it is possible to have her 'incribed' by interview BEFORE her 16th birthday in October provided she is 'lodging' in the area and they would have to take her after 16. Does anyone have any experience of this?  I assume that it is instead of Brevet? It all sounds a bit iffy to me. Home schooling isn't really an option, she would feel very isolated and un motivated on her own. Kathy, No I did not know that State Boarding Schools existed, I have found the main web site and will spend some time looking into the individual schools and our budget. Thanks everyone, plenty of homework for me over the weekend!

Hello All - I am new to the forum. I have read with interest lots of the Education Forum postings in particular ones relating to integrating older children into the French system but cannot find an answer to our particular problem.  We have two daughters who will be 16 and 11 this October.We are hoping to move to Herault (34) next summer for work and health related reasons and know the area quite well.My husband lived for many years in France and is fluent in the language. We had decided to wait until our 16yo daughter had taken her GCSEs next June. She is an A student in French but we do not kid ourselves that this is enough for Lycee. Today himself telephoned 'Acceuil des Eleves non-francophones nouvellement arrives en France' and was told that 11 year-old, not a problem.  Cours de rattrappage available (catch-up lessons) in French language at whatever college we want to send her to. BUT 16 y-o big problem! Policy is not to 'scholarise' newly-arrived non-French-speaking kids after their 16th birthday.  They suggested that the same was true everywhere. We question this...I assume this is because education is only compulsory until 16.? So is our only option to look for state funded private (Catholic) schooling? Choose another Dept Aude (11) or Gard (30)?We had planned to base our house hunting criteria around the schooling issues.Any help/info/ideas gratefully appreciated