Vaccinations & Insurance

[junebaby]

Hi there, not sure if this should be here or in health but .....

Someone has mentioned to me that our daughter may need to be vaccinated for TB before she can start school in France - is this correct?  The last vaccinations she had were her pre-school jabs when she was 4.

Also, I've heard that we have to take out some kind of insurance for her whilst she's at school? Can anyone shed any light on this as the whole insurance / healthcare thing is totally confusing me!?

Thanks

Vicki

[Panda]

Hello Vicki

I think the requirement for the jab varies between departments (or even schools), it is required here in the Charente and in the Vienne and we had it done soon after arriving, it's a good idea to go along to the doctor and have him check you are up to date with all vacinations as they differ in timing here, my son had to have a couple.  You also need assurance scholaire which you can get from whom ever provided your house insurance or the school usually has one you can join, the bank, lots of options but you need to take a copy of the certificate along to the shcool when registering.  It's quite cheap around 20 euro's I think for the year.

Good luck with it

Panda

[Sola]

Just a quick word of advice when taking out the school insurance...or any top up insurance.....consider sticking with the same company for all your insurance needs. For example we use the same company for our health top up, home insurance, and scolaire insurance...that way should the unthinkable happen you will be covered....i.e. as it's the same company  if you need to make a claim you won't be passed around all the insurance companies with each one passing the buck.

Insurance isn't exactly the same as in the Uk. As an example our house/contents cover even covers a "nanny" staying at your home for 3 days in the event of an accident of the parent  and a cattery/kennels for a week (for the animals not the children!!). We also used the scolaire insurance for an unexpected hospital stay before our paperwork was sorted for the health system.....(would have sost us 400 euros if not!!)

Find a friendly agent who can explain to you how it works and what is covered.

Good luck

[Gemini_man]

Hi Vicki,

Assurance scolaire is a requirement and at the begining of the school year parents are asked to provide a certificate. One of the most popular companies for assurance scolaire and the one I use is M.A.E. They have branches nationwide or you can sign up online, it's very easy :-

Cahors branch details:   http://www.mae.fr/contact/departements.php?ID=46

Online link:   http://www.mae.fr/contrats/pi.htm

The basic scolaire assurance is 10,50€ which gives cover from beginning to end of the school year. They also offer additional cover if you wish. Once you insure with them they will send you pre-filled forms in the month before the rentrée every year - you just have to tick which assurance you want and return the form with your cheque - couldnt be easier [:)]

[Mistral]

My kids are covered by our standard insurance company. All they actually need for school (if I remember right) is responsabilité civile, which covers them if they cause an accident and I think that is in standard house insurance. I'm working from memory but I think that they only actually need insurance if they leave the school to do outside activities. But as others have said, it's easy to get and not expensive.

The obligatory vaccines are the same everywhere (this is a centralized state) Children must have had the DTP and the BCG, with up to date boosters for the DTP. Some schools check, others don't. The older the child is the less likely the school is to check because they assume that it will have been checked already.

Here's the blurb from the ministry website http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid4/de-la-maternelle-au-baccalaureat.html

Pour l'entrée à l'école élémentaire, les vaccinations obligatoires (sauf contre-indication médicale) sont :
- le BCG (vaccination contre la tuberculose). Si le test tuberculinique est négatif, la vaccination doit être refaite ;
- le DT-POLIO contre la diphtérie, le tétanos et la poliomyélite.
Les vaccinations contre la variole, la rubéole et la coqueluche ne sont pas obligatoires