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Original poster

Paris International Schools and SEN

39 replies

MmeSmithgoestoParis · 06/04/2011 04:39

Hi Everyone,

We are British parents with American born and educated children. We are moving to Paris this summer and we need to find an international school in Paris that is supportive of children with Learning Differences. My little guy is in second grade in the US (age 8) in a regular ed classroom and goes to a resource room for Language Arts (he has Dyspraxia). He also receives OT and Speech therapy at school.

I am a Mama bear where he is concerned and I know that I have a limited choice but I do not want to put him in a school where they are not positive and they are not going to support him. My hubby will have to commute! ;)

Any advice will be gratefully appreciated.

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 06/04/2011 07:21

You need Marymount. I visited all of the international schools in Paris and Marymount is the only one which is good with SEN. It is a lovely school. The only reason ours didn't go there is that they only go up to age 14, which would have meant moving DD1 for her last year here.

It's US curriculum.

Bonsoir · 06/04/2011 07:27

I agree with MrsSchadenfreude - Marymount is the school with the reputation for supporting SEN. You could also try EAB Victor Hugo and see what they say. I visited it recently (though not to suss out its SEN support) and was immensely impressed with the Headmistress and the classroom dynamics.

FWIW, Marymount and Lennen are both known for having significant numbers of spoiled (read badly behaved) children in the classroom.

BriocheDoree · 06/04/2011 08:26

I have heard good things about Marymount and very mixed things about Lennen (like they refused to take a child with SEN because they already had "too many"). I have also heard that the American School of Paris in Saint Cloud is accepting of "learning differences" but perhaps MrsS would know more as I believe she looked into it. (I have a child with more severe SEN who is in the French system, but I am on a forum for kids with SEN in France).

BriocheDoree · 06/04/2011 08:27

Ooh, and I know the details of a good (US-trained) OT in Paris if that would be of any use to you!

scaryteacher · 06/04/2011 11:49

A friend told me her ds was well supported by the British School of Paris.

MrsSchadenfreude · 06/04/2011 18:32

Really, Bonsoir? I am surprised. We saw no discipline problems at all when we looked round Marymount (although it obviously has quite a lot of rich parents). In fact I was impressed - they had two all of 4th and 5th grade in the theatre while I was there, doing various things. The teacher walked to the front of the stage, held her hand up, and instant quiet and full attention.

ASP fine with moderate SEN in lower and middle school, but not, I think, in high school. BSP - not sure. Someone I know, whose child went there was badly bullied (she had Aspergers), but she felt that it was good for her in that it was a fairly "rigid" school (when I looked round it was like something from the 1950s, but they are in new building now, with new headteacher, so prob v different).

MrsSchadenfreude · 06/04/2011 18:34

At BSP they refused to show us classes in action - we just saw empty classrooms, so no idea what discipline was like!

You might look at ISP as well?

Bonsoir · 06/04/2011 20:27

MrsS - I know families who have taken their children away from Marymount and Lennen because of disruption from other children. Those are the only Anglophone or bilingual English schools in Paris that I have heard have such issues, however.

dilbertina · 07/04/2011 05:16

Hi MmeSmith, I've got 2 at BSP Junior School and am happy with the school, but no direct experience of SEN provision. There are plenty of children who do have SEN in the school and need various levels of additional support, and I haven't heard anything negative about the provision from other parents.

The school was recently inspected and the comments regarding the provision seem to be very positive.
www.isi.net/School.aspx?s=7377

dilbertina · 07/04/2011 05:20

Oops - pressed post too soon! Was just going to add...

Are you going to get the opportunity to visit some schools in advance? That's probably best if you can - If you do go and look around BSP you will definitely see classes in action now!

BriocheDoree · 07/04/2011 10:52

The other one that has an excellent reputation for SEN is Forest International School in Mareil Marly. However, they only do grades 1-5, so perhaps your DS is too old ? (Grade 5 is age 9 or 10?)

natation · 07/04/2011 11:21

SEN is going to make up perhaps 5% of the student population so most if not all international schools in Paris are going to cater for SEN. I think you're best off visiting all of them. We have an SEN child, in the end we only had a choice of 2 international schools (not in Paris) and went for the one where we though our child would fit in best, neither were ideal. A major consideration, especially if you are on a modest income, is the cost of extra support, some schools give a certain amount of support for no additional cost, some require the parents to pay for additional support.

Bonsoir · 07/04/2011 15:32

natation - since international and bilingual schools are nearly all private and can select their pupils, not all of them choose to include SEN among the pupils they choose to admit. So, no, they don't all cater to SEN pupils in proportion to the extent of SEN in the general population.

MrsSchadenfreude · 07/04/2011 18:58

Bonsoir is right. There is generally some provision in primary, but less in secondary (if any at all) - particularly if they are results-oriented (which, let's face it, most of them are). My friend whose son was autistic had to pay for his assistant herself in Brussels (BSB) - not sure if it's the same here.

I was very disappointed by BSP (under the old primary head, I hasten to add). Having been at BSB, BSP seemed to me as if it would be the natural transition, but I was utterly horrified by our visit - seeing no children in the classrooms at all, and refusal to let us see a class in action, as it would have been "disruptive". The one class we strayed into inadvertantly was like something from the 1950s, with those vile pinafore dresses knitted by ginger nuns on some remote Scottish island, all in desks of two facing front, and leaping to their feet when the headteacher came in, and saying all together "Good morning Mrs...." I hated the way she kept stressing that it was run on the lines of an independent school - ours had come from a state primary ("Ah yes" - cat's bum face). Most of all I hated the disinterest in our children, and the very pushy email telling us that the places were being held, but they needed a deposit, like NOW - the email was sent before we had even left the school premises.

I'm sure our experience would have been different now, or maybe if we had seen the other primary school site. It was also the only school which couldn't tell us anything about what DD1 would do the next school year in secondary school, given that she would only have two terms left in the primary (and seemed to have no interest in her future either - the other schools actively encouraged us to speak to the teachers of the next year up and see classes in action before making a decision).

I'm very happy with where they are now (which is what counts) but was very disappointed to leave with such a negative feeling about a school.

natation · 07/04/2011 19:30

Isn't Marymount a girls only school? It might not therefore be suitable for the OP's son?

Very funny, the comment about the knitted dresses at BSP, I guess quite a contrast to the very liberal BSB dress code!

MrsSchadenfreude · 07/04/2011 19:34

Marymount is mixed here, but the UK one is girls only. Smile

Yes - very traditional tartan wool pinafore dresses - nice and itchy, I would imagine! And in complete contrast to BSB dress code, yes (although when we were there, Boden might as well have been the uniform in the infant school).

Original poster
MmeSmithgoestoParis · 07/04/2011 20:28

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your responses we have our spring break here so apologies for not responding (I'm on the beach)! They have set my husband up with appointments next week at ASP, BSP, Marymount & Forest. I know that it's not ideal because school is out but he's working there next week and then I will have to come out too and look again. It's hard because April is gone with vacations in both countries and then May our kids get out of school here!
ASP seems to be the school of choice for the English speakers of our company but wherever we choose we just have to make sure that he gets the right support. It's a fine line because he is very intelligent and still qualified for TAG but too much in a self contained environment is over kill.
I just want to jump on a plane and get over there - why do we have to have different holiday schedules grrrr!

OP posts:
scaryteacher · 07/04/2011 22:16

Interesting Mrs Schadenfreude as my friend has done the reverse to you and is far less impressed with BSB and preferred BSP.

MrsSchadenfreude · 07/04/2011 22:30

Scaryteacher - I can see that if you went the other way - especially if your children were older (we left when mine were still in primary). I'd have blinked a bit at the older BSB children in their crop tops, bare midriffs and tiny skirts. BSP just seemed too 1950s compared with what we were used to!

If we went back to Brux after Paris (anything's possible!) I think I would consider sending the DDs to St John's. BSB seemed to be losing its way a bit (especially in the junior school) in my last year in Brux and several of my friends moved their children.

scaryteacher · 08/04/2011 09:02

She had one in primary when she got here and one who was going into Year 7. I don't think there is anything wrong with a bit more ethos, focus and discipline than is currently extant at BSB. Primary seems good now, but I am tearing my hair out still secondary wise.

Bonsoir · 08/04/2011 09:13

English-style school uniforms à la BSP seem so inappropriate in France.

dilbertina · 08/04/2011 10:19

They do make mornings so much easier though!

BriocheDoree · 08/04/2011 12:43

Really? I always thought it would be a nightmare trying to force kids into uniform every morning! Perhaps they have improved on what I remember from school (trying to picture the BSP uniform...don't know where the BSP kids hide but you never see them in town!)

Bonsoir · 08/04/2011 13:09

I have a big enough nightmare forcing DD into her dress code (navy blue/grey/white plain clothing) every morning - not enough variety for her. She tried to convince me to let her go to school in leopard-print strappy sandals today.

frakyouveryverymuch · 08/04/2011 13:14

Ah but with uniform there is no negotiation whatsoever and that's final. It does save battles once they realise that.

I have no idea what ISP is like with SEN but I wasn't massively impressed by it as a school, particularly the way they implement (or don't implement) the PYP.