Went to look at a school in France........

[Cammelia]

....as a possibility for dd when she leaves prep school at 13.

It is a private bilingual school which has a boarding facility.

When we arrived, the school secretary with whom we had made the appointment was absent and we were met by the deputy head who glossed over her absence He showed us round and talked to us at length in his office about the structure of the school, the timetable etc.

We were then introduced to a female member of staff who showed us around the girls' boarding house and when I asked the deputy head if she was the head of boarding he said that teacher (male) was away that day and glossed over his absence

For a private school, the staff seemed to be thin on the ground.

The deputy head (who was English) explained that in France, teachers are employed by the state not the school (even when it is a private school) and are paid by the hour and are entitled to leave as soon as their hours are up.

When we arrived back in the centre of the town where we were staying we came across a major street march which we realised from the banners was a demo complaining about teachers' pay and conditions. When we saw the news in the hotel we realised that a lot of teachers were on strike and that a lot of state schools in France had been closed for the day.

So all teachers in France have the right to strike even those who work in fee-paying schools.

This explained the skeleton staff at the school we had just visited. So because private schools in France are subsidised by the state, they are a strange hybrid of state and private.

Doesn't work for me.

on the plus side though it usually means that the fees are much lower too. How much were they out of interest?

Yes the fees are much lower which was one of my motivations for looking at the school

Less than half the amount of a good English Independent Boarding school.

However the boarding element was not geared up for proper boarding, most of the boarders were weekly boarders living in France. There was no real programme of activities for the few children who stayed at weekends.

The proportion of French native speakers was 80% to 20% English native speakers.

It follows the French National Curriculum (as all French schools have to) but had no added extras eg. team sports, musical instrument lessons, drama, etc.

Not what I'm looking for.

One of the reasons the teachers were on strike is because Sarkozy has said he wants to change the law regarding teachers being able to strike at whim due to the problems it causes working parents.

I don't have a view on that particular issue as such but the concept of a fee-paying school not operating properly (especially if one's child was a boarder) just doesn't hack it. In England a fee-paying school would in essence be in breach of contract to the parents and it simply wouldn't work.

No surprises for me there Cammelia. Very bad luck you went to see the school on a strike day.

As you say, teachers' are paid by the state even in a private school (which is why the fees are lower).

Sorry you had a wasted trip Cam. I must admit I don't think boarding provision is one of the better aspects of the French education system, if my memories of Lycee penitentiary-like dorms during my year abroad were anything to go by. Mind you, watching Les Diaboliques and Le Boucher was probably not a great preparation either

Cammelia - What are your back-up options?

Private schools in Southern Ireland are subsidised by the state too.The school we are looking at for dd1 in 4 years is a fraction of the cost compared to it's UK equivalent.We would never be able to afford it in UK.

Swedes, the school in France was my back-up option rather than the other way round. I do have dd's name down at my first (English) choice.

Interestingly I did meet and speak to a boarding 14 year old girl (from Ireland) who was doing a one-term immersion to improve her French.

Cammelia - do you mind if I ask why you want boarding?

We have no good day options

Hi Marina

The trip wasn't completely wasted

It "coincided" with our wedding anniversary, we were sans dd and we stayed in a fab hotel for 2 nights and had some beautiful food and wine

Why not consider a state boarding school. St George's school in Harpenden has an amazing repruation and you would only have to pay the boarding costs. Admitally there may not be places at 13, but is worth asking.

www.stgeorges.herts.sch.uk/

I believe there are other state boarding schools and even one that is 13 to 18.

www.sbsa.org.uk/

St George's, Harpenden is OK for GCSE but really poor at A level. I live in Harpenden.

Sorry Swedes,

I disagree. Ofcourse St George's being a state comprehensive is not going to have the highest results in hertfordshire, but its unfair to describe as poor for A-level.

See this league table.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/07/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/91 9alevellea.stm

Our local secondary school is Adeyfield and I would quite happy for my son to go to St George's instead if it was an option.

It's the worst state school in Harpenden for A level.

Swedes,

Maybe it does have the worst results for A-level, but Harpenden doesn't have any sink schools. This is partly because most people who live in Harpenden are rich compared with Hemel.

Try living somewhere like Hemel, then you really do know what it like to be faced with a school with poor A-level results.

reallytired - I agree that the results in Harpenden are better than in Hemel but not because the schools are better! The A level results for St George's are poor (given their intake and the MidYis scores on entry at 11+) and you only need look at their destination of leavers info to discover that they are not getting many of their sixth formers into the best universtities.

Cammelia - If finance is an issue, there is a report that gives a cost per A level grade ratio (measuring fees against results) that might be useful. I'll see if I can look it out.

Cammelia - Have you considered Cranbrook school in Kent? It is a very good state school with some boarding places. The fees are about £3,000 per term as you don't need to pay tuition fees just for the boarding element. It is an excellent school.

Hi Cam, didn't know you had that in mind for dd, was a good idea i reckon, shame tho.

have you looked at dd's school for weekly boarding? or were you not keen?

If you are in Harpenden look at St.Christopher School Letchworth on this website www.stchris.co.uk. Either day/flexi/weekly/full boarding and they have buses picking up from Harpenden. Intake by a pretty relaxed assessment and interview. Don't know a single child who has been unhappy there. Some even leave for sixth and come back within a few weeks cos they realise they have made a mistake!

Probably irrelevant, but I feel compelled to react:
The main reason the teachers were on strike was not Sarko's attempts to ensure presence in schools on strike days (not presence of teachers, but of municipal workers to babysit kids).

It was because of the huge reduction in the number of teaching posts which will be available as of this year. 11,000 teachers taking retirement this year will not be replaced. This is a country where class sizes are huge, where teachers' pay is shite (compared to the UK for example) and where working conditions have gone rapidly downhill over the past ten to fifteen years. Teachers are already extremely dissatisfied with the current climate, with the threatening atmosphere in schools and with the general tendency to view them as dossers. The hoops graduates have to go through to enter this not-entirely-enviable profession have just become much harder, because of the cuts in posts.

In order to become a teacher, you have to take not a university diploma (not yet, anyhow, Sarko's working on that one and then the sh*t will really hit the fan for pupils when teachers are recruited locally through nepotism rather than their academic abilities) but a competitive exam where the pass rate is based on the number of posts available.

For once the teachers were actually striking not so much about their personal working conditions (though they will clearly be affected by the cut in the number of colleagues in their schools), but for more general reasons, as conditions for school pupils will worsen even more when already overstretched resources are further stretched.

The right to strike covers all employees, not just state ones (although admittedly private sector employees are more vulnerable to pressure from employers and therefore strike less). It would be alarming if private sector workers had no right to strike at all. Sarko's announcement about ensuring coverage in schools during strikes probably annoyed teachers as it sends out the message that schools are a place to park kids while their parents work and that teachers can easily be replaced by municipal workers, which fits in with the prevalent attitude on the part of the gvmt.

Rant over...

Cam, is Bethany near you? Have heard nice things about it, and I think they do weekly boarding
Also, not keen on Benenden?

I'm not unsympathetic AuldAlliance, but the nature of the relationship is necessarily changed when the teacher is paid by the school (as in private schools in UK) rather than the state.

Cranbrook. Still to look around, can't put name down years in advance as state school. However the weekend boarding situation is similar to the French school I described below.

Benenden. Single-sex and all-boarding doesn't feel right for dd, it had the atmosphere of an army camp

Sexeys (Iknow I know) is a good state boarding school down here in dorset/somerset