how and when?

[userdav]

Hi all

We are moving over to the Limousin in a few weeks although we haven't bought or even found our property yet?

We are intending to send our children aged 6 and 9 to a local French school and have heard several conflicting opinions on how and when you can do this.
Fisrtly we heard that there would be no problem just take them along and register them and they can start but on the other hand we also heard that you must pre register them and the can only start at certain times of the year. If the latter is the case what are the rules and regs on how long a child can be outside of an education system? We are keen to get them started as soon as possible.
Also after reading through a thread entitled 'for what its worth' I have begun to worry that I will not be able to get all the things required in time.
Also in regards to Benefits what do you do if like us you move but dont have an income only savings untill work starts. We wont be able to provide previous years income in France if we have only just arrived.

Will we infact be able to register for anything at all ie schools and child benefit if we dont have a perminant address for the first few months??

Sorry for the length of this post!

please help

Sarah

[les chenauds]

Friends of ours, Angela and Jimmy have 3 children in school over here. They arrived last March and noiw live here permanently. We are going to lunch with them next saturday and if you would like me to I will ask if you could ring or email them as they have direct 'hands on' experience particularly with our local schools.

[Janey]

Sarah, we registered all of our kids out of school times and didn,t have any problems.

[Bethan]

Hi
Our 9 year old started after Easter hols. We told the school we were coming in March when we signed for the house and it wasn't a problem. We equipped her with the usual colouring pens, biros (different colours), exercise book, and a folder, and made it up as we needed it. It wasn't a problem. The main problem I found was that the school was not pro-active in telling us about holdiays or strike days - we had to find out a lot ourselves. You will have to get them registered at the Mairie, and depending on where you live you may want them to be picked up 'rammassage', and brought home. It's a free service. Our daughter is picked up at 8.20am and dropped home at the door at 5pm, by a woman who ferries all the neighbouring kids in an estate car. Some areas run a mini bus. It's good to get the kids in school asap, and yours are at the right age to make the transition. Where in the Limousin are you moving to?
Good luck
Bethan