One more moving to Brussels :)

[ShutterNutter]

Hi everyone! Found this site a few days ago and I see that some of you live in Belgium :-)

My husband has been transferred to Brussels for 3 years, which is great and we are looking to move early next year. We have 2 little girls 5 & 6 .
We have been in Brussels for 8 days now school & house hunting. I tell you it has not been easy. We just can't decide were to live. After looking at quite a few houses we have come down to two.

The first house we are deciding on is in Ixelles near all the shops, it has no garden (not even a little patch) and no parking which is a bit of a pain driving round and round trying to find one after a long day of work. On the plus side the house is near Tenbosch Park and another big play ground that I can easily walk the girls to, also all the restaurants and shops.

House number 2 is in Watermal-Boitsfort, it is bigger and newly renovated, plenty of parking but the nearest shop (which is 2 supermarkets) is 1.5km away. Not crazy far, but far enough not to make the area very exciting or have anything fun to walk to.
One of the things that appeal to me coming to Europe is the fact that you don't have to get into your car just to get milk. I really enjoy walking and was looking forward to be able to walk to the corner store to get milk or whatever. Also living in a quaint, pretty european style street is very appealing.
DH understandably wants it to be an easy commute to work (Auderghem) and back and to the girl's school (we are deciding between BEPS and ISB) and the Watermal house would certainly provide that. It also has a garden for the girls. The downside is that this house is just surrounded by big offices and buildings and some embassies.

So, after all that rambling ... having lived in Brussels for a while, would you go for the more lively location and walkable locations, but smaller house and no garden, or the bigger house with a garden but not very exciting surroundings but closer to work and schools?

I probably won't have car for the first 6 moths or so but will probably get one later. DH will have car and will be traveling quite a bit with his job. I'll be a stay-at-home mom.

Thanks for any input!!

Signed, indecisive Crazy Rambler ;-)

Catalyst, every commune (so local area) of Brussels has its own town hall called a maison communale. Everyone living in that commune has to be signed in there and have an ID card. Some communes seem to insist on children under 12 having an ID card some don't. Une composition de ménage is a document you get from the maison communale which shows what your household (ménage) is made up of, ie how many people there are, names, dates of birth. It is then stamped by someone at the maison communale which makes it an official document to show that your family are actually registered living in Belgium. You of course won't have this and therefore won't be able to provide it.

As we don't have the NHS here, we all have some sort of private health insurance. You can sign up to a "mutuelle" which is what most locals would have (which may or may not be topped up by their company). This mutuelle give you a credit card type card which is called a carte SIS. It has your name and national number on it as well as proves that you have a mutuelle. You have to hand it in when you go to hospital, get prescriptions from the chemist etc. Again you won't have this and therefore won't be able to provide it.

Oh and I am more than happy to help you make the call to the school. :)

LongtimeinBrussels, thanks very much, you're really very generous. I owe you one, for sure.

I guess I will bring his passport details just in case.

It might be a good idea to make a copy of your passport, your dh's passport and your other dc's passports as that would sort of show a composition de ménage. Just an idea!

If you are moving because of a job you or dh already have, a letter from the company might not be a bad idea either if you have time to get it.

This may merit a new thread - I will be looking for a job and from what I can see, along with thousands of others. Is it that tough to get a job in Brussels? Networking seems to be key. Any comments and/or suggestions welcome.

Depends very much on your language skills, qualifications and experience. And what you expect of course. I am only fluent in English, though have some French. I got a GOOD job as a opposed to a compromise position within 2 months. I was shortlisted for a few other roles in that time, though they were jobs I was over qualified for. I wasn't being picky though so actually fell on my feet in the end.

They do like a degree though. Everyone with 2 brain cells to rub together has a post school qualification of some description or so it seems. Some companies were most suspicious that i didn't have a degree despite having nealy 20 years of work experience . I did "tests" with HR at Toyota. I passed all with really high scores, but not ONE hiring manager would see me.

The big job websites are Monster.be, Stepstone.be and References.be. Vacature.com is another, but only in Fr/NL. The Bulletin here has jobs advertised every week. It is well worth subscribing too as you get the English tv listings, and lots of news/info on things going on.

Portofino, thanks for these. I'll start looking. Encouraging to hear that you don't need to have a vast network after all to get a job.

I will let you know how I get on at Decroly this weekend.

It can be very difficult to get a job here with so many multi-lingual locals and spouses of EU civil servants and temporarily expatriated spouses, but depends really on what field of work you are looking for. I'm on a career break from my "real" job which I have done during the holidays for the last 2 years, whilst working term time in another job which in fact I love just as much, I didn't even apply for it, I just got asked to temp and sort of ended up with that job by accident. There are lots of interim agencies here, that's how many people get work here initially.

There are a lot of international companies where the working language is English, though they usually "prefer" trinlingual applicants. The job market seems a lot smaller than it did 5 years ago.

Try www.rainbow-careers.be - they specialize in English speakers. Possibly more oriented to admin roles, although I'm not sure about that.

Had a very successful trip at the weekend. Indeed, getting through on the phone to Decroly was like a lottery but with the persistent assistance of LongtimeinBrussels, we made it and DS2 is now on the list for primaire 5eme. DS1 stands a good chance of getting into secondaire 1eme as well. So far so good!

Just goes to show what you can do in a few weeks if you put your mind to it.

Thanks again for all your useful info folks.

He's now on the waiting list for all four of the similar schools that the lady at Decroly gave us the names of!

Hi there, I've been reading through the posts on secondary schools and there is lots of good info. My eldest son is in 6th primarie this year and we are now looking for a secondary school for him in the WSP area (currently working on the assumption that he passes the CEB).

I've been in touch with Natation but I would also like to get other views on French speaking secondaries in the area. Does anyone hear have experience with any of the following schools:

Jean 23
Providence
AR Auderghem
AR Crommelynck
BICS
St Julien-Parnasse
Dames de Marie
St Adrien
St Hubert
Assumption

We are looking for a school that has high academic standards but will still support my son while he works on his French.

AR Auderghem, St Julien-Parnasse, St Adrien and AR Crommelynck don't have such high academic standards. A friend of mine told me to steer clear of St Adrien when I said I was going to the open day (it has Dutch immersion which just means history/geography is in Dutch as well as Dutch). Out of the four I think l'ARA has the highest academic standards.

Dames de Marie is supposed to be easier than St Michel but a good standard. Very popular and difficult to get into.

St Hubert = high academic standard.

Don't know about the others.

Your most likely to get in somewhere either close to your home or close to your primary school.

As for supporting your son, I'm not sure about that for any of them. I'm not saying they won't but I don't know. Might be worth ringing them to ask.

Can I revive this topic one more time and ask you few more questions?

I was looking at a Rudolf Steiner school which looked really nice in Leuven (dutch speaking). I am just really confused about the fees for this type of private schools. On the website it says that it is subsidized but it doesn't say anything about possible fees. And then there is Le Versau (french speaking) is that free? I am just kind of confused about all the different schools.

Question #2) Do schools in general use science labs, or computer labs, or language labs. Or is the teaching just very theoretic even for this type of classes?

Thank you very much.

The 25 Steiner schools in Belgium are mostly if not all subsidised by the Flemish / French communities, but because they partially opt out of the national curriculum, they have to part fund. I don't think their top-up fees are more than 1 or 2k per year. The one I know of in Tervuren asks for a "voluntary" donation, but I guess all parents pay.

Le Verseau is in the same subsidised category as the Steiner schools. I think fees are up to 5k per year there.

There are not that many of these schools in Belgium, in Brussels for example, there are about 10 of them, only the Steiner one is Dutch.

Primary schools more and more use IT equipment, but nowhere near like to the standard and frequency as our children experienced in the UK.

We have a child in the early years of secondary. Science lab work doesn't really seem to commence until the 3rd year of secondary, Science is very much theoretical for the first 2 years. In 2nd year at our child's school, there is a 2 hour Science experiments option.

Thanks Natation for the explanation about the different schools.

So as far as you know do all the kids get to work in a science lab starting from their 3rd year of secondary school or only the ones that choose science as their option?

I am only recounting our son's school. Science is obligatory for the first 2 years of school. From the 3rd year onwards, schools fall into 4 categories, you would have to check with the French curriculum for the details whether Science continues in every school, it does in our son's, our son goes to a school which offers general educations, by 3rd year onwards, that means for the more academically inclined.Next year he has 3 hours of Science, in 3rd year this will increase to 5 hours and divided into different strands of Science. Our son has learned an enormouis amount in Science already, to me it is not relevant whether he is sitting in a laboratory now or sitting in an ordinary classroom.

If you are going to choos a schoollike Le Verseau or Steiner in Leuven, be aware of distance from Brussels, if that is where you plan to live.

Here's a pdf of the number of periods for each subject in French secondary schools, for the first 2 years, I cannot find a similar file which shows the breakdown of subjects for the last 4/5 years of secondary. As you see, in mainstream 1st and 2nd (1ere and 2eme commune) that means 28 hours of the same curriculum with 3 periods of Science per week, the remaining 4 hours are different from one school to another.

Where it is marked "langue moderne", in Brussels that means obligatory Nederlands, in Wallonia it can be replaced by another modern language, for example at Le Verseau in Bierges, that means up to 4 hours of English.

www.enseignement.be/index.php?page=24547&navi=45
click on "tableau reprenant la structure"

The curriculum diversifies into General, Technical, Artistic or Professional from 3rd secondary upwards. At a guess, around 50% or perhaps a bit more follow General and the rest follow one of the other 3 types. In our son's school, from 3rd year onwards, there are 7 classes of General and 1 of Technical. There are 2 schools near us which have only Technical and Professional options from 3rd year onwards, quite alot of children transfer to these schools at this point - Technical and Professional covers things like plumbing, carpentry, IT, para-medical, if you are from the UK, it would be a bit like going to a further education college at aged 16 to stydy a profession, here in Belgium you can specialise a bit earlier at age 14, but you still have to study French and Maths at these schools, along with a profession.

Thanks a lot for all the info and the link.

Hi everyone, I have been reading from yesterday onwards because there is really valuable information here..
We are a family from greece and our son will be four on July. We will be moving to belgium on september...I visited the sites of steiner school in Leuven and Tervuren and I liked the Leuven one better. The site is in dutch and I am trying to translate it but it is quite difficult. I understand that both schools are subsidised by the local community. Does any mum have her kid there to share her experience with me? You see our son speeks only greek and I believe that such schools are more kid friendly so they will help him to adjust better..at least I hope so.
The other problem I have is that I don't know if there will be any position left for my son by the time we move. I will try to call both schoolds but I don't know if the stuff there speaks English since I speak neither Dutch nor French. Do you know when registration period at those schools starts? Which one of the two areas would you suggest for living Leuven or Tervuren? Unfortunately at the beginning we will have a very tight budget so we can afford an appartment no more than 700?
My uncle lives in belgium in Sint Pieters Leeuw and initially we were looking to rent an appartment close to him but then I saw those steiner schools and we changed our mind. How much time I need by car from Leuven or Tervuren to reach Sint Pieters Leeuw?
Any suggestion and response would be great
Thanks for reading me and sorry for all these questions

Steiner school Leuven from Sint Pieters Leeuw is going to be one hell of a journey. I would recommend leaving at latest 7am in the morning with the hope you make it to school by 8am, I would count on 90 minutes each way, so that means up to 6 hours per day, 2 return journeys, wouldn't even bother going home for half day wednesday. Steiner school Brussel is much better situated, about a 20 minute drive, but still a long way if your child is young. But you do not say age of child. Any child under 8 years old is going to be better off in the nearest or almost nearest local school, rather than travelling a large distance. I would NOT say the Steiner schools are more friendly than any other school, not that I know the Steiner schools at all, local schools can be great too. I am only guessing, but your monthly fees for the Steiner schools are going to be around 100 to 200 euro. If you have a tight budget for accommodation, would you be able to afford the Steiner school fees? Add on the transport costs. If you choose a directly funded Dutch school, not a communal or Catholic one, you even get free school transport. There are 5 local school in Sint Pieters Leeuw, why don't you just look at those?

Natation thanks for your answer
You are absolutely right I had no idea of the distance and of course I don't want my kid to be in a car the whole day. If we can afford one of the two steiner schools we were thinking of renting either in Leuven or Tervuren. Actually we are between two options either finding first the school we want and that will accept us and rent a house close to the school or rent a house to Sint Pieters Leeuw or to a close area and send our son to the local dutch school of our neighborhood. My other problem is that there is a possibility that my husband moves to belgium on september and my son and myself after a few months. This means that I will have to find a school to enroll my kid in the middle of the year so I don't know if there will be available places.
Well my son will be 4 years next month. I will check with the local schools you suggest. Sint Pieters Leeuw is a nice place and we like it. Can you suggest of any other places close to Sint Pieters Leeuw to rent in case we don't find an appartment there that will match our financial criteria? Do you have any info on the local schools there?
I am so happy but also anxious because I don't know how my son will treat the language barrier with his classmates and his teachers

There is NO WAY you will find somewhere other than a 1 bed flat for rent in Tervuren near the Teruvren Steiner school within your budget, Leuven you should manage in that budget but it's a minimum 30 minutes to Brussels, if that is where work is, same as Sint Pieters Leeuw. The Steiner school in Tervuren is tiny, only goes to age 6, meaning a change to local school after 2 years, the nearest one to it being GBS Vossem. Sorry I misread and thought you meant the Brussel Steiner school on the edge of Anderlecht which is 20 minutes from Sint Pieters Leeuw. The Tervuren Steiner is again 45 minutes to 75 minutes from Sint Pieters Leeuw. I really would counsel you to look at local and free from fees schools. The Steiner school in Tervuren for one thing has a significant percentage of non Dutch speakers, whereas the schools in Sint Pieters Leeuw are going to be very much Dutch speaking majority. I cannot give advice on areas around Sint Pieters Leeuw, just use google maps and immoweb, but I can see on a quick search of immoweb you are well within budget. Print out a map of the town, plot the local schools on it. Then choose a house. There is nothing stopping enrolment now for a later date either, just enrol NOW. Just looked up, there are in fact 7 schools listed for the town. And for a 4 year old, language will be really easy, only a tiny minority are not fluent within a year, perhaps quiet for 3 or 4 months, then small sentences, then with confidence, will be like any other child.
www.ond.vlaanderen.be/onderwijsaanbod/lijst.asp?hs=bao&prov=V&fusie=F&nis=23077&app=20

Here are the 7 schools in St Pieters Leeuw. Your son would be in 2nde kleuterklass in the next school year 2011-12.

1 directly controlled Flemish community school
www.degroeneparel.sgr9.g-o.be/

2 town controlled schools
www.dentop.be/
www.populiertje.be/

4 Catholic controlled schools (not that religion is taught until age 6, non Catholic schools still have to teach religion or morals but choice of religion)
www.donboscospl.be/
Don Bosco Annex on above website
www.st-steven.be/
www.vbszuun.be/

Here is the link to the town website, includes the schools in other villages under the same post code
www.sint-pieters-leeuw.be/content/content/record.php?ID=227&s_navID=160