Schools in area 80 the Somme....is anyone out there already?

[frenchaddict]

Hi,

We hope to be moving to Picardie (near Abbeville) in approximately 3 - 4 months. Our children are aged; 14 boy / 12 girl / 10 boy and 4 girl. This is the first year at school for our little girl and our 14 year old has only 2 years left if he were staying in his UK school. We don't have any major worries about our other two children, apart from the 10yr old being shy. Our main worry is that the move to France might spoil our sons chances of getting decent grades in his final exams(languge being the main drawback) and hold back our youngest daughter learning the English language(reading/writing etc.) Does anyone have kids around the same ages and even in the same area? If so how did they cope with the move, what are the schools like in this area? All of our children have been having extra French lessons for the past year(through a home tutor with the La Jolie Ronde course). We didn't want them going to France without any knowledge of the language.

There is a tiny school in the village we are moving to. We think our two youngest children will be within the age range for this school but we're not sure. We hope they are, just so that they will at least have each other at the school, the same also goes for our eldest two.

We would love to hear from anyone in the Somme area and would welcome any advice on helping our children to settle in, not just with school but also socially and emotionally.

Sheila & Peter 

[Teamedup]

You say your son is 10, but it is the year he was born that would be the thing as to whether he went to the village school or not. Unless children have resat, all children born in 1994 will be starting secondary school in September. If he will be 11 later in 2005 then this is what he should be doing.

The four year old should attend ecole maternelle.

[frenchaddict]

Hi Teamedup,

My son is actually 10 tomorrow so going off what you say, he will be at the village school for at least his first year in France(much to his and my relief I might add!).

Thanks for the info.

I've also spoken to a friend of mine who teaches in junior school here in the UK and she's very kindly offered to get me some photocopies (I will of course be paying for the paper that's used) of the worksheets they use in her school. This way I can help my kids with their English studies along with one of the courses recommended on this site.

Would still love to hear from anyone who is already based in the Picardie region of France.

Sheila & Peter

[annie1]

Dear Sheila & Peter,

 

Have sent you a email.

 

regards

 

[Domp80]

Hi

Still early days for us - my three went to schools for two weeks last term and have been back at school for a week so far. They are in a private school in Rue.

We looked at the local village school and infact all three were enrolled initially. But they simply weren't equipped to take non French speakers although they were very helpful and would have given it a go. The school was split between three villages locally and each of my three children (ages 4, 5 and 9) would have been at a different one. Each class had 2 or three years in it and the teachers found that hard so really not sure how they would have coped with English kids as well !

So far, we are pleased with the private school (whose fees are nothing like UK private school fees) and they have already discussed with me various ideas on how to help our 9 year old. Inspite of the number of Brits in France, we are still a novelty at the school.

Please dont expect it to be easy though - there will be tears, lots of tlc as well as help with English grammar, learning to read in two languages for younger ones etc etc.

Good luck !