for those of you with toddlers in northern France

[fredly]

We're moving to France next year so that our dd can start maternelle in Sept. We're looking for a bilingual one in the Lille area. Can anyone recommend one ?

[lummox]

hi there,

we're about an hour or so west of Lille so don't know of any myself, but I know someone who teaches English and French at the university there, so will ask whether she knows of anything.

[fredly]

thanks

[fredly]

.

[Marina]

Have just enjoyed a great holiday an hour east of Lille, love Le Nord.
I'd hazard a guess that Marcq en Baroeil might be a good starting point fredly

[lummox]

sorry - meant to post earlier. i have drawn a blank i'm afraid. i'm not too hopeful that you will find anyone else here - i've tried a meet up thread and got lots of folk in other parts of france but no-one in Nord/Pas de Calais.

there are a couple of expat-type webistes that might be worth a look. www.expatica.com has a bulletin board section and www.frech-entree.com has quite a lot of education stuff.

good luck.

[malodorantemelly]

Hi fredly,

We moved to france last sept, just in time for our kids to start school. We have 4 kids, ds1 started in cp he is 6, and dd goes to maternelle. Both only spoke about 20 words of french, and now both are doing really well. They both go to the local schools to where we live, and it is just a thought, maybe your dd would be ok doing the same. It is by far the best way for them to learn french, and you will find that at least one of the teachers will probably speak fluent english if you or she gets stuck. I won't pretend it is easy, but it is a great way to get stuck in to the french way of life!!

International schools tend to be a bit of a drive from where you live as they are few and far between. Also, we love having ds1's and dd1's friends to visit, as they all live so close. Will be invaluable for the 9 week summer holidays which are looming.

[fredly]

Sorry I should have made myself a bit clearer . My dd is already bilingual as I'm French and her dad's English. I don't want her to loose her English when we move to France, and since it will be her second language there is a risk of that. So we're looking for a school where she can be taught the national curriculum in both languages.

lummox - thanks for the links, will look into them.

malodorantemelly - where do you live?

[malodorantemelly]

oops -sorry!

Well she already has a head start then!!

We are about 20 mins west of La Rochelle at the moment, and love it here.

[MuminLilleFrance]

Hi there fredly,

How did you get on - did you find a school, I am not quite a mum yet due in Dec, but will be facing these problems in the future. I am English and my partner is French.

Have you found any other English families in Lille?

Thanks

[SSSandy]

bilingual nursery

Well there's this one but I have no idea if it is any good or how intensive the English component is.

[PizPizPiz]

Thanks for the replies. We haven't made much progress on that front I'm afraid. There's even a possibility that we might move to the Grenoble area instead. And the other news is that I'm pg so the move might be delayed.

SSSandy - this is the school we've selected so far, it's got a very good reputation.

MuminLille - as well as the jeannine manuel school there's the Association Montessori in Douai that runs a bilingual maternelle, their website is still under construction but you can ring them if need be

assocMontessori