General advice on moving to Le Vesinet, Paris?

[SarahTwin]

My husband has been offered a secondment for three to five years and its an opportunity we can't turn down. We have been over for a three day trip and found a great house in le vesinet and chosen the malherbe international school for our twin daughters who have just turned 2. (They are in nursery in the uk and love it so we were keen to keep them in some form of nursery education). I will be giving up my job as a lawyer and will ideally take the opportunity to retrain in something I enjoy more than law. Not sure what though.

We move in 6weeks and the nerves are kicking in big time. We don't know anyone in France or speak french yet but are really trying to learn. Is le vesinet the right place to live? Are there lots of ex pats there? I've read mixed opinions on the school and don't know if we should be thinking of the British school of Paris instead? (Luckily the company are paying so fees are nit an issue) or even a maternelle? Are there toddler groups around? Soft play areas?

How easy is it to lease a car? Or should we bring my car over first of all to get us started?

Sorry loads of questions but any general help will be really appreciated. Thanks

[runningmumof2]

Hi everyone,

I'm due to be moving to Le Vesinet or surrounding area in the summer for 2 years and considering school options for our 5 and 3 year olds. BSP have said that 3 year old can't do nursery part time which kind of rules it out for us. So considering Malherbe vs Forest International. I'd be grateful for any experiences or opinions on these please.

Thank you!

[spinassienne]

Momo if you're kn facebook loô for a grop called English-speaking mums in Paris. Plenty of members in the Chatou area.

[MOMo4]

Hi All, we moved 2 month ago to Paris and looking for a place in Le Vesinet or Chatou. Does anyone live there and can share your agents contact details? We need to find a place before the school year starts in September.
My kids going to be in Ecole perceval. Anyone send his kids there?
Thanks!!:)

[MOMo4]

Hi, anyone live in Chatou? our family moved to Paris last month and heard that Chatou offers good schools and nice English speakers community. After living 15 years in Singapore we are looking for a good local school that offers a class no non-French speakers. My kids are super exited to learn French therefore i am leaning toward local schools.... Anyone had any experience with that? still feels a bit 'lost in translation' with all French around me :) thank!

[Sparklemotion1982]

Hello!

I am in a similarish position to you...my husband has been offered a job in Paris. We live in London now (and I don't like London) and we lived in Dubai before for 7 years (I loved Dubai). We have to decide whether to go for the job, and whilst we don't have children at the moment, I'm 32 so we'd probably TTC while over in Paris if he did take it.

I just wanted to ask whether you are enjoying Paris and your general thoughts on settling in / making friends etc (I work from home as a designer so wouldn't meet anyone at work).

Thanks so much!

[M1maman]

Hope you are enjoying Le Veinst it was the best 18 months of our lives, we used the Maternelle on Boulevard Carnot, then the Lycee International our french was perfect when we left
hope you are having fun

[zimbomaman]

PM if ever you need advice, directions, translation, babysitting, play dates, a walk in the park.

Hope the move went well.

[SarahTwin]

Sorry I haven't been on here in a while as we've had so much to sort out! The house is all packed up and I fly over on thursday am with the girls and my mum in tow! Hubby arrived in le vesinet today and the removal van arrives tomorrow.
We decided on the forest international school and I am hoping the girls settle in we'll. I really liked it when I looked round and so many people recommended it so fingers crossed it will work out well.
Thanks to everyone who has given me such great advice and I will be in touch x

[zimbomaman]

Hey, Sarah, just checking in to find out how you're coping with the move preparations. Hope all is going well and that the girls are being as helpful as they can be . Give us a shout when you're here and we'll happily show you around.

[Nicolaeus]

If you need translated docs here will def need to be done by a traducteur assermenté (someone legally mandated to translate docs). Dont worry though, they're very easy to find and it can be done by post if necessary.

I live in Paris (so not right next door to le vesinet) but have an 19 month old DS if ever you're looking for playmates :-)

Can't help with schools as we're going for the French schools (DH is French) but theres also meetup which is free and good for meeting English-speaking mums. Think theres a group called British mums in Paris which organises lots of stuff in and around Paris (with and without children). My parents also live in Paris (they look after DS whilst I work) and they barely speak any French but have met loads of people through meetup. DS has playdates with English/American children almost every day.

You really shouldn't feel too isolated - theres loads of English speaking expats in the area :-)

[AuldAlliance]

Just to confirm that it's wiser not to get docs translated before you come, in case an over-zealous admin bod demands that you have docs translated by a certified translator (traducteur assermenté)...

[fraktion]

Once a month or so. Depends on work!

[SarahTwin]

Thanks for all the extra info on the other schools. I will have a look at them.
Im glad we will be able to get Sky and i think there is already a dish on the house that we are renting so hopefully it will be pretty straightforward. We'll need the subscription address as we are going to rent our home in the UK.

Barbie- We are trying to sort out our next trip at the moment by my DH is so busy at work that he's finding it hard to get the time off. We wont bring the girls with us though as flying with them is like a military operation! if they could learn to sit still for two minutes it would help.

Zimbomaman- It will be a change for me even having my DH come home as for the last 5 years he has lived away in the week and just come home on the weekends. I just hope i like living with him lol.

Fraktion- how aften are you in Le vesinet?

[zimbomaman]

Sarah, it is a genuine offer so don't hesitate to contact me. I know what it's like arriving here with a little one, not speaking French and endless hours of waiting for DH to come home from work. There are plenty of parks, pick your own fruit farms, soft play areas etc in the area but you will need a car to get to most of them. You'll be arriving at the best time of the year to meet people whilst out and about in the parks or forest so don't worry about being isolated at home with the girls. I registered at the local 'Maison pour tous' when we moved here to learn French. Volunteers teach newcomers for free on a one to one basis in a really relaxed way. My lessons were given at home. After covering the basics we just talked and the grammar was explained depending on what our conversation was about. That was all a very long time ago but I should imagine that the voluntary system still exists.

[NotMoreFootball]

There is a company called city sat who can install sky tv for you and provide a subscription address if you need one, you can spot the expat homes around Le Vesinet and Croissy by the sky dishes on the roof!

[reluctantmover]

This is another Catholic school near where you'll be living, Ste Jeanne d'Arc.
ecolesaintejeannedarc.fr/

This is a list of the 5 public maternelles in le Vésinet, you would normally be allowed to enrol in the one allocated to your address. For Catholic schools, it's not dependent on address and there are small fees, nothing like Malherbe or the other hors contrat schools.

www.levesinet.fr/le_vesinet/menu_haut/jeunesse__education/vie_scolaire/etablissements_scolaires_publics_1

[reluctantmover]

This is a rather interesting link, an email of an English speaking parent at Ste Odile!
www.ecole-sainteodile.org/welcome-to-sainte-odile/

[BriocheDoree]

Thinking about it Sainte Odile in Le Vesinet has a TPS class. When DD was there in PS she was in a mixed PS/TPS class. It was a lovely school, too.

[fraktion]

Us too when we're there :)

It's a wonderful area and depending on which bit potentially not far from the school with the TPS.

[Barbie1]

We are 5 mins walk from that park

[Barbie1]

Sarah you can get sky but I think only through the computer? Ill find out from dh, we have it but not sure on the logistics.

Let me know the dates of your next trip, we shall try to arrange something. Will you be bringing the twins? If so we could maybe do a picnic at the local park or something?

[SarahTwin]

We are by the park with the lake and playground if that helps. I'm embarrassed to say that i dont remember the street name and my husband has all the information at work. There is probably more than one park with a lake as well lol.

Zimbomaman- That would be great to meet up thank you. My two love puddles! I will PM you.

[zimbomaman]

Hello, I used to live in Le Pecq which borders Le Vesinet but have now moved to the other side of the river and across the forest but will be more than happy to meet up and help in any way you need when you get here. My DD2 is 2.4 and would love a couple of new friends to jump in muddy puddles with .

[fraktion]

Where in Le Vesinet will you be? I know of at least 1 school which has a TPS but you need to live practically in the doorstep. I don't know what the inscription dates for schools are this year either. Feel free to PM if you don't want to say on here.

We spend a fair bit of time in Le Vesinet although we actually live in Normandy and my DS is a couple of months younger than your DDs :) The parks are just beautiful and it's a nice friendly area with plenty of expats. It can be a bit transient but you get some longer term residents too.

[SarahTwin]

I think we are now spoilt for choice on schools! Ideally i want the school to be as close as possible to where we are living as i imagine the friends the girls make will also be living close by which makes it easier for playdates etc. I will stick to viewing Forest and BSP and see how that goes.
I'll leave the documents then and if and when we needs them done i will get them translated when we are there.
The house we are going to rent seems to have everything apart from a washing machine and dryer- I presume ours from the UK will work but we just need to change the plugs? They are Bosch and only a couple of years old.
Is this the same as TV's? is it easy enough to get sky tv? or do we need to still subscribe in the uk to get the card?