Another moving to Belgium! Any advice on local schools and kids dance clubs welcome

[nearlyfiftymum]

Hi, I'm new to this so please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong.
DH job relocation means we're moving to belgium in Jan 2010. A big and slightly scary undertaking but we're having to go for it. Our priority is a welcoming local school for our 2 boys age 5 and 7 in a small community commutable distance to Zaventem. With a dance club for dance crazy 5 year old his priority. Safe enough for boys on bikes. Not worried if french or flemish as they don't really know either it's the school/area that matters. (We will be taking language lessons when there). On a tight budget too with renting. Are we expecting too much? Have visited a couple of times but ending up spending most time in parks and pools with kids rather than area browisng. DH quite taken with Hoeilaart but that might be a commute to far. Any suggestions, advice, reassurance very welcome.

Hi again
if the ONLY reason you are looking for a small place is small area is so that you can bike or walk there then you will be limited by the smallness of the place and a lesser availability of activitities. For example, if you were to choose Kortenberg which is between Zaventem centre and Leuven, you would not be able to cycle easily and certainly not walk to the swimming pools in Zaventem and Leuven, it would have to be a bus or train, whereas if you lived in Zaventem centre, virtually everything will be within walking or cycling distance. The same is true for areas of Brussels. Zaventem is "small town" or "suburban" and again the same is true for the areas in Brussels surrounding Zaventem, Brussels is not like capital cities such as London or Paris, it is very much a series of villages in atmosphere.

I don´t know of any inspection reports available online for French schools, they certainly do not exist in the British sense, for Dutch schools, only a few are there on the website. Personally, I wouldn´t dwell on any of the reports, Dutch schools are known as good in the main everywhere, the nearest one should suffice, perhaps you would prefer the more sought after generally Catholic schools to the offical schools, perhaps you would prefer a big school to a small one.

Here are the links for lists of schools, if you don´t already know about them, again it´good to know post codes for searching through lists.

http://www.enseignement.be/index.php?page=25932&navi=2908

www.ond.vlaanderen.be/onderwijsaanbod/lijst.asp?hs=bao

Thanks natation, you are right the small area and faciities issue is something I've started to think about. Not so worried about not having a pool on doorstep this could be a weekend treat by public transport which Ds's always enjoy, or car as DH will be around and likes doing stuff with the kids. But other facilities gymclubs and dance clubs that they are used to here will need to be nearby. As for schools we were already thinking local official as we are not at all religious and it feels right for us and all areas have one! Just wondered do you know if all dutch schools provide homework help sessions after school and special support for those withou dutch as first language? This was something I noticed from a report on a school and wondered if it was school specific or a requirement or dependent on school size. It wouldn't be fair on DS's or the school if I tried to put them somewhere where they didn't normally have this provision. Thanks again for your help.

For schools, in some villages there is only one school, eg Nossegem has only one Catholic school, Everberg has one Official school, in bigger areas you will get a choice eg Zaventem central has 3 Official schools and 2 Catholic ones.

Catholic schools are traditionally lore sought after, but that is a general rule. This is because they are generally stricter, they cost slightly more (not so relevant in a Dutch area where extra costs are much lower than in the French system) and therefore there is a knock-on affect in intake, they feed into Catholic secondaries which are also more sought after. But that is a general rule.

In Official schools, religion is still obligatory and Catholic is nearly always the most popular option, Belgium is a majority Catholic country. In Official schools, there is always an alternative to the Catholic option for religion, protestant, ethics, Islam etc, the options differ according to where you live. At maternelle / kleuterschool level (6 and under) it is very rare for there to be any Religious lessons at all. But even in Catholic schools, religion pays a very very small part in daily life in 9 out of 10 CAtholic schools, they are not like Catholic schools in the UK, you do not have to be Catholic and there is no quota system reserving a certain percentage of places for Catholics. I would not discount Catholic schools at all, after all they make up more than 50% of schools and the percentage increases at secondary level.

I have no idea of the level of support in Dutch speaking schools, in the French system extra support is patchy. But do not worry in the slightest, in this area of Belgium there are loads of incomers, schools are used to children arriving without French or Dutch. Our children´s primaire school now has around 30 nationalities, even many Belgian children speak more than one language. Your children should adjust to the language quite quickly, especially given their age. Many Dutch speakers have excellent English, in French schools with international populations, there is always someone around or who can be summoned to help translate for parents. I know for a fact the Dutch schools in the areas I have mentioned contain English speaking children. If you were to move to Brussels, you would find even more English speakers in the schools, esecially the French ones.

Don´t limit public transport to weekends, it is plentiful in all but the smallest villages.

As for gym and dance clubs, seems to be plenty along the Zaventem - Leuven route, many are combined clubs, you will find many also held in the sports halls of the local school. Here´s a few I have found

Zaventem central

De Jeugdige Baabrekers
www.jbz.be/

Jazz Turnen Zaventem
www.jtc-zaventem.be/index.htm

Nossegem

Turnkring Nossegem
www.turnkring-nossegem.be/

Everberg

Turn en Dans Everberg
www.gymfed.be/clubs/clubdetail.lasso?id=472&m=4

Kortenberg

Turnclub GDO Kortenberg
www.gymfed.be/clubs/clubdetail.lasso?id=671&m=4

Link to Sports Clubs in Zaventem (includes the villages of StStevens Woluwe, Sterrebeek, Nossegem)

www.zaventem.be/94_nl.html

Natation, I'm in awe at the amount of knowledge you seem to have at hand!

We looked at St Julien but I found it far too big (2½ to 18 in French and Dutch). Also I was told by the Belgians I knew at the time that Paradis was a better school (mind you, a Belgian's idea of a good school is not necessarily the same as mine!). Plus my dh didn't want the children to go to a catholic school. However, in reality this wouldn't have been an issue as, as you say, the only real difference is that they have to do catholic religion for a couple of hours a week rather than get the choice (the majority of children at dd's school do ethics) so Nearlyfiftymum, as natation says, you don't have to discount them from a religious point of view. However, if you're on a tight budget the official schools are cheaper.

If teachers are prepared to give it, "étudé" (after school homework supervision) is available in primary (not sure about secondary). However, it is more supervision than help as lots of children go to it (lots of working mums in Brussels) so the teacher doesn't have time to give individual help (though that doesn't prevent a child asking questions). None of mine have ever been though so I'm only going on the experience of friends' children.

I would be very interested to know, natation, what years your dcs are in and what schools they go to. You might not want to give this information over an open forum though. Maybe you can get my e-mail address from portofino?

Nearlyfiftymum, as a regular user of public transport, I urge you to look somewhere where the access to this is easy. We live a couple of minutes walk from a mainline metro station and it's brilliant. My ds1 (21) said he wouldn't swap our small townhouse for his friend's villa with swimming pool because of the location. Driving in Brussels can be "interesting" so cycling can be rather dangerous though I guess this is less the case the further out you go.

I too am in awe of natation's knowledge! And longtime, I still need to organise that curry! We can jointly fret about the Belgian secondary system......maybe natation likes curry.....?

LOL LOL no I just know where to look on the internet for things.

Had no idea there is Dutch side to St Julien. Our kids go to a small but growing fondamentale (320 to 400 children in 2 years, birth rate is soaring) and a big secondaire which has a fondamentale - wouldn´t really like the younger ones there, it´s almost 1500 students on site, I prefer our small fondamentale. I got to stay there till 10am today, I volunteer during lunch hours but it´s the first time I´ve stayed once the other parents have gone in the morning. Now I was in awe of how the teacher managed to take 18 children in the first class to the toilet, 2 still crying and 1 new boy constantly running off, well she managed it without losing any of them and when I left, no tears at all, impressive as they are all 2.6 to 2.10 months old.

The internet - a wonderful invention! Still, it's taken me 25 years to accumulate the knowledge I have and you seem to have done so in far, far less time!

I'm amazed they let you volunteer at the school. I offered but "insurance" and other stuff was muttered. Ended up volunteering at the British School instead.

Credit to a very patient head teacher at our fondamentale, to Z lovely friends who are teachers and teaching assistants in maternelle level, to loads of tolerant parents with children in local schools who feed me the information.

Our school doesn´t seem to have any issue with insurance, the parents help out regularly, Some Mami runs the library, another Papi runs a woodwork workshop, another mum the cooking course. A favourite day of the year is the DIY day where beer and croissants start the day, then beer and picnic lunch, then beer for afternoon drinks, in between the school is painted, doors fixed, shelves mounted etc. Maybe some schools are going the way of the UK where you can´t do more than a few minutes voluntary work inside school without Police checks and personal liability insurance.

I thought it was maybe just the French-speaking system as my ds-i-l helps out in her dc's (Flemish) school. It's been this way for the 19 years (yikes!) I've been going to Paradis so not at all a new thing. However, your school is a French-speaking one, isn't it? Maybe if I'd joined the PTA...?

Hi all, know this is an old thread so not sure if any of you are still around in Brussels? We're moving there in a January - I'm going to be working in the EU area and my husband is going to be a full-time Dad. We're expecting to be there for 4 years. Our daughter will be about a year old when we arrive and we're hoping to send her to a French-speaking maternelle when the time comes. I wondered if anyone had any advice on that? We haven't got a place to live yet, but we're hoping to live in the Chant d'oiseaux area, or maybe up near the Woluwe shopping centre. Thanks v much!

Hi there,
welcome to Brussels.
You may get more responses if you start a new thread really.

You're done your homework well. Have you been phoning all the local schools? There are 4 in the Chant d'Oiseau area. Even more near Woluwe shopping, only one I'd avoid up there, Athénée Royal, no personal reasons, simply every single person I know to have visited have come out crossing it off their list and I was told of an American family who lasted a week there. Pity as its facilities are enviable, huge sports hall, swimming pool (only school in east Brussels with one), grass playground. All you can do is phone and phone and find places.

There is a new Facebook group, I'd expect the membership to rise to around 300 +, it's a good place to ask of people's experiences of local schools in the greater Brussels area.

www.facebook.com/groups/1397769467121519/