Where to live in Paris (II) & schools

[rosietoes]

Almost a year behind hellolou, last poster on this topic, we also just got news DH will be transferred to Paris! V excited! Can't wait! we'll be there by summer.

Want to live in central Paris. 8eme/17eme or 15eme/7eme? DH would like to walk/ride velibre to work in 8eme. I have MS so has to be easily walkable to school.
Prefer bilingual school. Anglophone family, DD (4y) speaks a bit of French, but want her to learn to read/write, etc in English so she won't be behind on eventual return.

Applying to EAB & EABJM, (previous posts extremely helpful! love MN!) but just joined 'Message Paris' & read a mum at EAB has to drop 4 yo at school gate & to ask teacher a question must write a note. Seems very formal.

Wonder if any mums at these schools can offer any insight/advice?

[frakkinaround]

Was a nanny for a child at EABJM. Really lovely school, quite academic though, lived in the 7th by Breteuil so 2 good playgrounds and the Champs de Mars close by, near the American library so lots of English speakers around. We were at the Suffren branch and could always pop in to see the teacher but children were usually dropped at the gate and played outside. Don't know anything about the Dupleix branch. The best way to communicate was in the communication book though and if anyone else was picking up/you'd arranged a playdate you just popped it in there. I don't think my charge was taught at school to read or write in maternelle because the French don't tackle that until CP, year 2, so I'm not entirely sure when doing it in English was introduced at school. I know he could do both before being formally taught IYSWIM. Also, when is your DDs birthday because in France the cutoff goes from Jan to Dec not Sept to August as in the UK. How long will you be there for? Anglophone children at EABJM move from Suffren or Dupleix for CE2, year 4, so if you'll be there that long you might need to pick your housing v carefully or be prepared to move.

The 15th is a big place, as is the 7th really. Where is your DHs office in the 8th as that will probably affect your decision greatly. FWIW I used to walk to church in the 8th (st michaels, highly recommend to meet English speakers) from near metro Duroc and it was perfectly doable.

Assume you're looking at EAB Monceau? You need bonsoir and teafortwo for that.

[rosietoes]

Thanks, frakkinaround!

A-a-ges ago I lived with host family (20 years ago!) in 7eme just off ave de Saxe (very BCBG) not sure if it's still like that. Lots of the old ladies living there probably aren't living anymore
I went to St Michaels then, ah memories! Took the metro tho.
Wondered if 15eme was less carre Hermes but close enough to school?

Wondered about personalities of areas.
Last summer DH was there for just a few months. We explored various quartiers, but it was summer, tumbleweeds blowing down street in August. Most shops closed and no one around.
Lived in 16eme. Section we lived in was unlike any others I'd seen in Paris, extremely residential, hardly any little shops, v quiet, building full of older face-lifted folks. DO NOT use mainlift for pushchair & groceries, use service list.
Lady below us complained to no end about DD's footsteps on parquet floor. Had to teach her to 'walk like a butterfly'. Amusing when you are there for a short time, but don't want to live there long term.

Discovered Ranelagh area as we were leaving! But that's too far away from DH work & schools I think.

Don't know 8/17 Monceau area at all really. DH will work near Havre-Caumartin. But he's a good cyclist

[frakkinaround]

7th still pretty BCBG but being infiltrated by Americans. The 15th I find very different...more, I don't know, middle class?! I don't want to say normal but there's definitely something more down to earth about it. In some areas it's like a shabbier version of the 16th and very residential.

My favourite bakery was on Ave de Saxe.

[rosietoes]

Glad you said that! We walked around rue Commerce one day and it seems much more 'normal' and down to earth than 16eme. Children were wearing baby Dior in the sandpit.

[rosietoes]

Ooh, just read that post--meant baby Dior in 16eme sand pit not rue Commerce!

[FriskyBivalves]

As another may-be-moving-to-Paris MMer could I possibly join your angsty school/housing thread? We will hear whether our move is on at the end of feb so have been researching areas just in case. I think EAB monceau sounds enticing for dd and also like the sound of the 8th - if not the rents involved! But don't know Paris at all so I'm a little intimidated by it all.

[rosietoes]

Snap, Frisky!

Nice to have a companion in angst!

How old is DD?

[Bonsoir]

Accommodation is a bit cheaper in the 17th than the 8th (where competition from office rents is high), though perhaps not in the very immediate vicinity of the Parc Monceau, which is all very expensive, large and recherché. 17th is generally more residential and has better family infrastructure, IMO. Also great public transport.

7th, as frakkin quite rightly says, is old Catholic and American/rich foreigners. I think the 15th is very dull and prefer the 9th or the 11th for middle-class areas - much more vibrant and youthful than the 15th.

[Bonsoir]

If your DH is going to work at Havre Caumartin you would be very wise to look at accommodation near line 3 of the metro between Porte de Champerret and Villiers - lots of accommodation in that area, dead easy to get to EAB Monceau, good shopping. You won't need a car at all (unless you are planning to leave Paris a lot and go exploring France, but even then you could rent on a needs basis) which means you will have more money for nice accommodation.

[rosietoes]

Thanks for suggestion, Bonsoir!
Are you also BonsoirAnna? (referred to in hushed tones on all threads to do with Paris!)

DH was looking on rental sites for places near Ternes & Courcelles, but Villiers is better for metro.

I think Monceau is 1st choice. Closer to office & EABJM requires IQ tests. No idea where to get that done in London.

Been given names of parents at EaB Monceau but children are older (CM). They all said il faut telephoner la directrice immediatement! but I'm loathe to do that. Don't want to be a pain. (I've lived in England too long! I'm actually American so should be 2nd nature to be pushy!)

Is admissions that difficult? (gulp)

[Bonsoir]

Yes, I used to be BonsoirAnna and get referred to as Anna on here quite often!

EAB is not that hard to get into (unlike EABJM, which is academically much more competitive) but there is often a waiting list. Be pushy and very clear about what you want - the French expect it. American as opposed to British style self-expression is better suited to life in Paris.

[rosietoes]

Bonsoir, are your DCs at EaB?

[FriskyBivalves]

Hi Rosietoes

My dd is only 2 now (she would be nearly three when she went to EAB - if the move is on etc etc etc). So I don't have to be too preoccupied with the relative academic aspirations of the school; we're still slightly at the Play-Doh versus let's play with glitter stage. I'd made email enquiries of the UN school and been very unimpressed with the standard of reply (they didn't) so was very reassured to have good long chat with the lady who answered the phone at EAB and coped with my haphazard questioning with endless patience and good humour.

I think we will try to get away without a car in Paris (we used to be in Rome and just rented as and when we felt like getting away from the city).

Bonsoir or Frakkin, do you know of any other accommodation websites apart from seloger.fr that might have decent rental properties? We're going for unfurnished, ideally...I have visions of getting involved in an unseemly fracas with fellow MNers over desirable flats. We'd be looking for three bedrooms, RosieToes. Would we be, er, treading on your RosieToes?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I am in the 17th near Parc Monceau if you want to CAT me - but no use for any of the bilingual schools. Mine are at ASP.

[frakkinaround]

Angloinfo and Franglo will have lists and lists of letting agents. There is a magazine/paper which lists practically every rental property in Paris but I can't remember what it's called! It's something like 'a vendre, a louer' and they have a website too.

The UN place is not worth chasing. They had a job I considered applying for so I went for a nose around when I picked up the application form - wasn't impressed, didn't bother filling the form in. So on the basis of 'I wouldn't work there' I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's possible I saw it on a bad day but....

[rosietoes]

Thanks, Mrs S. Not sure how you CAT but will figure it out.

Frisky, hmm...yes, three bedrooms near Parc Monceau. yikes! we are living similar lives!

When would you be moving? Hopefully we'll arrive at different times and the unfurnished rental market will have replenished!

[Bonsoir]

Yes, my DD is at EAB Monceau, in grande section de maternelle, and has been there since the beginning of petite section. Please feel free to CAT me if you want a chat.

[Bonsoir]

If you want a pleasant three-bed rental in a nice area, IMVHO you need to talk to local rental agents and to read Le Figaro.

[rosietoes]

Frisky, if your daughter is young she'd probably get on well at a regular French maternelle, starts from age 3 (which is free). Need info from locals, but I think maternelle is mostly glueing, sticking, social development, etc. anyway.

Don't know how hard it is to get kids in. Thought it was if you live there you get a place, but saw notice on several last summer that you needed to apply to Mairie by 6 mth PG to get on list.

EaB was highly recommended (but expensive) on MN and by French folks. There's a also a bilingual Montessori school near Musee D'Orsay.

A bit worried actually. Tried last year to throw DD in with French kids so she could get on with it. She was really upset they couldn't understand her (she talks A LOT).
She's also so excited to go to 'big school' here with her friends, telling her, 'Sorry you're going to another school where you will not understand anyone and they may not understand you!' would push her too far.

[Bonsoir]

If you want to go to your local state maternelle, you first need a home address and only then can you apply to your mairie for a place. They can manage late applications if you have just moved.

However, you would be well-advised to work out which particular maternelle you are likely to be allocated to. Some of them are grim, even in the 17th. In the more affluent areas so many families choose private schools that those pupils who are left in the state system are not very exciting.

[rosietoes]

Thanks, Bonsoir. Et bonsoir!

Figured out what CAT is! will contact you soon as I find my credit card!

[FriskyBivalves]

Rosietoes, you could be right about the regular maternelle - to be honest, I was hoping to shamelessly exploit dd's education in order to meet some non-French parents. Not that the French aren't wholly deslightful, but my French is seriously impaired. Haven't used it since, well, O-Level which was eons ago.

She's already a bit behind in speaking English - so far we've lived in three different countries and she's only 2.4 months old. She understands and speaks toddler Arabic; in fact, her first word was an Arabic one. I can't decide whether throwing her into the EAB international section will send her brain into total meltdown, or whether she'll just accept it as another lot of people making strange noises around her... [Frisky bites nails pensively].

Bonsoir - the reading of Le Figaro: is that just to get in the mood, or does it have a terrific property section? And Frakkin, thanks very much for the tips. I'd already decided that the UNesco school looked like style over substance, so glad to have that prejudice confirmed!

Shall start roaming those sites in search of two flats - one for us and one for the Toes family.

[FriskyBivalves]

Not 2.4 months old. Durrr. 2.4 years old. Now that would be advanced, speaking Arabic at 10 weeks.

[Bonsoir]

Le Figaro has bourgeois type rentals in good condition.

[rosietoes]

Thanks, Frisky! hope you do go to Paris! We'll have to meet up (at our local cafe!)

'Message Paris' is a Mumsnet type message board for English speakers. Have to pay to join it, but also good way to meet English speakers in Paris.

Wouldn't be ashamed abotu meeting parents via school. School is all about socialization (for kids and parents, too!)