Secondary education in South-West France

[lisab]

We have been living in Paris for 5 1/2 years now, having relocated due my husband's job. We are now considering moving to the South west, possibly around Bordeaux, as proximity to an airport offering a decent range of destinations would continue to be important for his work. I am self-employed.

Our 2 sons are 8 and 11 now, both bilingual.

My question concerns secondary education. As we only have experience of Parisian schools so far, I would appreciate other's opinions regarding the need to be near a reasonable-sized town. Are we unnecessarily restricting ourselves to looking at towns on the outskirts of Bordeaux? What about transport issues? i.e. is there any?!

Having decided that the move is a good thing, we now need to decide where, and apart from an airport, schooling is the number one issue. Any thoughts please?

Many thanks.

[Richardbk]

I can't comment on particular schools, but we recently moved temporarily from Ile de France (77) to the Tarn(81). Even through previously we were in a quite rural area, the big difference we have noticed out in the provinces is how spread out everything is. Towns that seem close on the map can be hours away due to small winding roads and slow RNs.  Trips to large hypermarkets and Centre Commericals, and schools that use to take 20mins, now take 45-60mins. This can make a big difference if your having to ferry kids back and forth as most colleges are now located in the towns. Even taking the bus your'll kids will probably have to be up at before 6h30 and not be back home to 18h30+ in the evening. Wherever your going to live it is therefore wise to check out the journey times during the rush hour(not during the holiday period) and check the Mairie/School  for school bus/train schedules.

regs
Richard