Possible Paris Move

[GreyElephant]

DH is currently interviewing for a job which would involve a move to Paris or London. DD1 is 2.8 (September birthday). Being British i am somewhat aware of the education system in the UK but know nothing about the French education system. I need to decide pretty quick where we want to live and my deciding factor is largely based on DD1s schooling.

When would DD1 start school in Paris? Can she attend any school or is she obligued to attend her local school? Which are the good schools? We are looking at state and bilingual schools as we will not be on an expat contract and i have heard the international schools are very expensive.

Any help or advice would be great, many thanks!

If your DD1 is born in 2009, that means in September 2012, she'd be in PS - Petite Section of a maternelle (nursery / kindergarten school).

There are straightforward state schools with catchment areas.

There are state subsidised Catholic schools where you pay small fees, maybe 1k or 2k per year, which don't have strict catchment areas.

There are in Paris 50/50 state subsidised bilingual French/English schools plus other state subsidised schools with "international" sections including English ones, someone will come along and give you a better definition. I think the most expensive of these is 4-5k per year as a day pupil.

"Good" is a very subjective term and I wouldn't want to use it for a maternelle.

I think it's worth getting to know the geography of work and where to live / go to school - no good if you're working on the east side of Paris and you get your heart set on a school / house on the west side, if there is no fast commuting route between the 2.

Thanks Natation.

We have the choice to live anywhere as DH's job doesn't have an official location as yet.

That said i would probably want to live west in 16th or 17th, though may consider the left bank (but don't know much about it). I would be happy living where DD1 is happy in school, local park to walk the dog, local village for shopping. DD1 has been attending nursery for the last three months but has had a hard time adjusting, thus her happiness at her Maternelle is paramount.

Use this website to search for all schools by département, by ville by académie. There are over 800 schools listed for the 20 arrondissements of Paris, you can limit them by arrondissement and "sous contrat publique" or "sous contrat privé" then you can look down the list. You can do the same for the villes west of Paris.

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

Another way of looking at privé only sous contrat is this website and it leads to some of the schools' websites.

www.enseignement-prive.info/

Come and join the Mumsnet Mafia in the 17th! There are quite a few of us here.

In the state sector, schools have catchment areas, just as they do in the UK. So, once you have found a place to live, you can work out which state school catchment you are in by visiting the local mairie. they often have a map on the wall showing how their area is carved up.

In the private sector, you can of course choose. There are sous contrat schools which are schools which follow the national curriculum and are part funded by the state. The vast majority of sous contrat schools are Catholic, but some (many?) do not stipulate catholicism / baptism / church attendance as a criteria. The sous contrat schools tend to be very reasonable in terms of fees (versus UK private school fees, at least).

Then you have hors contrat schools which sit iurside the French Naional Curriculum and are not financed at all by the State. They are very expensive (think ?20-30k pa). If you are planning to be in France very short term (2 years) before returning to the UK, an hors contrat school such as the British School of Paris or Marymount in Neuilly might suit you as your child could follow the UK or US curriculum and feed back into the UK or US schools system pretty seamlessly.

If you are willing and happy for your DD1 to go to school in French, there are some very good state écoles maternelles in the nicer areas of Paris. But you might find that lonely for you, as most French mothers work long hours and are very busy and are not generally interested in making friends with newly arrived foreign mothers.

Ladies thank you so much for your help.

We have no idea how long we will stay in Paris, could be a year could be forever.

The hors contrat schools sound terribly expensive, think i will give them a miss. Thinking of going local and throwing DD1 in at the deep end...am i nuts???

Not at all! She is the perfect age for it...