If you've travelled alot then get her into a private international school. Mougins is especially well known on the cote d'Azur - See these links - http://www.cad.fr/fr/te/te002.htm I have a thirteen year old and we moved back to the UK after eight years in Northern france, two years being at a french bilingual school in Rennes. She started at Maternelle aged 2. I was not that enthralled with the prospect of her forthcoming secondary education in French state school. France I found was not a very broad minded country and although your daughter will make friends and be happy within it, the education is pretty victorian and the french very fixed in their opinions. Please bear in mind that there is a big unemployment situation in France and even if your daughter/son works really hard and does well there won't be much for her to come out to unless the government changes dramatically very soon. There were recent articles in The Guardian that there are more than 300,000 young people who have come to live in London to find work and are very happy to not be tied up with all the red tape that goes with finding careers and employment. Since arriving back in the UK and found a state school in West Sussex for my daughter I can say that education in the UK is so lively and engaging in comparison. My daughter played the violin and was taught on her own from the age of five and it was looked on as an extra curricular activity. There was no junior orchestra, no junior performances even at the conservatoire in Rennes. Since back in the UK she is a member of two junior string orchestras, and has individual and group tuition for one hour a week. I am overwhelmed with all the activities she could get involved in. I would say realistically it takes children about a year to adapt with the language change. Your five year old will probably be OK. Your 10 year old would find it harder. Please contact me if you would like to chat about our experiences. Marseilles is a city and all could be different but I would not go into french state education, even the private catholic option (not expensive), The french I found went for the Catholic prive option when they had unruly children and were looking for a stricter approach. there are no other alternatives other than private international. I hope this helps. Dyson3