Janine

Thanks for the advice about the chemical factory, i have done a bit more research and found out about the explosion! "As we leave Toulouse we see traces of the chemical factory explosion from a year ago. Windows are still boarded up in some apartments and a huge expanse of devastated land stretches away to the distance." A quote from Day 7 of a cycling blog (http://earlybirds.users.btopenworld.com/2002Part1.htm) I think we may have to look again about where we are going to be based. Thanks for your advice :-)  

My family and i are seriously concidering making a permament move to France this summer and are really interested in moving to somewhere close to Saint-Gaudens. We like the look of this area and need to be able to comute into Toulose. Firstly my partner and i are visting in March from 8th - 11th and are looking for resonably priced b&b type accomadation, hopefully run by Brithish people that can give us some advice while we are there. Does anyone know of anywhere? Secondly any info (pros and cons) about living in the area would be great. I have two children (9 and 12), i have posted on the education section and have received lots of useful info on schooling in general in France but does anyone have any specific info schools in or near Saint-Gaudens specifically?

Thanks everyone for the advice and your opinions, it has given me plenty to consider. I am going to start us all off with some intensive French lessons now and see how we get on over the next three months. I know its not long but it will at least it will hopefully reassure me if we start making some good progress or highlight any significant language problems if we don’t progress very well. After this point I will have to consider putting our house here in the uk on the market. We have until the autumn term before the children will need to start a new school so hopefully they should know the basics of the language before then. We are looking for a permanent move, hopefully for a better quality of life! I'm sure that I will be making many posts on this forum over the coming months and all advice is greatly received. Does anyone know the timescales/process involved with registering with a local school? We are coming out to France early March, do we need to register then or do we have to wait until we are actually living in France?

Hi, I am considering a permanent move from the UK to the Midi-Pyrenees (Saint-Gaudens area) this summer with a 10 and 13 year old.  I will be working in Toulouse for the same company I work for here in the UK but want to feel that the children will be happy with the move in the long term. My 13 year old will be just 13 this summer and is my main concern; she likes school but is not particularly academic.  She is very keen on the idea of moving and has shown lots of interest in learning French for the fist time in her life.  I am worried that she would not pass any entry exams for schools and that this could cause her distress and us difficulty in finding her a school. My 10 year old will also be just 10 and he is very academic so hopefully will not have problems, his main concern is finding a football club that he can join.  Does anyone know if they play much football in the area or generally in schools?  Please any advice on local schools, international schools in the area would be greatly appreciated.  We are going to visit the area in early March and would like to feel confident about the schooling arrangements by the time we return so we get our house here in the UK on the market in anticipation of buying a property in France. Thanks in advance.