Preschools in Paris - EAB Monceau full!

[Superspudable]

We are supposed to be moving from Brussels to Paris in the summer but all is not finalised yet...

Having read the previous thread on preschools in Paris with interest, I sent an email to EAB Monceau regarding a place for my to DSs. They are both in a french school here and doing well - DS1 is 2006 so going into GS and DS2 is 2007 so going into MS.

So EAB tell me Monceau is full, but it may change before September. Not sure whether you go on a waiting list to go through the application process or vice versa but wanted to pick the brains of MNers in Paris:

• was going to see if Lamarmartine has places, obviously the environment is not as attractive due to the lack of surrounding park but any other thoughts?
• is it likely that places will come up? Any experience of being on a waiting list for EAB? Are lots of expats leaving Paris (as they are here)? Or am I just thinking wishfully...
• any experience of other private schools? Not montessori please! Happy with 100% french or some bilingual.
• Local French schools? Slightly concerned how these seem to be allocated by the mairie and how to get this sorted if we only move in July and need a place for september. Any experience? Have had a really good experience with the Belgian system but not sure if we've just been lucky!

Thanks in advance for your help!

I don't know anything about the private schools, but if you go to the public school they HAVE to give you a place, but it might not be the nearest to your home (we once moved mid-year and had no probs, just depends how full your local school is).
As to other schools - rather depends where you intend to live. There are quite a few out year in w. suburbs but I don't really know about Paris intramuros.

That's very interesting BriocheDoree - thank you. Do they still HAVE to give you a place for maternelle even though it's not compulsory? If so, that's great..

DH is working at La Defense so dependent on whether we go into Paris (16th, 17th or 8th) or in the suburbs (hmmm.... anywhere with good access to La defense down the west bank from Courbevoie to Saint Cloud or Neuilly). It feels a bit chicken and egg at the moment! I guess if we can get a place at EAB Lamartine (awaiting email response) and decide to go for that (get good education allowance) then that might influence housing location.

Completely foxed on whether to go into Paris to take better advantage of what it has to offer or go outside for more space and a slightly different offering!

EABJM - they should be quite interested as your children are presumably EMT and have been in French schools.

Expats will be leaving Paris but the waiting list at EAB is likely to be long.

I'm pretty sure they have to give you a place in maternelle but it may not be at the nicest neighbourhood school... Would you consider private Catholic schools?

Thanks for that SnapFrakkleAndPop!

Have been relooking at EABJM - was previously slightly concerned that it was slightly elitist but agree we should be "attractive" candidates - yes EMT, been in French schools, will be going back to UK at some point...

Also been looking at Bilingual School of Paris (BISP) - any experience anyone? Slightly different with half day English and half day French...

Not really thought about private Catholic schools - feels slightly hypocritical given we are not catholic and have not even had the boys baptised but I guess "laicite" means that may not be such an issue? What's the best way of finding them and what are the admission criteria?

I guess the thing is if you go state schools is to live in the best area possible, to limit the possibility of being allocated a "poor" school?

Do they make every maternelle child sleep at school in France? In Belgium (well at our school) they are quite pragmatic about it and to be honest, if my youngest naps he will not go to bed before midnight and it causes huge problems!

EABJM requires an IQ test of some description, and the one place that they tell you will administer it in London doesn't do it any more. You might have more luck in Belgium, though.

EAB Lamartine I used to walk past every day on my way to work. I never heard any English families outside and the dress tends towards Little Lord Fauntleroy (but it is the 16th...!). Have never heard of BISP - not on our "approved" list (and neither is Eurecole).

How about the Lennen Bilingual School?

According to the EABJM website only my eldest would require the "WPPSI, ERB or an equivalent age-appropriate evaluation", according to availability in your country, which may be taken in the language of your choice. Hmmm.. wonder if it might not be available in Belgium... It's a bit shocking that a 4/5 year old has to go through an IQ test really IMHO.

at the dress at EAB Lamartine - not so bothered if there's not other Brits there. But definitely don't have any Little Lord Fauntleroy attire...

Something I read somewhere put me off Eurecole (can't even remember what). Lennen school website is a bit inconclusive - is it Montessori? Can see it's hors contrat but not much else (doesn't mention the fees!)..think it might be a bit too "fluffy" for my DCs at this age and the eventual return to a UK primary...

Thanks for your input - can I ask which arrondissement you live in?

Someone on another thread looking to get their children into EABJM Lille has written about this IQ test - has found an education psychologist in the UK who will do this "relatively" cheaply.

In Brussels, your best starting point to find someone who might be familiar with the test is to go to Community Health Services (CHS) which is in Ixelles somewhere and has a website I think.

ERB is like American SATs (if that helps) - although the DDs' school no longer uses ERB. And I am not sure it would/could be used for such young children - DD2 only did math(s) and English (reading, writing, spelling) when she was in 3rd grade (aged 9).

Lennen is on our "approved" list, I think. I had a friend who taught there and thought it was a lovely school.

I am in the 17th near Parc Monceau - come and join the Courcelles MN Mafia!

Superspudable,
our daughter had to go through an IQ test for the mutuelle to pay for her logopede this year. I think it cost me 120 euro over 3 sessions (40 euro each) and our mutuelle was willing to reimburse 10 euro for each session - crazy spending money to save money but that's how it worked. Anyway, I could give you her telephone number or address.

natation - that would be useful thanks, please could you message me the details. As we don't have any immediate plans to go back to the UK, we really need to find somewhere here to do them or justify that we it is not possible in BXL. I have sent an email to the CHS too.

MrsS - ERB doesn't sound suitable for DS1. Love the sound of 17th - that's another reason I was gutted that EAB Monceau had no places...

I wouldn't say EABJM is particularly elitist, more than they take a certain profile (which you happen to fit which is good for you) but that profile (academic, bilingual or very enthusiastic about it, internationally focused) often comes along with a more elitist stereotype.

In terms of Catholic schools I don't think baptism is a pre-requisite - I mean I've known non-Catholic who send their children there - but they will be taught religion as part of the curriculum so if that worries you don't go for them. They are, however, usually sous contrat which IMO makes them a better prospect than the hors contrat schools and if you're faced with a good Catholic school and a not-exactly-brilliant local school it might be worth investigating. You can search all private schools in Paris here and this is an example of the documents required for a dossier de candidature. Obviously you'll have to do a bit of explaining about the livret de famille and the extrait de naissance and why you don't have them. Baptism certificate is required 'if your child is baptised' so presumably not a pre-requisite for all schools, although priority would probably be given to baptised Catholics. The advantage of these will be that in many cases you can apply and hold a place before having an address in Paris.

Lennen I did a bit of poking around on following a recent thread - if you're looking at going back to the UK then yes, the language skills will be there, but it seems much more Franco-American than Franco-British. It shares preschool premises with a Montessori school.

Natation - thanks for your message - very helpful! CHS really helpful too and they arranged for my DS1 to do the test at the weekend - went really well.

SFP - we're going for it with EEABJM and if we get in, we get in and if we don't we'll think again! I think your first sentence rang true for us. Spoke to a lady in admissions last week and she explained the process to me which was interesting - 50 places per year and about 5-6 applicants per place -eek! They are also trying to meet a quota of 1/3 francophone, 1/3 bilingual and 1/3 foreign and excellent applications are no guarantee...

(sigh) - wish us luck! I think that'll help us decide where to live though which will help! DH working at La Défense....

Don't know anything about Paris, but DS1 went to a Catholic school in the south of France which was fairly popular in the city we were in. We are not Catholic, and DH is more of an atheist than anything else.

It wasn't a problem in terms of admission - we were upfront about it from the start and they said they had Muslims, atheists, whoever really. I was more worried about indoctrination etc but had a long chat about it all when I enrolled him, and decided I could live with the amount of religious instruction there would be (although apparently this school was at the more limited end of the spectrum).

So don't discount the Catholic schools, though you might need to investigate the individual ones. It was also cheap compared with private schools, only 40 euros a month.

Keep in mind that Paris is not like NY or London where there is a clear difference between local public state schools and private schools.

Just by looking at Bac (A-level) results, you'll see that the results of the public state schools in Paris come out on top, together with some of the top catholic schools.

IMHO only EABJM or the St Germain en Laye lycée (mixed system with local schools) stand apart. Especially at younger age level, the state maternelles are so good that most of the bilingual families I know who have been here for years chose their local maternelle over any private school, certainly EAB, particularly if they have a European background, because it's usually quite easy then to keep up the English speaking education (Wed club, Family visits, Exchange terms in UK school etc).

As you have an education allowance, I can see why you want to spend it, and it will make your life easier in certain cases, for instance if you are not French, if you want to make lots of friends with other parents, if your child is average but not brilliant at school, or if you do not want to take a long time understanding the code of Frenchness (?!), but in terms of education - at least for maternelle or primaire - it will probably not be as good as the brilliant state schools in 8th / 17th / Neuilly, which are well positioned for working at La Défense. I was initially sceptical about class size, independence and facilities - - but when I actually got into the local maternelle it's clear, they are magical places.

My bilingual DD did the whole of maternelle at EAB Monceau and is now in CP there. EAB Monceau is not 100% perfect, but, if I could go back in time, I would make the same decision again and do exactly what I did do and send her to EAB Monceau and no other school and supplement her English with one hour's tutoring in reading per week from Moyenne Section.

I do not intend to send my DD to secondary school at EAB. The French academic standards in primary are very high and children from EAB apply to, and are accepted, in all the best schools in Paris for secondary.

If you push a bit, you will, as a bilingual family, get a place for your children at EAB Monceau! Don't give up at the first hurdle!

Just wondering what happen with you DD. Did you get into EMBJM?

I have just found out we are moving to Paris in Summer. And am now trying to look for schools for my DD1. We would love EMBJM but think at this late stage there will be no hope. Also need to find out where in London I can have her tested WPPSI, ERB.

We are looking at living in the 15th.
Any help would be great.

As I am hoping to get on the next train out to see schools.

We're also moving in July - we can be scared and excited together! We're planning on living in 7th or 15th..

DS1 got into EABJM and DS2 didn't. We've accepted DS1's place, I dropped all the paperwork off last week and it all seemed very nice. Went to mandatory school presentation too.

What year are you looking for? What year were your kids born?

I think it would be quite a miracle to get into EABJM now - as we were told we had performed a miracle getting one of mine in when they hadn't met him. He had a glowing WPPSI which swung it in my opinion. I think there was a mention of somewhere in London to get a WPPSI done in another old thread...

I would call the admissions office - they are helpful on the phone but slow to respond by email.

As far as I am aware, places were allocated on 15/04, and had to be accepted or declined by 29/04 so the only glimmer is the possibility of getting on the waiting list. As a rule the closing date at EABJM for applicants living in France is 31/01 and for outside France 31/03 as the Admissions Committee meets in the 2nd week of April.

If you do want to apply at any time, I can give you some tips on what they are looking for etc.

Hello and thank you all for the great posts on schools in Paris.

We are moving this summer from the US, with two boys aged 3 and 5. We just got a job offer, so sounds like we are too late to get our kids enrolled in EAB or EAJBM. They are 3 years and 5 years.

Does anyone know more about the state schools mentioned above? Where are the best schools? No one in our family speaks French (I know, crazy that we're moving, right?!).

Thank you so much!

Seattlemomma

Snapfrakkleandpop has posted the link to search for all the Catholic schools. They do not cost that much, worth considering as an alternative to state schools, the "sous contrat" ones are still funded by the state but not in the same way, reason for the top-up funds, more felxibility with catchment areas, unlike the state system where you are more or less allocated a school. It's only the "hors contrat" schools where school fees are anywhere like ?????? per year as they do not follow the French curriculum so get no state funding.

Link to search for local schools, state and private :

www.ac-paris.fr/portail/jcms/p2_72695/portail-application-etablissements

Guihailin has posted where is good to look in the Défense area.

I'd say if going for a state or Catholic school, look at where work is and choose somewhere easily accessible to live, if you stick to a certain budget for housing, you will end up in a well-to-do area, there you are likely to find decent schools.

Alot of expats move out west of Paris, here is the link for searching for schools there, not as good as the one for Paris, as you have to know the commune name and there is no map to see exactly where you are looking.

www.ac-versailles.fr/ia78/annuaire/annu_commune.asp

School areas are arranged into "académies", one for Paris, the one named Versailles covers the area west of Paris.

Here is the link to all schools nationally.

www.education.gouv.fr/pid24301/annuaire-accueil-recherche.html

Seattlemomma - if your 3 year old was born in 2008, you could try for a place in Petite Section at EAB Monceau. PS is often not fully subscribed at EAB Monceau because it only does half days. It is, however, VERY difficult to get a spot in MS or GS. There are more places again in CP/11ème (children born in 2005 for this September).

Paris state primaries, even in the so-called plush Western areas, are a very mixed bunch; there are some lovely schools and there are some horrors, and the only sway you have over the school you are allocated is your home address (and that is not a 100% guarantee).

On Catholic schools - they are often also highly oversubscribed (all the good ones are) and they are mostly very strict, which can be a big shock to the system when you first arrive in France, depending on where you are coming from and what your cultural norms are.

Hi,
My daughter goes to BISP, it's a new school in the 15th. We absolutely love it. It's very child friendly. Children spend half day in french and half in english. The classes are small and there is a lot of individual attention. My daughter is very happy there and so are we:). It totally worth visiting.
Kate

Bonsoir, i would like to get in touch with you....regarding schools...