Anyone else trying to cope with the Luxembourgish school system?

[NightFury]

I am really having my doubts about it. Anyone else have experience of it? DD is currently in Cycle 2.2 and we are beginning to struggle with the system, the process and, well basically, everything.

Anyone out there to chat?

[Weta]

Afraid I can't help personally as mine are at Euro school, but I have seen a group for English-speaking children at Lux schools advertised in the British Ladies Club newsletter - that might be a way to meet other parents in the local system who you could talk to about it?

[NightFury]

Are you happy with the European School? We are considering it for next year if things don't improve.

One of the main aspects of the Luxembourgish system that I am really struggling is the method of discipline. So far this term DD, who is 7, has had 2 "punishments". Which language section are your DCs in and what is their approach to discipline? (If I may ask, that is.)

Thanks for the tip.

[Weta]

Very happy to give any info I can.
DS1 has just turned 7 and is in the English section. We could have chosen French as he is bilingual but I knew I didn't like the French approach to education and was pleaed to have 'escaped' France for that reason.

Obviously I can't comment on Lux system, but one of the many factors in our decision was that my impression was that it was more along the lines of the French system (though the main issue was languages as I thought arriving at age 6 and suddenly having to face 2 new languages was a big ask for a shy child).

Because the teachers are sent from the UK or Ireland, their approach to discipline is much what I would expect in an English-speaking country. No 'punishments' as such - I think their name goes into a cloud on the blackboard if they are naughty, and then into the thunder if they are really bad. Occasionally the boys have been denied use of a football at playtime for a few days if they have been using it inappropriately or kicked it into a tree or something. There is one child with behavioural issues and the teacher told me she was shocked when she had to count down for him to do something (and a bit worried he wouldn't comply). So pretty minimal really. What punishments has your DD had?

I had heard lots of horror stories in France about teachers being really nasty if kids underlined something in blue pen instead of red (and vice versa) and really setting out to humiliate the children.

The other thing I wasn't keen on in France was that the kids get a lot of homework from age 6, whereas here it has been fine so far - just a reading book each day in year 1, and now a reading book from time to time plus a few spellings once a week and a bit of maths once a week.

Which section would your DD go into at the European School?

I do feel for you - it's so hard when the system is so different from your own, and hard to work out the best choice in Luxembourg with all the linguistic/integration issues.

Oh, the other thing I would say is that initially I was a bit put off by the size and anonymity of the school, but in fact it is like a whole lot of tiny schools all joined together. In the English section of our school there is only one class in each year group, so the kids stay together and even after just a year here I know almost all the parents.

[NightFury]

Thanks for getting back to me.

DD has, so far this year, had 3 "punishments" which entailed copying out several pages of her language text book. It's quite a lot to do on top of her homework which takes around an hour a day at the moment - isn't this a lot for a 7 year old? Anyway, twice she has been totally baffled as to why she has received a punishment and once she thoroughly deserved some form of telling off.

What concerns me most is that apparently she is being told off for her writing in terms that are simply not acceptable (sounds like the horror stories you mention from France!). I am also concerned about the revised competency based approach that Luxembourg has adopted for its education system.

DD would probably go into the German language section - she is tri-lingual at the moment, EN, DE and LU.

I'm very interested to hear what you say about the size of the school as this is something that really, really put me off when we first discussed schools for DD.

Do you have any feeling for the German section at all? From what I understand there is not much cross-over. DH is a graduate of a European school and he said it was just not done to associate with the other sections but things may have changed in the 20 or so years since he was there!

[Weta]

I do have a friend whose daughter (bilingual DE/EN) has just started year 1 of the German section, so I could ask her about her impressions so far (she is the English-speaking half of the couple), plus I guess she will have heard general feedback.

There isn't much mixing between the sections (and to be honest playground issues often seem to be things like 'the Italian boys were bothering us today'!) although in the second-language class (45 minutes every day from age 6) there are children from different sections.

I guess if you were putting her in the European School you would need to think carefully about the educational approaches - though my understanding is that the German one is 'better' (from our perspective) than the French, ie less strict. People say that EN children who choose French as 2nd language end up with half a point less (out of 10) at the baccalaureate than those who choose German, because the French are such hard markers.

The other thing to consider is that children starting after age 4 at present automatically go into Lux II, which will moving out to Mamer in Sept 2012 - this may make a difference to you depending where you live.

I will ask my friend about the German section and get back to you...

I agree with you about the punishments your DD has had, and the homework - in the end I don't think there is any perfect answer, and obviously we lose out in terms of integration and knowing local children. Before we came here I was resigned to the French system and thought I would just have to cope and try to counter the teaching approach by building up self-esteem at home. But it is hard to see how you do that without undermining the teacher - my approach (with my perfectionist child) is generally that 'it doesn't matter', but to the French teachers it obviously does.

[Weta]

Just to clarify - when I said about the educational approaches at European School I mean you would need to weigh up DE vs EN as the sections definitely do tend to have the same teaching approach as the country the teachers come from.

[NightFury]

Thanks Weta - I would love to hear what your friend with the DD in the DE section says.

It's so hard having children going through a school system that is so totally different from the one you experienced yourself!

I think Lux II might even be better for us as Kirchberg (as you well know) can be such a nightmare in the morning. Ho hum, at least she did not have a "punishment" yesterday although homework was 1 page of sums, 1 page practising joined up writing and 1 page of writing sentences... It took an hour. She could have taken less time but her little brother was in major-pest mode.

[Weta]

Hi again,

My friend has emailed me with her impressions, but I don't feel I can put it on a public forum. Is there any way I can email you instead?

I suspect Mamer will be just as bad as Kirchberg, if not worse, but I guess it depends where you live! and of course there will be school buses...

[NightFury]

Thank you!

My e mail is may dot hill at hotmail dot com but without the spaces etcetera.

[Bonsoir]

Although my experience is a generation out of date, I shall give it anyway and hope it helps.

My sister and I went to the European School in Luxembourg (secondary only) and all our contemporaries in the English section returned to the UK for university and were pretty much as fluent in English language/culture as children brought up in the UK.

My parents had British friends and acquaintances who chose to put their children through the Luxembourgish school system. All those children (a) struggled at schoool in one way or another for at least a part of the time (b) have become Luxembourgers as adults, and somewhat estranged from their parents.

[natation]

I must ask, is being Luxembourgers something to be seen as negative? We have 3 children school in Belgium, I would be quite happy for them to stay the rest of their lives here and become "Belgian". I don't mind at all that they are missing out on British culture, if there is no change in 10 years time when they are adults, then there is no question for us that moving away from the UK has been the right decision. I only know Luxembourg from the point of view of being a holidaymaker, but it seems to me a lovely place to live and bring up children.

The only advice I could give Nightfury is to try and contact English speaker parents at other schools, it may be a school issue rather than overall education system. Here in Belgium, there are schools which mirror what Nightfury has recounted, but there are many other schools with a more relaxed atmosphere where praise and not punishment is the normal method of discipline and where homework is given in bearable amounts.

[Bonsoir]

I have not suggested that becoming a Luxembourger is in any way negative (there are many, many positives to being a Luxembourger!) but many parents feel quite strongly that they would like to share a common culture and understanding with their own DCs.

[NightFury]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

It is indeed very strange to hear my children "switching" from being little English children to being German or Luxembourgish depending on who they are with. I am truly envious of their ability to be totally at home in 3 languages and more than a little proud I must confess!


I am struggling though with the cultural identity thing and I really do wonder what culture my children will end up relating to the most. If we stay in the Luxembourgish school system it will undoubtedly be Luxembourg and I don't really have a problem with that although I don't want to be the funny old immigrant mama who doesn't fit with the children's cultural identity IYSWIM. I am concerned that the approach to discipline in her current class is the wrong one for my DD - she is a very bright lass but she is incredibly willful and has a stubborn streak several kilometres wide and if she decides that school is not for her that will be it. She needs a teaching system that will engage her, not dictate to her.



Well, we can't change school anyway until the end of the year and we have no guarentee that DD will get a place so I guess I will need to wait and see.

Thanks again for all the input.