Katieb Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Please could someone inform us of the correct proceedure to enrol our daughter (4yrs) in the local ecole maternelle. Do we first visit the mayor or the school? We are moving over next week and would ideally like our daughter to start school in the September - how likely is that they will have vacancies and would she attend every day of the week or just days that we select (like her nursery in UK)?We intend to make this top of our list upon arrival in dept 72 but fear we should have tried to arrange something before leaving UK.ThankyouKate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 HelloFear not, however I would imagine 99% of the schools would have broken up by now so you will not be able to visit them and speak to the Heads etc. You can visit the Mairie and they will give you some forms (very basic) to fill in. All you need is Birth Cert preferably a full one which states the name of both parents too and proof of address x 2. It is wise to have a health book, the UK red one and ensure that your child has had the BCG (TB) jab as this is usually a necessity within schools. You can speak to the head at the beginning of the next term and usually there should not be a problem. The Mairie will have signalled a potential problem prior to that I believe.You do not have to send your child all day either you can choose when you wish to send your child. My advice is just start with the mornings and maybe introduce the canteen at a later date depending on how your child is settling in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naps Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Hi - we just registered our daughter a couple of weeks ago, and the schools are now broke up for the holidays. Here in Poitou Charente, they return on September 2nd which will be her starting date.Our experience was different, and it may be that yours too differs, so for information...We phoned the local school and made an appointment to meet the head. She took a note of our daughter's name, date of birth, our names and address (we provided no proof of any of these). She asked if we'd be bringing our daughter or if we'd like to use the school's transport, asked if our daughter would stay for lunch, or go home and asked who would be collecting her from school. She then showed us around the school and finished off with - see you on September 2nd.That was it.No contact with the mayor, no birth certificate, proof of address, vaccinations or anything.Finally, although our little girl won't be 4 years old until October (approx. 6 weeks after starting school) she's expected to go full time from 9am to 4:30pm all week expect Wednesday when she'll be finishing at lunchtime like the rest of the school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cary Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 were in area 22 and we registered our children with the school also, one of which is just 4. Just wanted proof of vaccinations, now 6 months later they have just reminded us that our children all need the BCG vaccine as they are given this at birth here so we need to get that done. At our school they prefer the younger children to come home for lunch and for the 1st 4 weeks our youngest only went mornings to get accustomed to the different schooling as well as in the UK she was so used to wandering around doing what she wanted, here they sit the children down and do more with them. We registered them on our arrival and they started school the following week. All alot easier than i expected actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callmebubbles Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 We contacted the mairie & filled in a simple form and then the school, visited the school on the friday and my daughter started on the monday. She too only attended mornings as she speaks no French and found it a bit daunting, but from Sept will be at Primaire where she must attend all day..Just to reassure you - my little girl is possibly the shyest child there ever was, yet after a day or so had friends running over to her and kissing her on both cheeks when she arrived at school before taking her hand and leading her off to class...Children don't need language to communicate, play is a universal bond! (And my daughter assures me that all the children at her school are going to learn English anyway!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naps Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Decision made - I'm going to ask for her only to attend mornings when she initially starts, then see how it goes. I know I'll regret it when she's driving me up the wall on the afternoons at home - but I already feel happier now that I've decided against full days. Let's just hope the school agree to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Naps, they can only insist that she goes all day from the September of the year she is six, so that will be from what you have said will be Sept 2007. That is when official school start. They can't insist in maternelle at all.Really they should have asked you for the record of her jabs and should do when school starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katieb Posted July 7, 2005 Author Share Posted July 7, 2005 Thankyou ladies for those reassuring replies - i'll let you know next week our experiences! Let's hope they have vacancies as i have previously read on this forum that one particular school was full for that year as there was a baby boom in 2000 (my daughter's year of birth too).ThanksKate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emma5 Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 i have also just registered my 3 year old (bday in june) to start on the 2nd september, i was asked to provide my red book as proof of jabs, a birth certificate plus proof of our address, i did not go to see the mayor just went straight to the school, however like naps, i was told my little one must go full time apart from wednesdays. A friend who started her 3 year old in february has had the flexibility to decide on a few mornings a week upping it to 4 mornings week, to then upping it to full time, i have to say teamadeup, you have set my mind at rest and i might consider asking in september for different hours, but i do have to say at the back of mind will i be the only mum to do this and will all the french mums be happy with the hours, i dont want to be the difficult english mum, plus will i affect my little ones education by pulling her out for afternoons, its hard being a 1st time mum in a foreign country sometimes. hey ho something to think about!!!!! Emma (pons) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 emma5, only when your child starts proper school can the school 'insist' that they go all day every day. That will be from Sept 2008 if your child was 3 in June. Your maternelle can ask, they really can't tell you what to do, ecole maternelle is not oblitory. You just do what suits you and your family. You can go on holiday when you want too. I always used to be polite and say when my child wouldn't be there, ie not on afternoons for the first year for my three year old and if we were going away and even if the kids were ill, but this was simply politesse on my part. Also I was always willing to help out whenever the school wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 we had to register with the mairie for the canton (in the town where the school is) for the school and the canteen, then with the commune mairie for the school transport.The mairie organised us to visit the school and meet the head, and the only problem was that we had to wait until Spetember as they had no more places available!We were advised to start our 3 yr-old with the transport from the 1st day, and to follow the bus to school to see her in. Same procedure on return - see her onto the bus then follow it home in the car!Our local Ecole maternelle is open mon, tue, thur & fri from 9-12 and 1.15 - 4.15, and they go back on the 30th August.hoverfrog87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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