Schools in Bordeaux - state or private for 9 & 11 year old

[elaine]

Hello

We are considering moving to Bordeaux in 2010 with our two girls, who will be 9 and 11 . I have been researching the International School of Bordeaux but would really like some feedback as it gets very mixed reviews on some of the websites, also has any one any experience of the catholic schools in Bordeaux -The Assumption School being one of them, is it difficult to get a place?( I do realise these schools also charge a small fee)

My plan would be to give the girls a year in a bilingual school and then try and them into a french school as soon as possible just so they would settle down and make some friends and learn french gradually......any comments would be appreciated!

Thank you

Elaine

[Kitty]

Welcome to the Forum, Elaine.

Take a look at the Education Section of the Forum, where you will see many threads that are appropriate to your situation.

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/206/ShowForum.aspx

I do suggest that you spend a couple of evenings reading them as you will find the posts illuminating, even those written some years ago.

From my part, I have educated a number of children in the Bordeaux area - in private French schools, state French schools and Bordeaux International School (which incidentally has an unfair press from a couple of disgruntled but vociferous people on the Internet).

If I were in your situation, I would place your children straight into a French school, especially if you intend to make a life in France.  If you wanted to return to the UK, an International School is ideal.  I know of mothers who have regretted that their children have lived in France without properly learning French because of being in an International School where they tend to speak a lot of English (as well as at home, of course).

You will read advice that I have posted on other threads.  In a French school, your children will take about a year to start to understand French and two years before they are truly conversational - so you might as well start as early as possible.  Also the younger they are, the better, in order to give them a fair crack at the French state exam - the Brevet - when they are 15 (a year earlier than in the UK).

Anyway, enjoy reading the threads and then please come back and let us know what you think, having absorbed the masses of information on this Forum!  Happy reading!

[elaine]

Hi Cathy

 

Thanks for your reply, I have been reading the education forum, some of it quite scary!

It would be better, as you say, to get the girls into a french school as quickly as possible, I find the websites for these schools quite difficult to get information from, thats why I'm sure many english parents go for international schools initally as it seems to be straight forward to apply.

What I would really  love to find out more about is french catholic private schools as Bordeaux has two good ones, are they difficult to get a place at, and if my girls have little or no french would they even be accepted!

Thanks

Elaine

[NormanH]

Catholics have no problem with taking your money, and schools are not selective in France.

The schools may however be full. Some popular ones were already oversubscribed in February in my town (Not Bordeaux).

Be careful not to import British prejudices into the private/public choice in France. The main advantage of the catholic schools is that there is less chance of a strike, but the quality of education is not necessarily better.

[Kitty]

Elaine

It is true that booking children into French schools from the UK is very difficult.  Most state schools do not have full time school secretaries and the head master/mistress often has a class of his/her own and so can normally only see you at the start or end of the day.

Private schools do seem to answer the telephone, which is why I enrolled my children into private schools before I arrived in France.

Access into schools by parents is resisted - they do not give you the hard sell.  It is a take it or leave it approach and you will not be shown around the school.  Open days (portes ouvertes) are at a set time of the year (Jan/Feb) and enrolments take place in the spring and not before.

I am pleased that my children have been in private schools.  The work ethic is good - the teachers do not generally go on strike, for example.  They cannot teach religious instruction but there is an underlying morality that I like.  All religions are welcome even though the schools have Catholic foundations (our family is not Catholic, for example).

Your children would be better if they started in September 2010 (or 2011) and so I would suggest that you make a point to coming to Bordeaux for as long as you can in the spring.  Check the dates of the porte ouvert of the school that you like and try to be in France then.  After that, you can get a meeting with the head but not on the day of the open day - sometimes it is a few weeks afterwards, which can be frustrating.

Take someone with you who speaks French.  Be prepared for the schools to say 'no' at first.  Three out of the four heads that I met said 'non' in the first 10 mins but after 30 mins decided that they would accept the child (each of mine went to different schools).  All went on to do well.

Have you thought about renting in Bordeaux for an extended period whilst you get their school places sorted out?

You can PM me if you want to know about individual schools.