Paris international schools: BSP, ASP and ISP

[CinderInParis]

Hi,

We are looking at English-language schools for our primary school age children and are open to any information you might have on these three schools. We will be living in the 16th and both of the suburban schools appear to offer bus service, although the neighborhood aspect of ISP is appealing.

Does anyone know what ASP and BSP are like for children who commute out from Paris proper? Are they still included in social events? Would I still be able to become involved with the school (if I am willing to drive out 1 or 2x/ week)?

Finally, is BSP a comfortable environment for children and families who are not English (but are native speakers)?

Please feel free to share any information you have about these schools -- we really know very little!!!!

Thank you.

All those schools have very high pupil turnover, but you might want to investigate further to try to ascertain exact numbers. You might also want to know the percentage of native English speakers in each school.

Your choice will also be affected by the age of your children and the education system from which they are arriving and the one to which they will be returning.

Many children at the BSP commute from Paris but depending on the age of your children this may make the school day very long for them. The journey from central Paris would add approx 1 hour to both ends of the day which you may feel is too much if your children are young.
How much the children can participate in after school activities and any social events would depend on how willing you are to drive to / from school to collect them as I don't believe any extra transport is put on for them.
The BSP would be a very comfortable environment for children of any nationality and language, only around half the children are native British and the rest come from around 40 different nationalities!
How involved you could be really depends on your children's age but there are plenty of opportunities in the Junior School for parental involvement if you are willing. I'm not as familiar with the Senior School but I think there are probably less opportunities available there.
There is a very high turnaround of children (approx 1/3 each year) but this also means the children are very accepting of new starters and you would find them absorbed into their new class very quickly.

Mine are at ASP and get the bus from Paris - no problem. DD2 does her homework on the bus sometimes! We have been very impressed with ASP - the breadth of the curriculum, the utterly inspirational teachers (which we didn't find when we were at the British School of Brussels, although we may have been unlucky) and the level of French attained - DD1 is with the Francophone kids although she has had less than 3 years of French. The commute to St Cloud is much less than the schlep out to Croissy - ours spend about 40 minutes on the bus (it is less to the 16th, as they are first drop off point for the buses as they exit the Bois). ASP loves parents to be involved! PM me if you want more info. The nationalities are a good mix - being Brits we are in a minority. There are about 40% Americans, 20% French, and I would say a good number of Canadians and Koreans. The DDs have friends of all nationalities.

Oh and no problem with social events - at ASP, a lot of the families live in Paris, rather than in the suburbs.