Does anyone know of these three schools?

[DesperatelyMoving]

Hi everybody,

We have been told that there are space for our son at 2nd maternelle at these three schools, and I just wanted to ask if anyone in this forum knows anyone with kids in them or has heard something about them?

Thanks so much!

l'Institut Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle et de l'implantation Sainte Trinité.
Avenue de la Couronne 105
Ixelles 1050

Ecole Les Jardins d'Elise Ecole n°12 d'Ixelles
Rue Elise 100
1050 Ixelles

Ecole primaire et maternelle n°2 et 14
Rue Sans-Souci 130
1050 Ixelles

Best
DesperatelyMoving

On the personal account of one person I know, absolutely not no2/14.

Some parents like Jardins d'Elise, some don't, but they all say it's a reasonably good international mix.

I've only met one parent at Sainte-Trinité, she loved it, but I'd be worried she said the classes have about 20 in them, as St André down the road has them camping at the door.

Having looked up your previous posts, I'd say DON'T DO IT. You are mad. Sorry I need to be direct sometimes. So many parents I know who have bitterly regretted moving to that area of Ixelles. For a few it works. But given the choice of nice middle class schools from Mérode to Stockel or Herman-Debroux and this area of Ixelles, I wouldn't dream of the latter. If you're sending your children to maternelle for a couple of years before EEB, then it would be fine I suppose, for long term, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Your initial post asked for a good local school. Well in Ixelles, a good local school on the socio-economic index would be 9-14, that's the indexes of the really sought after schools where you'd find difficulty getting places even when you apply on time.

Sainte-Trinité 4
Jardins d'Elise 7
Sans Souci 2

I do know 2 happy parents at Jardins d'Elise, one with children in primaire who accepts she could do much better but won't put her children in a Catholic school so they remain where they are, but I've also met 2 parents who disliked the school so much they removed their children. It's not an exact Science, I think if you are adamant you wish to live in Ixelles, then I'd go for Jardins d'Elise.

and finally, at least the Cimitiere area is quite nice in parts, I'd live near to the tram route 7/25 and as near to school as possible. It also means you won't be far from the sports centre and private American Gym which also has children's after school activities. It is however very very noisy in that area, you'd have to be quite comfortable with that, definitely not suburban.

Do be aware that from BUYL tram stop near Jardins d'Elise to SCHUMAN metro stop, the minimum travel time will be 30 minutes, probably longer in rush hour due to the tram being held up in traffic.

Compare that to travel time from STOCKEL or HERMANN-DEBROUX of 16 or 11 minutes respectively, the metro doesn't get held up so much in rush hour. So the further away metro stations (those are the termini) are closer in time than mid Ixelles where those 3 schools are.

There is a train station at Etterbeek-Ixelles which goes to Schuman, but the service is not like trams or metros and I would wonder if you'd even get a seat if you used it to commute to Schuman.

Why are you still looking in Ixelles? You have received a ton of good advice! Did you try the WSP schools as advised one month ago?

I'd even prefer personally one of the lesser regarded schools in WSP to living with a young child in more expensive, noisier, less green, longer commute, nowhere to park, less after school activities Ixelles. Athénée Royal Crommelynck ALWAYS has places, it's right opposite Sportcity, it has an excellent choice of after school activities and cheap too, has cheap holiday stages, is in a green environment, the downside is it's got very few if any English speaking children in it, but the pluses of that area and the school are to me better than mid Ixelles. You have a rather well off local and international population, it's the perfect area to live to keep up activities in English and in other languages - Spanish, German, Polish, Italian etc are there in large numbers these communities also have their own organised activities and Saturday schools. You should get places also at Joli-Bois, possibly also école communale de Stockel even (several have done so in the last few weeks).

education.skynet.be/ar-crommelynck-fon/

Hi all,

Thanks for all the info and advice. Yes, I know we were given the advice to go and live in WSP, and thanks for all the advice to that end. However, we prefer urban life (and have a car with which to go to the nice parks in the weekend, and my hubby will go by bike to work). The reason I mention these precise schools is because these are where we for sure have a spot at the 2nd maternelle. There are other schools, also in Etterbeek and closer to the Schuman area where we are on wait lists (Colombe de la Paix for example). I don't know if it will be long term or not, and next year we will have school covered by work so we can potentially change him into a private school if we are not happy with the local schools and if we end up staying long term.
Anyways, thanks again for the info on people's satisfactions/dissatisfactions with these schools!

Best,
Desperate

You tried La Retraite du Sacré-Coeur? Ecole du Bonheur? Prince Baudouin? Van Meyel? Paradis des Enfants? Chant d'Oiseau? La Farandole? Ste Anne? St Stanislas? Centre? Jean 23 Woluwe?
Do you know how difficult it is to park in that area of Ixelles? Even if you get a much more expensive house with parking (Ixelles is possibly the most expensive commune per m2 accommodation), you might get that parking constantly blocked.
I love cycling, I cycle to work every other day and have done since I was a child (well to school then) and I'd absolutely detest cycling anywhere near those 3 schools, as dangerous as it gets in Brussels region.

If you want an urban environment, at least go for one which is nice, such as the Mérode to Tomberg area, anywhere along those metro stops. Cleaner, more efficient public transport, cheaper housing, more small playgrounds, different type of international community, better schools.

You'd be better off living at Montgomery roundabout and taking a place for one year at Jardins D'Elise and moving school after a year there to another local one nearer or one of the international schools on your doorstep, than living in the area of those 3 schools in Ixelles, for the reasons above. You can get the tram down to Jardins d'Elise from Montgomery, however I'd be very confident of a school place even nearer.

Why do you have this fix on Ixelles? You are being quite mad as marchmad points out. I don't get what you mean by urban life. Brussels is not London, Paris or New York. You could live near Stockel, or near one of the other metro stops on that line towards brussels, get a bigger house for the money, better schools, an easier commute and a built in xpat network. Or near Georges Henri for shops and restaurants/green space. Central Brussels would be 15 mins away. Brussels is a nightmare for traffic and parking in the centre. I have been here 7 years and would not choose to live where you seem to be insisting upon. And I would totally trust marchmad's advise re. Schools etc.

Once you sign a rental lease you will have huge penalties to move. You really need to think about this.

And remember that if you won't to be close to the European district, that this effectively shuts at weekends. Nice for drinks/socialising after work. Saturday/Sunday it is dead as a dodo.

Place Dumon (Stockel Quartier) is reasonably urban, Montgomery roundabout in WSP is even more urban, so is Square Meudon (Georges Henri quartier) or Square Vergote in WSL. Or Place Van Meyel or Place Du Roi Vainqueur in Etterbeek. They are all urban, they all have nice restaurants in the area, they all have good to excellent schools near them, they are all nearer to work in time or in geography, they are nearly all near the metro, but they are all near green space too where there is no need to drive to this green space on weekends, it is on your door-step every day after school too.

The area near Square Ambiorix north of the Berlaymont is nice for families though, but you have to be ultra careful choosing property up there, the area changes drastically in just one street. This is where la Retraite du Sacré-Coeur and Emile Jacqmain are. It is indeed dead as a dodo for restaurants though at weekends, in comparison to Mérode or Place Dumon or Square Meudon.

You know I normally recommend getting a GOOD school place first, but I am wondering in your case if it's worth you coming out here, testing the areas first before deciding, keeping your child out of school, then finally settling on a school and area. GOOD school can mean the difference between settling and integrating into the local system or pulling out of a local school, claiming the local system is bad, and putting into an English speaking private school.

Ixelles is the commune which has, over the 4 years I've helped families choose schools here, provided the highest number of families choosing to live there and not liking either the commune and / or the school. I really cannot understand firstly why so many people who have never been to Brussels tell me they want to live in Ixelles (compared to other communes) and why so many of them who do choose to live there then live to regret it. For some families, it is absolutely the right place to live, but just on the anectodal stories families have recalled to me, it's the area a family is statistically going to have more problems in.

Urban nightlife in Brussels to me is either round Place St Gery, or chatelaine or the avenue de tongres. All are totally suited to young singles doing flat shares. Not families.

Mind you Porto, all those places are still much nicer than Av de la Couronne, Rue Gray or Boul Général Jacques where those 3 schools are! I'd call some of the streets around there not urban but urban decay. There are a few nice streets, but they are the minority. Maybe I'm just a bit biased, but a google tour is in order.

OMG, have you looked at the outside of Ecole Sans-Souci? Perhaps I now understand why the mum who removed her son gave me the worst ever recount of his time there. Someone has written "school/prison" on the outside and just from that outside, I would not want to go in.

Well I was looking outside Rue Gray branch, the Rue Sans Souci branch does look much nicer. You would really have to clarify where the place is you were offered as it is one school with 2 branches. I still wouldn't want to live in that area at all.

Thanks again for all the inputs!

No, we are actually not fixed on Ixelles, we are pretty open, but are just not at the outset interested in living too far away from cafes and restaurants and a bit of busy city life even if it is not NYC or Paris - and even if the commute is not the most smooth. But I definitely hear you on choosing wisely (not least before signing a 9 year lease contract) and are planning to come to Brussels and stay some time before deciding on school and house and have a look at all areas. For now I am just trying to at least get spots in a number of schools so I have something to choose between.

Thanks Marchmad for listing all these schools! And for area info as well! Some of the schools on your list I have ben in contact to, except one, and also some not on your list that maybe you know? Ok, here goes....

Chant d'Oiseau said to call back in August, as their wait list is very long.

Van Meyel said no chance for a spot, as did also Institut Sainte-Anne.

We have tried numerous times to call (without getting through) La Farandole, but I also could not really decide what to think of the streets/area surrounding it when I street-googled it. Is it a nice school?

We were told to call back mid June to both Paradis des Enfants and Ecole fondamentale communale du Centre/Joli-Bois

We are number 7 on the wait list for Centre scolaire Les Marronniers - Ecole fondamentale communale, Chaussée de Wavre 1179, Auderghem 1160, and number 3 on the wait list for Ecole fondamentale communale Vervloesem, Rue Vervloesem 36. Do you know if these are good schools?

We are also on the wait list for Institut Saint-Stanislas.

Centre scolaire de Ma Campagne told us to come by (which a friend of mine is doing for us) to sign up for a not too long wait list, they said.

We were told to call back to Ecole fondamentale libre du Bonheur at the end of June where their wait list will be cancelled and they will by then serve on a first comes first basis. However, to me it looks a bit like a prison from the outside and like it has minimal outdoor space. But maybe it is a nice school?

I did not know of Jean 23 but will definitely call them too.

Again thanks for all the info!

Desperately

oh, and, yes, after seeing Ecole primaire et maternelle n°2 et 14
Rue Sans-Souci 130 on street view that school is off our list!

The area around La Farandole and St Stanislas is much much much nicer than near Sans Souci-Petits Moineaux and Sainte Trinité, I'd say better than Jardins d'Elise too, but still anywhere between Mérode and Tomberg is much better than Etterbeek or Ixelles for a young family to live. You get cafes and restaurants all along metro line 1 from Mérode to Stockel, with the exception of the stretch Vandervelde to Kraainem.

I wouldn't touch les Maronniers in Auderghem.

Vervloesem, well it's a good school but it's in your idea of suburbia surely? If you're looking at Vervloesem, then why on earth not Stockel which is more urban?

Chant d'Oiseau is actually very surburban, again Stockel, Tomberg, Mérode, all those areas along metro line 1 are actually less suburban than Chant d'Oiseau. So I cannot see why you are looking here.

Paradis des Enfants is a good school, but with almost 1000 children, I wouldn't be happy there as a non French speaker amongst the crowds, fine for a family here for several years, but for newly installed, I think it's too big. Maybe I shouldn't have suggested it. That's why I didn't suggest SC de Lindhout either, great school but just too big. But having said these 2 schools are big, I'd still choose them every time over your current list of 3 schools. Why do these 3 schools alone have places? Think about it.

Ma Campagne is in my opinion far too far from work for cycling or public transport, although the school is reasonably good. Personally I don't think the area is great for young families, but those who do have their children in Ma Campagne and Tenbosch are happy. Just take a look on the map though, it's much further to get to work from there than along the whole of metro line 1.

Centre is a Dutch immersion school, not sure I'd choose there, your child would be 2e maternelle in French then 3e maternelle onwards in Dutch, unsatisfactory situation when newly installed in Brussels, stick to Jean 23 Woluwe around the corner.The school is in a poor condition too.

Bonheur is a very good school and the area is much much much much better than where you have school places in Ixelles. It's better for a commute to work too. You haven't looked very well at it either, it has a lovely grassed area, especially considering how built-up it is, it looks nothing like a prison from the outside, are you sure you are looking at the right school? I'd have it top of the list actually. They even have a Danish and Italian flags over the entrance, it really is a welcoming international school!

La Retraite du Sacré-Coeur?

Maybe I'm being unfair on Vervloesem, it is less urban than Stockel, but I'd still class it is NOT suburbia whereas Chant d'Oiseau is indeed suburbia and the most suburban of all the schools you listed.

You've missed off several schools nearer to Schuman than Ma Campagne, like Jardin des Ecoliers and St Boniface, but I'd still say that's not the area to live in with young children, to look east of work not south and south-east.