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hi, welcome to France! I can tell you from experience that a french local school will do wonders for your social contacts and your children will most probably speak french within a few weeks. I highly recommend the village schools, especially given the age of your children. enjoy your stay!

hi, my experiences are so different from what I read here! My boys are 9 and 10, we moved to france when they were 2 and 3, so they've always been in the french schoolsystem. I agree, it's rigid, but my boys thrive on it. They love going to school and 'work' (their words). Now and then they come across a teacher that's hard work, but they realize that will happen in 'real' life as well, so they deal with it. I grew up in belgium, where the system is similar. The one flaw I can see is that the system is geared toward the 'middle'. If your child is exceptionally bright or very very slow, the french system doesn't do much for you. In this case, I'm extremely pleased with our local village school and the quqlity of teaching.

hi, I could use some help being pointed in the right direction. We live in the Limousin (87), boys are 9 and 10. They have never lived in england - father is english, I'm Belgian. We speak English at home. Can you recommend some reading and/or exercises or other stuff to do? Thanks!

My son is 10 and is in CM2. he will go to collège next year. Dropping back a year or reboubler as they call it is not as bad as it sounds - in my opinion it's better to stay behind a year at this age than not being able to keep up later on.

IKEA do a very stylish one that you can leave out all year round. Not cheap (89 euro), cushions optional, but well worth it!

you could try www.opah.fr