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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:
Bonsoir · 08/04/2011 13:44

Implementation of the PYP is very difficult. ISP is not alone!

frakyouveryverymuch · 08/04/2011 14:03

True - am not a massive fan of it personally - but ISP strike me as a particularly bad example. I think it might be a general organisational issue with them.

dilbertina · 08/04/2011 14:10

Brioche, go to the park on the island at 4pmish and you'll probably see millions of them! Last chance for winter uniform today(blue plaid pinafore dress), summer uniform(blue/white stripes) after Easter!

I think that's the point - there is no choice so the children don't even bother arguing...

MmeSmithgoestoParis · 08/04/2011 15:43

When you guys moved did you take the kids with you to view several schools or did you decide or narrow it down and then take them?

OP posts:
natation · 08/04/2011 17:21

Ironically in Brussels, it's the local schools who are more likely to have school uniforms, the 2 big international schools do not have uniforms at all, a few of the smaller international schools have uniforms.

When BSP visit Brussels for sporting competitions, they do sort of stand out as they are always the only school which turns up in school uniform.

Must say I miss school uniforms, none of our children in 3 different schools have uniforms, though I really wish our eldest's school would at least implement a dress code. Luckily in our children's primaire, there is no pressure like at other primaires to wear Cyrillus or Jacardi etc, the kids very much dress down.

When researching schools, I narrowed the area down so when we came to visiting, I did first visits alone, the ones I liked, I took the children back to. For the eldest, we only had a choice of 2 schools, the youngest ones had an enormous choice, ruled out international ones very quickly, though there was one which stood out as just our sort of school (that was BISB) and visited about half a dozen local ones, making a final choice between 2 schools, we knew immediately though which one we liked best and the head sent us away to "reflechir" and would not let us enrol straightaway.

My colleague worked at a school with PYP, now works at a school with a modified English National curriculum, says PYP is quite a difficult curriculum to get to grips with compared to English NC.

MrsSchadenfreude · 09/04/2011 07:42

We saw them all, with the children, and let them have an element of choice. Fortunately we were fairly unanimous in our choice of school.

On the uniform/non uniform debate, I much prefer non-uniform. There is never the problem of having no clean uniform as there is always something to wear. School dress code is fairly lax, but no crop tops, too short shorts etc. Most of the children wear jeans, T shirts, hoodies and converse.

We liked ISP when we visited and particularly the new(ish) head of primary.

frakyouveryverymuch · 09/04/2011 07:48

That's because the biggest problem with the PYP is it really doesn't have what could be described as a curriculum (contentwise). I understand the rationale behind this but it makes it a thousand times more difficult to get to grips with, or even to support. At least the NC, for all its flaws, tells you what to teach/learn/assess when.

When the PYP is done well (usually by experienced and very dedicated staff who work together as a team) it can be fabulous and enriching, engaging and thought-provoking. When the concepts are applied without a good foundation it goes nowhere....

amelieanne · 17/07/2011 18:46

I know this thread is fairly old, but I went to the BSP with my brothers. My brother was a SEN pupil and had lots of extra help. We all had a fantastic time there and left with plenty of qualifications. (We never found the school uniform to be a problem as so many of us were used to wearing one in the UK)!!

I moved to the EAB (Avenue Victor Hugo) to do my A levels - would not recommend this place at all.

MmeSmithgoestoParis · 14/08/2011 19:16

Thanks Amelianne,

BSP wasn't phased by our sons needs at all but some of the other schools admitted to us that BSP had a better program to offer than they did. I also spoke to other parents who had switched all their children to BSP because one of them may have needed more support than they were receiving at their current school.

OP posts:
LouiseMichel · 07/02/2012 09:16

Hi there, I hope this message gets spotted by someone. I'm looking into secondary schools in Paris for my son who is moderately dyslexic - doesn't have to be a bilingual school although that would be nice since he is fully bilingual. Anyone know if the Ecole Active Bilingue or Eurecole are dyslexia aware and accept kids whose grades do not reflect their intellectual ability? How much importance do they place on art and music? And finally, is there an anglophone dyslexia parent group in Paris that I could get in touch with for advice about orthophonistes etc. Thanks for any tips,
Louise

BriocheDoree · 07/02/2012 10:30

Hello. Can't advise about schools as we are in the French system but there is an anglophone group for parents of kids with special needs, including dyslexia. If you email me brioche 90 @ gmail .com (obviously without the spaces!) I will send you the details (or you can message me from mumsnet, I think, but I don't know how that works!)

LouiseMichel · 08/02/2012 10:47

Thanks Briochedoree,
I have e mailed you for that info and look forward to hearing back from you.

For other parents reading this thread and looking for info about secondary schools I can recommend the Lycee International in Saint Germain en Laye, particularly the American section, for bi-lingual children.

They don't only have classes at the Lycee building, at middle school level they also have a section at the College Marcel Roby which is a 10 minute walk from the RER. The kids get a lot of homework and the academic standard is high but the staff are truly fantastic and know how to motivate kids to do their best. If anyone wants to know more feel free to contact me.

Fraktal · 10/02/2012 18:52

Word in the street (and MN) says Eurecole isn't a good choice, even taking dyslexia out of the equation.

Nomadden · 24/04/2012 06:00

Hello. My family and I will be moving to Paris in 2013. My daughters are native english speakers, fluent in German and speak a little French. Our preference would be bilingual school that does two of three languages with a third language in the curriculum. The only school that I have heard of is Eurecole, are there any others? Although, I have not visited Eurecole but according to different websites it has not gotten favorable reviews. Can anyone tell me more concrete what is wrong with the school?

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