Moving to Belgium 2019: advice needed

[EilidhD]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting so I hope I get it right!
It is very likely that we will be moving, from London, to Belgium in the coming months. I will be working in Wavre and my husband will be working from home. Our little boy, is almost 1 year old.
I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of things to do with toddlers - in the UK I use Instagram a lot to find out what’s going on, what playgroups/activities are good. I also use Hoop. I’m not sure if this is the right want to go in Belgium?
We are also wondering about locations to live. We can see that these areas might be worth considering? Tervuren, Walowe st Pierre, Kraiinam, Watermael-Boitsfort, Wezembeek-Oppem, Auderghem, Vossem, La Hulpe.

Ideally we’re looking for somewhere where we can walk into a town/village centre that has a coffee culture type vibe but is close to the countryside where we can go walking, bike rides easily without having to drive.
We’d like it if the area had other young professional families like us so not too “bland suburbs” (hope that makes sense and I don’t mean it in an horrible way at all!) The location needs to be within 30mins drive to Wavre.
I know this is probably a lot to ask but I thought if anyone could help it would be you guys!

Thanks everyone,

Eilidh

[Nlds]

Hi there welcome to Belgium if you come.

First of all, is there a reason why you would not consider Wavre? It's considerably cheaper to live and you'd have more time with your child by living near work, a win win situation financially and practically.

There are limited activities with 1 year olds, as possibly 80% or more 1 year olds are in creche during the hours 8.00/8.30-17.00/18.30.

You'll find "maisons vertes" (French) and "Baboes" (Dutch) subsidized parent and child meet up rooms in Brussels region which are day time week days for those not in creche. You would find English speakers at both.

You'll find parent and child meet ups in English through BCT, it's like NCT in the UK. BCT has its HQ at a community centre called Imagine in Wezembeek-Oppem and a secondary location in Ixelles. It has local groups too where parents host, they are all over, including in Wallonie. bctbelgium.org/

Be aware children mainly transfer from creche to maternelle (or kleuterschool) which is pre-school aged 2.5 to 3 years. You usually start researching by age 1 and enrol in the year before attending, which means sometimes enrolling aged 12 months for a 2.5 years start. School years are age of birth. Those able to start school from September 2020 or any time up to June 2021 are born in 2018 and enrolling now. Those born in 2019 will start enrolling in September 2020.

[Nlds]

PS if it's GSK Wavre, you'll find parts of Leuven, specifically Oud Heverlee and Heverlee are closer both geographically and in terms of car commuting time to GSK than many of the Brussels and Vlaams Brabant municipalities you listed. There is also a direct train line to Wavre and it's 20 minutes by train. There is a sizeable and growing international population in these suburbs of Leuven, due to the university, university hospital and technology park.

[amyboo]

If you're moving to work in Wavre, I'm guessing you work for GSK? I would in no way consider the Brussels suburbs you mentioned (Auderghem, Woluwe, Kraainem, Wezembeek). As Nlds says, you'll pay way more to live there and the areas are no way near as nice as the areas immediately around Wavre.

I live in Rixensart, and personally, I'd consider, Wavre, Rixensart, Genval, La Hulpe or, if you want to live in Flanders, the areas mentioned by Nlds such as Oud Heverlee. You get much more for your money round here, your commute would be much shorter, and you won't have to struggle to get a school place for your DS (kids here start school at 2.5). There are loads of GSK families around Rixensart/La Hulpe and both have pretty nice town centres. La Hulpe is bigger, but Rixensart also has the centre in Genval, which is really nice.

For school options later, Rixensart has the Athenée which does English immersion, and there is also Le Verseau in Wavre which does some teaching in English. So, if you're interested in EN education for your DS you'd also be better off living nearish to one of those areas.

There aren't really any toddler type groups here, as many parents both work, and kids are typically in childcare from an early age before starting school at 2.5 years old. However, there are plenty of expat families around the areas mentioned, and there is the BCT in Wezembeek if you want to join EN-speaking groups. My 3 kids are in a local Belgian/French speaking school in Rixensart and I know plenty of other EN speaking families in the area. I find it much friendlier around here than in some of the Brussels suburbs.