Child friendly areas of Paris

[Turtlepower]

Help please!! I'm desperate for advice on where to live in Paris (and how to find an apartment!)

DH is finalising a secondment to Paris and we expect to move in December but I haven't been in years and we will only be able to make one or two trips before we move.

I'm American, DH is British and we've got a 4yr old and 18 month old. Ideally looking for somewhere with a lot of families and good schools - not too bothered about being in expat areas as I don't think we can afford the private schools, but wouldn't mind it as my french is pretty bad (10 years since I lived in a francophone country).

[MrsSchadenfreude]

There are quite a few MNetters in the 17th! I don't see why you shouldn't take your child to school on the metro - lots of people do! We live near Parc Monceau - it's a lovely area, but not cheap.

[jamaisjedors]

Hi Intlmum.

You should start your own thread I think because this one is 3 years old!

But as you can see, there are lots of mners in Paris with good advice for you.

BTW, I live in France (but not in Paris) and my 2 bilingual DS are in the local village school (in GS and CE2) and their English is great. A bilingual school is not an absolute necessity (although we are considering it for secondary).

[IntlMum]

Hello everyone

(Just joined Mumsnet and am not sure how this works - hoping someone replies!)

We are moving to Paris in September 2013 - wanting to live in the centre. Because we are considering putting our DDs (5 year old will be going into CP, and 9 year old into CM2) in EAB, I was wondering whether anyone had thoughts about nice places to live in the 17eme. Do children take the Metro to school (with parents for young ones obviously!)? Or is walking the only realistic option? (We were hoping to avoid having a car as everyone has told us it's complicated and expensive...but perhaps that's the wrong idea?).

Many thanks!

[IntlMum]

Hello everyone

(Just joined Mumsnet and am not sure how this works - hoping someone replies!)

We are moving to Paris in September 2013 - wanting to live in the centre. Because we are considering putting our DDs (5 year old will be going into CP, and 9 year old into CM2) in EAB, I was wondering whether anyone had thoughts about nice places to live in the 17eme. Do children take the Metro to school (with parents for young ones obviously!)? Or is walking the only realistic option? (We were hoping to avoid having a car as everyone has told us it's complicated and expensive...but perhaps that's the wrong idea?).

Many thanks!

[Superspudable]

milaF!
We're hoping to move to the 15th next month so could be close by and looking for new playmates! Have two boys, 5 and 3...

[teafortwo]

Sorry - pressed 'post' too soon. I'll see if we can organise a park outing before the summer...

[teafortwo]

MilaF - We are all feeling fed up and stressed! I'll PM a few people I know who have children your dd's age.

[BriocheDoree]

Sorry, really bad grammar in that last post

[BriocheDoree]

Hi Mila,
I'm just replying 'cause I saw you posted on Message as well and you're probably getting rather frustrated that no-one is replying to you. Trouble is, you've picked the busiest time of the year to land in Paris: it's a couple of weeks to the end of term, everyone is busy with school fete, end of term shows, you name it. Not to mention trying to fit in birthday parties as well, in my case, as my kids have their birthdays in the summer holidays. To make it worse, France will shut down completely over August.
Anyway, I'm not in the 14th. I used to work there but I live out in W. suburbs. Have you tried looking out some summer activities for your daughter. There are some that run in English (lots of the international schools run summer camps, for example, or roaming schoolhouse or similar). I could also send you details of some activities in English, if that would help? It must be frustrating for your daughter: she will have to wait until September for things to really get going!
Anyway, welcome to Paris. It's lovely, really, just not so great in the summer always :)
Brioche.

[milaF]

Hello All,
We just moved to the 14th. Any mumsnet moms around? We'd love to make friends. Our daughter is 4,5 y.o. I didn't put her in school yet, still looking...and she keeps asking :)

[DoubleDegreeStudent]

I'm in the 13th, right up by the border of the 5th. There are local parks all around Paris, so it is worth going on google maps and doing street view to see how easy it would be to get to if you end up sorting an apartment online. The one by me has a great playground for children (no dogs allowed) as well as benches and grass for sitting on.
I have friends in the 16th, by the river. It's an amazing apartment and you do feel like you are in "proper" Paris but I'm not too keen on the atmosphere. It might just be that I am too young for it though...

[rosietoes]

DD is 4.5, we were on wait list for EaB, but had a spot at another local maternelle Petit Cour du Rocher which is nice.
There is a French website, (which I can't connect as I'm on my phone tapping this. Computer is broken) that tells you where you live and the local school you are sent to. I'm not sure they are oversubscribed here in 17th, but haven't researched it.

[Turtlepower]

Rosietoes - we're in E9. How old is your DD?

I've heard a couple of times that the 17e is nice but none of the websites seem to have any apartments in that area.

We're going to Paris in two weeks so I think we'll focus on the 15, 16, and 17 arrondisements as well as Boulogne and Issy. I doubt we'll have time to look at all 5 areas, but it feels nice to have it at least narrowed down.

Bonsoir - what is streaming?

I am a little concerned that there won't be any space for DD if we arrive in January. Do public schools have to find space for new children or are they referred to less 'oversubscribed' schools? Do the private schools have a problem with oversubscription as well?

DD is quite bright but I know she'll be behind because of the language and may get frustrated. We're listening to a French CD at the moment and have enrolled her in a weekly french class for the next few weeks, but I don't know if any of it will really prepare her!

[rosietoes]

Also lived 5 months in 16th, rue de la Faisanderie, which had a handful of nice shops, boucher, boulangerie, but otherwise...it's in new Houellebecq with reference to those who 'fart money' (can't quite remember exact phrase now) but it was appropriate & funny! I giggled anyway

[rosietoes]

Turtlepower, I just did what you are planning to do! And the Mumsnet mafia have been invaluable!! (um, and yes, we are now in 17th with DD at EaB)

Where are you in London now? We moved from E11

[teafortwo]

My dd is in Maternelle and 'pushy' is not a word I would use to describe our experiences at all!!!

Ontop of that being in a Paris park makes 'the school run' a complete delight for dd and I. We usually spend at least one hour enjoying different areas of the park with friends after school.

[Bonsoir]

No, I didn't find it pushy at all. Having said that, about 1/3 of the DC (mostly MT French) learned to read in Grande Section. That may reflect the socio-economic background of the children as much as the teaching, however.

EaB has a strong streaming policy, so that DC can proceed at their own pace. It is not a school for strugglers (who get asked to leave), nor for the exceptionally gifted (who are well-served by the Cours Hattemer down the road!).

[frakkinstein]

Bonsoir - did you find EAB pushy in maternelle? I think that would be my one criticism of EABJM, beyond the green space which I could compensate for out of school. When I helped out in the younger years reading stories etc they seemed extremely focused.

[Bonsoir]

My DD is at EaB and I learned at the AGM of the Parents Association that there are currently 906 children in the combined maternelle and primaire at Parc Monceau, of which 75% have a nationality other than French (that figure includes French dual nationals).

EaB is very (increasingly) keen on streaming its pupils. I am very satisfied with the education my DD is receiving in CP this year - she seems to be moving ahead fast in both languages (she is a true bilingual) and has fabulous teachers - energetic, knowledgeable, kind, glamorous. What's not to like?

[frakkinstein]

Be aware EABJM doesn't have a petite section and not much green space either! IMO it's very academic from the word 'go' but an excellent school which produces very good results at 18.

The two schools have differences in the way the structure things but in maternelle that's not a massive issue. If you are staying them it's worth taking into account.

The expat community can be very helpful. Google message Paris for the English speaking parents group which produces a book with lots of useful information. Then you can find groups at WHSmiths or the American library, there are websites like Angloinfo as well.

If you 'go' fir a bilingual school you have a good mix of expats, long term anglophones settled in Paris, mixed nationality families and internationally minded French families

[natation]

EaB is Ecole Active Bilingue, there are in fact 2 groups of schools called Ecole Active Bilingue :

www.eab.fr/
www.eabjm.org/

CP is the name of the first of 5 school year in primaire, for children 6 years old in the calendar year of the September start. It stands for Cours Préparatoire. Here is a table showing the names of all the school years, from 3 to 18 years.

Maternelle
PS Petite Section
MS Moyenne Setion
GS Grande Section

Primaire / Elémentaire
CP Cours Préparatoire
CE1 Cours Elémentaire 1
CE2 Cours Elémentaire 2
CM1 Cours Moyen 1
CM2 Cours Moyen 2

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EducationFr.svg

[Turtlepower]

I'm still catching up on acronyms...what's EaB at CP?

We're in East London so used to a very mixed environment, a lot of parks but very 'up and coming' (not many nice shops or restaurants nearby). As for priorities - schools, playgrounds and local parks/green space are top of our list.

Although I know there are more variables than just the school, I'd love to know if it there is any difference in adjustment time for children in the local maternelle versus bilingual schools.

Have many of you relied on the expat community? When I moved here I didn't contact any expat groups but not knowing much French has me thinking it might be very useful.

[teafortwo]

MaeMobley - your dn and dsis will love EaB!

[Bonsoir]

My DD is still quite a lot more comfortable with English. Despite living in a Francophone family (only she and I speak English together).

[MaeMobley]

I see it already in my niece. She is much more comfortable with French.