Preschools in Paris

[sohyun78]

Hi, I am a mom of two, who is planning to move to Paris in the summer. My older one is 3.5, and currently going to a preschool in America. She will be 4 by the time we move there, and she will be Pre-K in American terms. I am looking for a preschool in Paris, and to be honest, I am bit overwhelmed and confused... Help!!

These are the schools I found..

1. Bilingual Montessori School
2. EaB

3.EabJM 4.Eurecole

We are planning on staying for a year or two, and we want her to be in a warm and welcoming atmosphere where both languages are spoken. I want her to learn French naturally without being stressed. She is rather a shy kid and we've been working on building her self-esteem.

• Another question: Any idea why EaB is so much more expensive than EabJM?

GoldFrak... that sounds terribly complicated how Lennen organises the day, but I'm fascinated by the idea, if a little sceptical at the same time about the same class being divided with 2 teachers speaking 2 different languages in the same room.

I would be more concerned about a school with a low percentage of mother tongue French speakers..... I bet with that comes a high pupil turnover of non francophones passing through the school and back out again as they accompany their parents to the next international assignment.

I think, might be wrong, but the class spends the morning together with the 2 teachers each offering activities in their language and then the afternoon the anglophones go with the francophone teacher and do stuff in French, the francophones go with the anglophone teacher and do stuff in English. That's if it's the one I'm thinking of. Although I think there's another called BISP which does something very similar so I may be confusing the 2.

Tbh there are lots of bilingual schools around but a lot of them are hors contrat or organised in strange ways and IME French people aren't so keen on hors contrat so the percentage of francophones is much lower.

Thanks for the posting in regards to EUROCOLE was there recently was not sure about it and now the few postings have answered my concerns - I am also in midsts of moving to Paris so having read all of the above postings have help me much more in terms of the schooling for my children although I have a question - where can one bring a 2 year old for some type of schooling? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

A two year old can go to a "toute petite section" in some private maternelles - Petit Cours du Rocher has one, as does Ecole Sainte-Clotilde in the 7th. Often half-days, I think.

Otherwise you can send your child to a private halte-garderie (a sort of part-time nursery). These vary a lot in quality and the good ones seem to get very booked up - you would need to ask around for recommendations when you know where you are going to be living.

Can anyone speak to the facilities at eab monceau and bilingual montessori quai d'orsay? Size of classrooms, aesthethics, play space outdoors, new vs. old etc?

Thanks so much!

Hi,
really hoping someone can help me, we are moving from wales, uk to lille in September, children will be 6 and 9 this march. I really like the EABJM and visited them last week. I understand i need to get a WPPSI-III test, firstly can someone tell me what is the uk equivalent, from my research it seems awfully expensive and im concerned about paying all that money and children not getting in. Is there a cheaper or free alternative in the uk and is it essential at their age to have it done. Really panicking, need to make decision. I would be grateful for any info or comments.

keonelucia - EABJM are totally gone on that WPPSI test. Obviously, if you are moving to Lille from Wales, EABJM is going to be far and away your best school option.

I don't know who administers the WPPSI test in the UK. What I do know is that it is a test that is used frequently in the US. Maybe ask the US consulate in London (or an American School in London?) whether they have an address in the UK?

Read this. It doesn't sound as if WPPSI-III is right for your 9 year old.

"The UK sample for the WPPSI-III was collected between 2002?2003 and contained 805 children in an attempt to accurately represent the most current UK population of children aged 2 years 6 months to 7 years 3 months according to the 2001 UK census data. The UK validation project was conducted at City University under the direction of Professor John Rust."

From Wikipedia. Why don't you email Professor John Rust about it, and ask for a recommendation for someone who can administer the test?

Our autistic/dyspraxic son has gone through these tests, they are widely used I believe in special education circles. Ask your school if you can talk to the educational psychologist who might be able to refer you to someone willing to do this test privately. but goodness, this sounds so French!!! Our 5 year old had to undergo a similar IQ test recently, simply to get the health insurance company to agree to subsidise her speech therapy, so I had to pay out 120 euro to get even more ???? in speech therapy refunded, however her class teacher could have verified she is a clever girl, she scored 140 which is cleverer than me.

Natation - are you in Belgium? Is it as good for education of kids with autism as I have heard (total thread hijack, sorry!)
Am always wondering what to do about DD when she gets to collège...(she's only 6 so I have time!!)

Yes Belgium but my son is in an international school and receives no extra help at all, he is on the lower end of the autistic section.

keonelucia - look for an educational psychologist - I had my son doing one - London - not easy to find but once I knew who to ask for was much easier to have someone run the test - so look for an educational psychologist

Hi everyone. I've been following this board with interest and I had a question that I'm hoping you can help me with. Our 3 1/2 year old DD is going to a French immersion pre-school (it's accredited by the Ministère de l'Education Nationale) in America and we will be spending about 2 months in Paris this fall. Her primary language is English and my husband and I only know very basic French. Are any of you aware of any French schools that might take my daughter for that short period of time? We will be in temporary housing so I don't know if she'll be able to attend a public school.

TriciaK9, I think the answer to your question will depend on the status of whoever is accompanying your daughter to Paris. I'm not a Schengen area expert, but my guess is if a parent is on a business/visit visa or on normal 90 day non visa business/visit in the Schengen area, then the answer is no to a public school. If the parent is on a work permit or similar permission to stay, then the answer is perhaps a yes. You could try a private school (ie not one subsidised by the state). If that is a viable option, then the school itself should know the conditions of whether it is acceptable under business/visitor rules or work permit dependent rules or whether the child itself would need a study visa, it's possible this study could be classed as informal study and is allowed under Schengen rules. You really need to research Schengen rules a bit.

Sorry so late replying, didnt even know anyone messaged me back oops, was checking web and typed in similar question and came back to this. so daft haha. Thanks Bonsoir and Uk to Paris. x

My children go go a private school in uk, will their end of assessments do.

My main concern is that welle only be staying in eabjm for a year to two max and theses tests seem to be about £500 each, a lot to pay especially if they dont get a place with their results. We are moving September, have given verbal notice with their school and starting to panick.

Uk to Paris , is it really cheeky of me to ask how much you payed for your childs test in London and what results were the school looking for? feel free not to answer if its a bit impersonal.

Bonsoir , whats your opinion on children getting in, do you think a school assessment will be enough, deputy head of childrens school offered to ring them and discuss children.will it make a different.

Supposed to say end of term assessment. Apologies loads of spelling mistakes.:)

Ooh and also thankyou natation, will a private school have a educational psycologist on board, i know they work with lea s but when i asked what assessment they do and if they did the one above , they said no, they do termly assessments. When teacher of 5 year old gave me her assessments they were just basically worksheets of maths and writing tests.She seemed so happy to give them to me that i didnt have the heart to say what i thought of them.

I think im just worried about paying £1000 out for nothing, they dont get in and im a thousand pound short and i end up at square one. And also what if one gets in and the other dosent.

Go and see your LEA and ask to contact an ed psych who will know who would do the tests privately. I think you might need to look at the price in relation to the school fees, it's less than the yearly fees.

Your alternative is a local primaire which will be almost free.

I know a former pupil of EABJM Paris who went to see EABJM Lille last weekend, said it's just a snobby as she remembers her school days, a bit elitist she said. She has chosen local primaires and secondaires for her children without a second thought, having seen the school. But I can understand the need to be in a bilingual school if you know 100% you are going back into English. You may just have to pay the money and forget if possible the outlay.

Hi again and thanks

Its not im being tight, my childrens education is everything to me, its just if they dont get in , it seems such a waste.

We went over last week in their school holidays and visited the school, i think the important thing for me is a bilingual education. I will be staying out there most the week with the children and my husband will commute back and for as much as business will allow.
We have been to france numerous times but neither of us speak french as yet, so although im a bit of a tyrant with homework at the moment over here, i wont be much help to the children when learning french. And i dont know whether school will be free if we are paying uk taxes still?. Which areas in Lille have the (best) schools.? :)

Fully agree, to me the tests seem simply stupid!! I certainly wouldn't want to pay if they simply say no afterwards. Any chance of asking them what results they are looking for, then an informal assessment from someone who carries out the tests to see whether your children's results will be good enough before doing the formal tests? Or could you simply check that they are looking for results of normality within a spectrum, rather than a pass mark? Maybe it's the school's way of making sure they do not have children with special needs. Our dyspraxic/autistic son's results showed him exceptionally bright at some things and crap at anything to do with motor skills, maybe it's the difficult child they are wishing NOT to have, so if your children are without special needs, then perhaps that's all the school is looking for.

No idea where the better schools are in Lille, communal ones have intake according to strict catchment area, the the posher the area, the posher the school I suppose. You can opt into the very cheap Catholic system instead. I'm in Belgium and the Catholic schools are free here, unlike in France, but they make up over 50% of schools and are seen on the whole, rightly or wrongly, as more prestige schools than the communal ones, perhaps someone in France could fill you in on whether that's a generalism for France too.

All children legally "resident" in France, plus asylum seekers, have the right to an education there, it's not dependant on which country taxes are paid in or nationality. There are thousands of cross-border workers in the EU now, paying tax in one country and living in another.

EABJM Lille is a part-subsidised French state school, the rule about attendance should be the same as in a subsidised Catholic or Communal school.

If any of this is wrong, hope someone comes along soon to correct me.

Hope your children have a great time. I really like Lille, I have worked there on and off since 2007. Great shopping and nice Flemish architecture in the old town, great transport system, great to go anywhere else in France too.

EABJM likes rich parents, so maybe one of the reasons they make parents pay for tests it to see whether the parents mind coughing up or not?

EABJM is highly oversubscribed and, IMO, has fairly random selection processes to deal with the hordes that flock to its gates. Being rich is a desirable criterion.

Mods will you please remove my posts?

Cutie you need to use the report function to alert MNHQ.

It's worth asking EABJM whether the tests are really necessary but they may well say they they are. I agree it doesn't sound 'the right thing for your elder one, keone.

You don't have to be resident in France to send your children to EABJM Lille btw - they have a boarding section precisely to cover non-residents who want a sous-contrat bilingual education which is one of the things which makes it a very attractive option for us in a good few years!