setting up a bilingual school

[syl39]

Hi!

I am starting a project of opening a bilingual school from 3 to 16 in the City area, London Bridge.How many of you would be interested in enlisting their kids in such a school/or help get the project on foot?

Syl39

I would love to get involved.

But I'm on the other side of the world...

Tell us more - what language? How do you plan to structure it? Do you have a building in mind?

[/overexcitement]

Which language(s) are you going to offer in addition to English?

Tell us more. Will you grow it from the bottom up. What language

The languages on offer would be French and English, from nursery age 3 to Baccalaureat age 18. I would be grateful for help, I did register with the New school Network which helps parents set up their own schools.I haven't had time to go building hunting as of yet, but, I thought either a building needing doing up and big enough, such as a warehouse, or a disused school until bigger premises are available.

At the moment, I've only done some research in what needs to be done to set it up, and I am just fishing around at this stage to find out people's reactions , because without a substantial interest and amount of help, it can't get done.

Are you going to follow the French NC or the British NC? Or both? Or neither?

Well, if I go by what the bilingual school where I registered my daughter, a balance of both, what is not covered in the French nc will be covered by the British NC.

If you are interested in French schools I would look at the schools in Paris which follow the bilingual model succesfully: EAB and EABJM.

Personally I feel you would have a selling point if you offered the IB at 6th form - being a bilingual school you have a huge advantage in that most pupils will be able to fly through by language components. The French Lycee doesn't offer it (being bound to the French curriculum) - in addition to the French bac. I don't think you need to offer A-levels, anyone with a desperate yearning to do those will probably just move their child for 6th form.

The French and British curricula have some very fundamental differences. I would definitely advise researching those and deciding whether you want to follow one, both or neither. You may also want to incorporate some elements of the IB programme early on but I personally don't want a school which follows PYP in any language for my children - too much potential to go wrong.

Will your teachers be native French and native English, French trained and British trained respectively? Will you insist your teachers are bilingual? How/where will you recruit them from? What experience of bilingual education will you require?

If you can deliver the holy grail of an French medium English prep you're onto a winner really.

You will need a fair mix of French mother tongue and Enlgish mother tongue children - as NappyValleyMum pointed out French immersion isn't the greatest way to go. You don't get the playground element!

I am assuming you're looking at a French school because you speak French/have some connection with that already?

Do you accept CAT btw? Would be really interested in hearing more about your ideas.

I think it is really hard to recruit bona fide French families to a school that isn't sous contrat and follows the French national curriculum - moving in and out of the French NC is very difficult and French families overseas generally want to be able to move their children around from country to country and school to school without hitches.

Well, I have thought about all you said, I am French, my husband is Nigerian, so our daughter is trilingual , French, English and Yoruba.
I hesitated for a while, should my school be like the European school near Oxford, International, offering IB, or right to the core French.I want to learn from all and think that recruiting native speakers is the only way to go, for the French side, a Maitrise FLE would be the least together with a Capes or Agregation, from the English side, PGCE primary with TEFL qualification, I would recruit the French staff from the AEFE website, school website.Kids need to be taught subjects in the language that they need to learn, I have got to work more on that aspect though.I do agree that British schools do see parents as an integral part, know how to market themselves, the thing is we don't do that because we are all bombarded as kids to the nearest school except we choose options not on offer in our catchment area.French schools don't do the social bit, I'm afraid, because staff consider that it's not their job, but to inform and it's the parents'job to show at least an interest and most of all to sort their kids out.French schools are not considered ( back home ) as a home from home, but baccalaureat factories.

The reason why I want to open a French and bilingual school of that type in the city, is because, contrary to the belief that the South ken French gang holds of being IT , there are lots of other French families in other areas of London and French people working in the city who, 1 can't afford to relocate to that area, 2 don't want to pay high fees which are inflicted on the French schools as we are considered expatriate even after 10 years of living in the UK( like myself), and want to be able to apply for bursaries from the consulate which are only available to schools with homologue or otherwise on their list.

Has anyone here heard about the new model school( or education?) company?I had a look at their website, and I like the idea that they have managed to bring down their costs so low that their fees are half those of a normal day prep, it's something I'd like to work on, affordable fees.

I agree a CLIL approach is definitely the way to go.

Would you accept an EAL specialised primary (Newman offer one) instead of PGCE + TEFL? What TEFL qualification would you be asking for? The CELTA, as you probably know, is focused on adults and I think the TEYL is being phased out. What about a French trained EMT teacher, or vice versa?

How would you deal with the teacher issue at secondary level if/when you get to that stage? Presumably you're going to want subject specialists: will some subjects be taught in English and others in French?

What would be your third modern language and which language would you teach it from?

How would you balance the two main languages? Mornings in one and afternoons in the other? Different subjects taught in different languages right the way though? When would you introduce reading/writing skills and which language would you introduce first?

TBH I would prefer my children to go to a school such as yours rather than the Lycee if/when we move to London (and when we eventually have children). I am not a fan of the general ethos of French schools.

I agree with Bonsoir. I think it would be very hard to recruit French families to a school that doesn't follow the French NC. My dcs are at an annexe of the Lycee - the South Ken site isn't the only one there are also schools in Ealing, Clapham, Fulham. My experience is that French families choose the Lycee for the reasons Bonsoir has outlined or they make a decision to put their dcs in (free) English schools - taking the view that if they have two French parents they'll be getting French at home.
You talk about "bringing down their costs so low that their fees are half those of a normal day prep" - this is already the case at the Lycee (assuming fees at a normal day prep are in the region of £3,000 a term). While obviously not free, the Lycee is considerably cheaper than most private schools in London (and without hidden extras such as uniform). I'd be surprised if you could do it for less bearing in mind the Lycee is subsidised by the state.

The European School in Culham is closing down (gradually). It did offer (I think) about six EU languages. There are of course a number of EU civil servants at the Agency in Canary Wharf (inc DH), and from time to time there are discussions with the UK govt about the possibility of opening a European School in/near London. These talks might intensify if a European Banking Supervisory Authority (or whatever they are going to call it) opens here - but don't hold your breath. One problem that comes up in any discussions is exact location - possible users being spread out all over the capital/home counties. Also, as already noted, the fact that the French speakers, for example, might prefer the Lycee (although they can have problems getting in - one family has moved spouse and children back to France for that reason), the Germans the German school in ?Kingston and so forth. It's actually a very complex problem - added to which one gets the impression that the UK govt is not exactly keen on coming up with buildings etc - there again it is currently under pressure (along with the Irish govt) to stump up for English speaking teachers to teach classes that are up to three-quarters non-anglophone back in Brussels. Ironically there no one seems to want to be taught in their mother tongue!

Two things:

1. It might be worth talking to Hockerill School in Bishops Stortford as they already do this (for secondary, anyway) and are 30 minutes from London, with boarding facilities.

1. Did you know there is a primary and middle years IB programme? It can work very well in conjunction with other national school systems if it's planned properly.

Hi there BoffinMum, nice to see you on the forum. How is it going? Have things worked out with the most recent recruit?

Well, I don't know much about the TEFL qualifications , so would research that(I'm an MFL teacher for French and Spanish by the way).What's your background you are all so clued up , I'm impressed, I feel I'm being taught something there.
When it comes to fees, if my daughter does join l'ecole de Battersea, we'll have to fork out 2870 per term, not including uniform, stationary , meals.French people love their school system, however prehistoric , academic.I love the IB, I did look into it, and personnally, I think it's the way forward, the percentage of French students attending Southbank International School is second after the number of US kids(34 and 177 respectively).I would want subject specialists for secondary and some subjects in one language and some in the other.Reading starts sooner in the French nc than in the British nc,but French start maths later than British, but French produced more Maths nobel prizes and the British are top notch at finance,so honestly there's some good in both, it's just different,I think both could nicely complement each other.

About the third language, I would wait till y7 to introduce a choice of languages, to give kids enough confidence in their first two, fourth language( a choice of languages) in y9, then in sixth form, well it all depends on their other options( in the French nc, that's how it works), and their weighting for the Baccalaureat.
I got a call from the New School network today, I registered with them, they help groups of parents set up their own schools( did I already mention that?) as independent state schools(or as academies, but they have the sadly bad Harris academies on their records, I know for having work in 3 of them on supply, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, it was hell).

You guys are really helping me think and sieve through all that bilingual provision, I think you'd make a great team to help me set this up, interested?

Whoops, it's actually called Hockerill Anglo-European College and they do bilingual French/English or German/English tracks in Y7, then add the other language in Y8, then pupils can take any of Italian/Spanish/Japanese later on (probably other languages as well knowing them).

BTW they don't call it TEFL any longer, it's TESOL ('Teaching English as a Second or Other Language'). God knows why.

Summersoon, new nanny is just fab, and we're really happy.

If you are planning to recruit teachers with French concours, I'd keep a beady eye on what is happening to the Capes: chances are the pre-2011 Capes will mean something entirely different to the Capes from 2011 onwards. A huge drop in teachers' skills and basic knowledge.

Current pesstimates are for the Agrég to get the chop/be reformed out of recognisable existence in the next 5 yrs.