Pre-schools in Paris

[DorsetJJ]

Hello,
I am new to mumsnet (registered last night) was very interested to read mslulukat's message about pre-schools in Paris. I am British and my DP French and we'll be moving from 92 to XVth in Spring. I'll be going back to work in September and our twin DDs (born Dec.13) will be starting pre-school. Am hoping they'll be admitted to Ecole Keonig but there is a waiting list and I've found out very little about the three alternatives I've looked into (The Little English Montessori School, 123 Mon Ecole or simply the local maternelle rue Violet). The BISP is rather too expensive. We're hoping our DDs will be able to go to EJM later on but there is no "petite section". Does anyone have experience of the schools mentioned. Also, rather naively, I didn't forsee the question of waiting lists and assumed that enrollements are only taken into consideration when official dates stated on websites open. Should I contact EJM well in advance despite the official date for 2017-2018 being end of 2016? Would any of the pre-schools I'm considering decrease/increase their chances of being admitted to EJM? For the time being their main language is very much English since I have been on parental leave and look after them at home. My DP speaks French to them and they attend a Halte-Garderie two mornings a week so they do hear French too and understand quite a bit. I'd very much appreciate your answers and would be interested to know where mslulukat ended up registering her DS! Bonne journée!

[paap1975]

You'll find your kids will pick up the French in no time. I moved to France from the UK at the age of 3, was put in a French maternelle and had caught up with my classmates within 3 months.

[BoboChic]

Entrance to EJM is, as you are aware, incredibly competitive. Rather than contacting EJM ahead of time you would do best to talk to as many current parents as possible and also to parebts who have recently been interviewed and their DC rejected. You want to get as good an idea as possible as to what EJM wants to hear about you! This year there appear to have been systematic searching questions about childcare and education support for DC with two FT working parents.

EJM is more concerned about French than English when recruiting bilingual DC so work in your DCs' French.