We're moving with three children to Bourges in a few weeks

[Jen]

My husband was placed on assignment in Issoudun and we are thinking of finding a place in Bourges. We have three children (7, 9, and 11) and are looking for schools where they can learn French but also are taught some in English. None of us speak French yet but we are working on it.

We just found out a few days ago and will arrive by the end of this month. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to search the web but with such limited French I'm not having much luck. We are all very excited about the move! Thank you for your help!

[Kitty]

Hello Jen

Good luck with the move.  You have found a good forum that is very busy and full of people living in France who know what they are talking about.  I have found it invaluable.

Where is Bourges - what department is it in and what region?

I have four children who have been educated in France and England, the youngest being 7.  I am not sure why you might want your children taught in English as well as French.  I reckon that you may need to consider French schools (which are very good) and teach them in English yourself in the evening, weekends and on Wednesdays (younger children have this day off).  It would be interesting to hear whether others agree.

[Cassis]

Bourges is the capital of the Cher department, Cathy.  It has a lovely cathedral.

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Bourges04.jpg/220px-Bourges04.jpg[/img]

I doubt there are any schools there that teach in English, even though it is quite a big town.  But you could try trawling this website:

http://www.learn4good.com/great_schools/children_schools_france.htm

I tried searching the site for Bourges but it drew a blank.  You could try putting other towns like Chateauroux etc.

[Tourangelle]

Lucky you Jen, Bourges is a nice town, but as Cassis says, it is just a big town, if you want your children to have "international school" style education then you would have to go for a much bigger city (Lyon, Nice, Paris etc) non of which are an option with your husband's work.  If you put your children into local schools the English they will be taught will be very much of the "I have one brother and a cat" variety.  However, you are considering a town rather than a village so there should be something in place for children who arrive with little or no French.  I think you will find it difficult with no French, however, try your luck at the town hall (la mairie), failing that, go to your nearest school, (école primaire, primary school, or even as you have an 11 year old your local collège- secondary school from 11-15) and see if you can get one of the teachers to help you.  In a sense you are not arriving at the right moment, even though you will be there at the beginning of the year, because obviously teachers and so on will be very busy.  Just reading this through it sounds quite negative, but you just need to find one person who speaks English to get everything sorted.  Presumably your husband's company is going to give you some help?

Can I recommend an organisation that has nothing to do with tschools directly but is there to help people who arrive in a new town with everything they have to organise.  They are called AVF, association des villes de France.  I have looked them up in Bourges, and the address is Maison des Associations, 28 rue Gambon, 18000 Bourges.  To find out more about what AVF can do for you, check out www.avf.asso.fr click on the little flag in the right hand corner to get it in English.

[Jen]

Thank you so much for all the great information. I will go to AVF as soon as we arrive. The good thing is that all of my kids are really excited about the move and are looking forward to learning the language, the culture and making some new friends.

My husbands company does provide someone for when we arrive but we will be on our own shortly after. Any recommendations for hotels and areas within the town we should look at specifically to settle in?

Again thank you for all your help!