Emma

Our children started the local village school in September of last year.  At the time there were 5 other english children in a school of only 55 pupils.  The teachers unfortunately used this to their advantage and plonked our children next to their english classmates which, although it made life easier for them, my 5 year old daughter who is very lazy, didn't learn any french until I asked the teacher to move her away, at which point her french improved dramatically.  In hindsight I would have preferred for them to be the only english children as at the start they formed a little click at playtimes, which I'm sure didn't endear them to the other children.  There are now only 4 english children there, as one family left, and both my kids have close french friends now and can join in the banter with the others.   However, be prepared for plenty of tears all round, and the horrendous guilt you will feel for the first few weeks (possibly months), but stick with it, both children now come out of school all smiles, are doing really well in class, and more importantly, have lots of friends.   I would agree with the idea of teaching them to ask how to go to the toilet.  Before my children started at school, the teacher said it's a good idea to teach them general day to day stuff, like they have hurt themselves, they don't understand, words for classroom tools, pencil, book etc.  It's not much but gives them a bit of confidence if they need help.   Also some knowledge of french on your part is a major advantage.  You can help them with their homework and explain anything to them they haven't understood.  After a short time, my kids were coming home asking what something their teacher had said means.  If you show some confidence with the language they hopefully will too and won't be so embarassed talking in french if they see you doing it as well.   Obviously, there are other issues with twins which are probably best discussed with teachers.  Best to visit a few schools and assess, if you can, what their attitudes are.  There are pros and cons to going to small village schools or larger ones in the towns, I'm sure everyone has a different opinion, often depending on the individual child.   Whatever you decide, best of luck.

I'm looking for a good cattery in the Mayenne region, we live close to Lassay Les Chateaux/Mayenne town.  We have used a really good one before near Ferte Mace but it was very expensive for 2 cats especially as we will be away for nearly 3 weeks.   Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks

We moved to France just as my daughter finished reception in the UK.  I have continued to work through the Oxford Reading Tree books, with the characters Biff, Kipper and Chip, which eventually evolves into the Magic Key stories.  I have found these to be really good, lots of word repetition and short but entertaining stories which my daughter loves.  She is always keen to read them and we read one together each night at bedtime. There are word lists on the back of each book of words to be practised, these can be made into flash cards.   My son followed the same series of books and was eventually able to enjoy the magic key books reading alone.   I haven't found that my daughter isn't confused by reading in 2 different languages and in fact I feel that practising reading in either language seems to be of benefit all round.   You can buy the books on Amazon or there are loads available on ebay.   Hope this helps.

Oh thank you, hopefully that should be easy enough!!!

Thanks everyone for your input.  I have spoken to everyone possible at this end, Newcastle, Inland revenue etc.  We are waiting on our letters proving our non entitlement to E106 cover and will then contact CPAM.  Thanks very much for the english speaking helpline number, I will certainly give them a call as our situation is a little complicated.    I spoke to a healthcare insurance broker in the UK who assured me that all we need to do is get private health cover but this seems contrary to advice I have read in threads on this site, very confusing!   You mention that we will have to provide them with a french tax reference number, if neither of us is working in France do we still need one, and if so how do we get one?        

Can anyone offer any advice on our situation.   We are moving to the Mayenne region and intend to stay for 12 - 18 months with our 2 children.  I have been told I cannot get an E106 as I have been a stay at home mum for the last 5 years and therefore do not meet the criteria.  My husband works for the offshore industry in West Africa which he will continue to do once we move.  He has continued to pay his national insurance contributions whilst working away but is still not entitled to an E106 either as he doesn't work in the UK.    Are we right in assuming that we will not be covered by the french system at all and will have to get full private healthcare cover?  If we do that, do we still have to register with CPAM?   Does anyone know of any good insurers, and are we better to wait and arrange this in France or go out there already prepared.?    

Thanks Naps, that's another job to cross off my list!

We are shortly moving from the UK and have been asked by our local school in Champeon for a certificate of our childrens' vaccinations. Does anyone know if the red book this is all recorded in now is sufficient or is there some kind of official form we need to get hold of?

Thank you for your answer, unfortunately goes back to the problem of not being able to get insurance from a french insurer as we would have british plates, and no UK insurer is interested for longer than 90 days as I am well under 50 so can't look to Saga.  Looks like there's no getting away from it and we'll have to go through the export process.   Thanks for your help anyway Sunday Driver

We are planning to move to our house in the Mayenne and intend to stay there for a year before returning to the UK.  What is our position as regards our car number plates, road tax and insurance?   In view of the relatively short time we will be here it would be easier to keep our UK plates and keep the road tax up to date.  However, would a french insurance company cover us or indeed are there any UK insurers that would offer cover for this kind of period?

Sorry, another non-technical person here.  We are moving out to our house in the Mayenne soon and there is no dish there at the moment.  Put simply, if we were to subscribe to Sky here in the UK, and take out the supplied dish, box and our UK tv, would we have everything we need to get up and running? Thanks

Hi godwinsj Thanks for your reply, must say I've taken the time to read all the education related threads on this site and feel confused and concerned to say the least.  We were keen to enrol our children at the small village school in Champeon as it is the closest and we had been advised that a smaller school would be much easier for them to cope with and hopefully the teachers would have a bit more time for them.  I guess that all we can do is visit several schools in the area when we are out there in April and try and get some feeling of them for ourselves.   What started out as a wonderful idea giving our children the fantastic opportunity of being bi-lingual whilst ducking out of the rat race has turned a little sour although we are of course adult and single minded enough to make up our own minds.  I think the best way really is to suck it and see and make our move on a temporary basis until we can see how it will all pan out.   Thanks anyway for your comments  

We are thinking of moving into our holiday home in Champeon (nr. Lassay), on a permanent basis.  We have two children aged 8 and 5, any comments/suggestions/advice on english speaking children settling into french schools, in particular schools in this area. Many thanks