Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Any information about secondary schools in Wavre/Louvain la Neuve, Belgium?

14 replies

Spottish · 08/12/2011 16:50

My eldest DS is 10 and attends the local French school. We live in a small village in the French part just south of Leuven and close to Wavre and Louvain la Neuve. We are starting to look for local secondary schools in the area and would be grateful for any advice. I also have another DS(7) and a DD (nearly 4). We moved here a year ago from Madrid and would be interested in meeting other Mumsneters who live nearby.

OP posts:
monkeybumsmum · 08/12/2011 21:27

Hi Spottish,

Whereabouts are you? I'm in Pietrebais, and it sounds like you must be near here Smile

I have to be quick as am packing to go away for the weekend, but my ds (4) goes to Ecole Le Verseau which is an international school in Bierges (junction 5 off E411, v close to Wavre). It's a bilingual school, primarily french, but also english. They have a 50/50 intake of Francophone/Anglophone speakers (or at least aim to). I would highly recommend it, and they have a secondary school too.

I would love to meet up if you fancy it, then we can talk more...

monkeybumsmum · 08/12/2011 21:28

ps Thanks Ruthchan for pointing me over here Grin

natation · 08/12/2011 22:45

Spottish, secondary school admissions are very much based on geography for those who do not sibling priority. You need to take a look at where the nearest secondaries are to your house, also how your child might get to school (most children take themselves to secondary, might be a bit different in a really rural area). Look at this website. You will get a form where you list up to 10 secondaries, in order. You send this form to the first choice secondary. Those children who live near primary and secondary get more points and for oversubscribed schools, those with the most points get the places.
www.inscription.cfwb.be/index.php?id=296&no_cache=

To give you an idea of what schools study at secondary, here's Le Verseau's timetable for 1st and 2nd secondary. It's pretty similar to our son's school in Brussels, except instead of 5 periods of Dutch per week, the children study 5 periods of English (it says hours, reality is 50 minutes per period). The rest of the curriculum is in French. Le Verseau gets to partially opt out of the French Community curriculum, it receives less funding, so expect up to ?5000 extra per year in fees. It's one of only 2 "fee paying" secondary French Community schools in Belgium.
www.eiverseau.be/secondaire/fr/docs/options123.pdf

Here's a very well regarded secondary in Wavre, at a guess it could be the most traditionally academic in the area. Here's their timetable for 1st and 2nd secondary. It's College Notre Dame de Basse-Wavre.
www.cndbw.be/cndbw/Options.html

www.cndbw.be/cndbw/intro.html

Here is a complete list (I hope) of secondary schools in Brabant Wallon (sorry can't narrow search down further in one search. I am guessing Wavre is where most children will go to from where you live, there are 7 secondaries there, otherwise 4 secondaries in Waterloo, 3 in Ottignies-LLN, 2 in Genval-Rixensart.
[[
www.enseignement.be/index.php?page=25933&act=search&check=&nive=112&geo_mots=&geo_type=1&geo_prov=2&geo_cp=&geo_loca=&rese=tous&rech_avan=1&type_rech=2&opt_mots=&opt_groupe=11&opt_option=&opt_deg=&opt_tyen=#resultats]]

natation · 08/12/2011 22:48

PS you probably already know, but to get into a regular secondary class in a French Community secondary, you have to pass the CEB in 6e primaire, the alternative is a différencié class in a secondary

Spottish · 09/12/2011 08:45

Thanks for all the information. DS is currently in 5e and doing well except he´s a bit behind in French mainly due to problems with spelling. When we moved none of the children knew any French and they now all speak it fluently but they have problems writing it. I expect that he will pass the CEB when the time comes. We are interested in Le Verseau but are worried about the fees, I haven´t been able to find any information about them online. It´s not a problem for one child but it might be for 3!

monkeybumsmum- I live in Hamme Mille. I´d love to meet up. I´m a SAHM at present so I could do mornings, Monday´s are best.

OP posts:
Spottish · 09/12/2011 08:57

Hi, another different question. Do you know if there are any Spanish speaking groups/activites nearby? My DH is Spanish and the kids are Spanish/English bi-lingual. I´d really like to find something for them so that they can keep up their Spanish, apart from speaking it at home with their Dad.

OP posts:
natation · 09/12/2011 11:53

Hi there again,
given the choice of 7 secondaries in Wavre, I'd stick to there. Ask the school head if they are willing to tell you where the children transferred to in the last 2 years, as that is when the enrolment system changed to a goegraphically weighted system. If your child is at the nearest primaire, then you should be fine for a place in the secondaries in Wavre.

If you use the "outil" option on the French enrolments webiste, you can make yourself a map showing all the local secondaries. 6 out of the 7 secondaries in Wavre are within a few hundred metres of the 32 bus which runs from Hamme-Mille to Wavre, le Verseau would require a change of bus onto the 37. Take a look at the local bus map inconjuntion with the French enrolments website. Notre Dame de Basse-Wavre is your nearest secondary.

www.infotec.be/Files/TECBW/NetPlan/ZoomWavre.pdf

I believe Le Verseau's fees vary between 2k and 5k per year, increasing as you go up the school. But a short phone call to the school could give you more accurate information. The school draws from a very wide catchment area due to the uniqueness of its English native level English lessons, so it has the advantages of having an international population, despite being a local school, it has the disadvantage that you may find socialising outside school with friends might prove more difficult.

If you pm me, I'll tell you of a new mums and tots group for Spanish speakers which BCT has started. It is held in Wezembeek-Oppem on saturdays.

There are also free Spanish lessons for Spanish nationals only of primary school age on a wednesday afternoon held at College Jean 23 Woluwe in Woluwe St Pierre. Again if you pm me, I can give you the email of a mum whose daughter attends these classes.

If you were ever interested in your children continuing with GCSEs (you can do English GCSE in Le Verseau) with your children in local schools, you can enter GCSEs as external candidates of the British School of Brussels. I plan our 13 year old to take IGCSE French and perhaps Dutch next year too as an external candidate.

Spottish · 09/12/2011 16:13

Thanks for all your help. I´ll take a closer look at the schools in Wavre. I was interested in Lycee Martin V in Louvain-la -Nueve as they have options to do English in 1st year and Spanish in 3rd. Notre Dame is a catholic school- what exactly does that mean?

Natation-I´ve pm´d you about the Spanish contacts, and as yet I haven´t even thought about GCSE´s but it´s good to know!

OP posts:
natation · 09/12/2011 18:04

Over half of secondaries are Catholic. Religious instruction is obligatory for 2 hours throughout secondary, at a Catholic school it means only Catholic religious instruction, at a communal, provincial, French Community funded, non religious aligned school, there is always a choice of religious instruction eg Catholic, Protestant, Morality, Judaism. It's a generalism to say the majority of academic secondaries are Catholic, there are a minority of non Catholic schools are too. I'm guessing looking at Notre Dame's options it's an academically strong school.

For the first 2 years of secondary, all children in French schools study 4 hours of a modern language. In some schools in Wallonia, there is no choice and it's Dutch, in other schools there is a choice of English too. You can only add another modern language from 3rd secondary.

Schools which offer English in 1st/2nd secondary :
AR Maurice Careme Wavre - also does English immersion
College Technique St Jean Wavre
Institut de la Providence Wavre
Institut Provincial Wavre
Le Verseau - Wavre (Bierge)
Lycee Martin V - LLN

Only Notre Dame de Basse Wavre and Institut St Jean don't do English from 1st secondary. I noticed these schools also appear to offer the most academic options ie Latin and no "professional" or "technical" streams, include Lycee Martin V in that too actually. From that I can only guess these are the 2 most academic schools in the area. But ask the parents of children at your primaire if this assumption is correct.

You're right, only Martin V starts Spanish in 3rd, other schools don't include it until 5th.

You would have to think about the fact that, with the exception of Le Verseau, English will be taught as a foreign language and how much exactly will an anglophone child find this useful? From the point of view of confidence, it could be quite a boost as your child should be top of the class. However, just how stimulating will it be? Same goes for Spanish. The curriculum by 3rd consists of around 32 periods a week, if 8 periods are spent (4 English and 4 Spanish), that's a third of the week, studying languages aimed at those learning the language and not at those who speak it as mother tongue, you have to think about whether this is not "wasted" time or whether the school could cope with a child who knows it better than the teacher, which is going to be pretty likely, Le Verseau excepted.

Finally, the biggest disadvantage of LLN I can see is that Wavre is a 20-30 minute bus ride away, whereas LLN requires a change of bus in Wavre and is 1 hour by bus away and will mean leaving for school perhaps before 7am. It's fine if there is a non working parent who can get there and back, but there are after school activities too, is this practical to have this distance between school and home? Sorry just my own preferences intruding here, we have the luxury of son's secondary school being a 15 minute bus ride away and all his after school activities he can get to himself, which he has to do as both of us work.

Oh another thought, you would really have to seek advice of primaire whether children have made it into Lycee Martin V from your primaire in the last 2 years without priority, as you will be choosing a school NOT of the nearest type to your house and primaire and you may get quite low points which will lower the chance of getting in to Martin V from where you live. If Martin V is oversubscribed, the higher the points the better. If you don't get your first choice, it's often a case of not getting your 2nd 3rd 4th choices too and having to wait until August to get one of the remaining places. I don't know how oversubscribed schools are in your area are though, it may be that there are always places in all the Wavre - LLN schools.

natation · 09/12/2011 18:38

PS you could add to the list of local schools :
AR Jodoigne
Institut St Albert Jodoigne
AR Rixensart
College du Christ Roi Ottignies
AR Paul Delveux LLN

They all do English from 1st secondary, none Spanish from 3rd

natation · 09/12/2011 19:00

Here's a useful bus for Lycee Martin V or AR Paul Delveux LLN schools, would get your child from home to school in 30 minutes in the morning leaving 7.30 but would have to wait till 4.30 at night for the bus home, getting back 5pm. This avoids a bus change in Wavre.

www.infotec.be/PDFtemp/PDFgen-H-B6--dfe8387f09044f3aa886de4591cd4bef.pdf

On the upside, as a "famille nombreuse" and with attendance at a French Community funded school, you get a huge discount on yearly TEC passes - your child can have unlimited travel for between 140 and 170 euro, depends on where school is, a TEC pass would otherwise cost between 320 and 425 euro for the year. That's a bargain really and your child would get independence being able to go to Wavre and LLN on weekends to socialise and meet friends.

natation · 09/12/2011 20:26

PS sorry another PS, just noticed Lycée Martin V is also a Catholic secondary. There are 4 types of school near you :

Catholic (purple on the enrolments website maps)
Official-French Community controlled (royal blue on enrolments website maps)
Official-Commune / province controlled (light blue on enrolments website maps)
Non religious aligned (green on enrolments website maps) eg Le Verseau

Spottish · 10/12/2011 15:58

Lots of information here to digest, luckily we have quite a bit of time to look into all of this. A million thanks Natation :)

OP posts:
Longtime · 11/12/2011 10:03

Hi Spottish, I 'm going to pm you about a new Spanish playgroup. Maybe ok for your youngest but if not maybe a good way to meet some Spanish speakers.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread