FRENCH NURSERIES

[Redrum]

Dear Mumsnet
I am expecting our first baby and will be giving up work soon. I am thinking about starting a chain of French Nurseries where french is the spoken language and english is taught as a separate subject. Do you think there would be any interest in this or is it a daft idea??
Many thanks, Debra

Do you live in France? Or will these be French nurseries in England? I guess it depends on where you are and what need there is for French-speaking nurseries. I'm not too sure about this one myself, you'd need to give us a few more details.
Love the name btw!

I'm English and was thinking of setting this up in the UK. Basically, it would be of interest to parents who would like their children to be bilingual before starting school.

If you're in the London area, I'd say there'd definitely be interest, not least from native French-speaking community, but v.v expensive to start up a nursery in terms of building/staffing costs- all has to be compliant with v. strict ofsted regulations. if you contact yr local EYDCP (early years dev. childcare partnership) they may be able to give you useful local info. or even start up grants etc as well as tell yo about what's already availble.

Are you bilingual yourself ? I think you would need to employ native French speakers with appropriate qualifications which may be fine in London but more difficult elsewhere. There would probably be interest but do do your research as to whether French private schools already cater for the demand.

This is a really interesting idea and sounds like a good gap in the market. I am currently considering whether or not to send ds to Gaelic pre-school (an option where I live) so that he gets exposure to a second language at a young age. It's taken me a while to reason that it doesn't matter whether I know Gaelic or not (I don't) the important thing is the leg-up it will give his brain for learning Gaelic / other languages when he's older. I guess it would be useful to stress this aspect in any marketing as my initial reaction was to think that I would be excluding myself from his education by him learning a language that I didn't know.

or rather him learning IN a language that I didn't know

When my eldest daughter was aged 2-4 she attended a French nursery in West London called L'ile aux Enfants. Why don't you check them out first so you can see what they charge/provide. DD is 14 now so I am out of touch but I think the nursery moved to Gospel Oak or somewhere in the vicinity.

London does have several French nurseries, but outside London there is probably a market. We have a French school in Bristol, employing qualified French teachers (and that's an admin nightmare!!!). It's very successful in terms of level of interest amongst french families, bilingual families and also english families, but you need to get the mix of children who can speak French when they start and english speakers right. I don't think you should do partly french and partly english, but go for only one language. However, you might be able to get grants from your local authority if you can do say half an hour of french a day. Also look into getting into partnership with an existing school who might have a spare couple of rooms, and would like to market itself as more focused on languages.
basically it's a good idea but sooo much to consider before you start!!
Bonne chance!

I meant half an hour of english a day...

I am in Surrey and I would have loved this when my dd was younger. She is bilingual French. As others have pointed out, there are options in London (and they are in very high demand) but far fewer outside of the capital. Bonne chance!

Brilliant idea! If I have anymore, I'll be looking for you.
But seriously, in London, Oxford and Bath where we've lived, you would probably be oversubscribed.
Go for it! I am finding that lockdown has given many women great ideas. I wonder if it is because we are not harassed taking children from one after-school activity to the next. Plus for some of us, the school run was brutal.

I am finding that lockdown has given many women great ideas.

But this wasn't one... seeing as it was started 16 years ago

@Witchend There's nothing new under the sun. It is a brilliant idea even if someone is in the market currently. And even if someone else has done it before, there's a large market out there that hasn't been satisfied. How many banks are there, yet here we are with new digital banks. And how many different digital banks are there doing essentially the same thing. If the market is large enough and she does it well @Redrum will make a success of it. I thought Mumsnet was a place to encourage others not deflate them with snide remarks.

@mycruiscontrol I think the point was more that the OP started this thread 16 years ago....heaven knows how it got revived.

Ahh! Missed the date completely. I have just had so many calls with female friends and colleagues recently and everyone is bursting with ideas. Made me realise how much stress we operate under usually and how useful lockdown has been for many of us especially now that we've got used to homeschooling. Hopefully, we'll see many more profitable women-owned businesses after this lockdown.