Live in France? Join us for a gentil thread

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

So how about a lovely supportive, information sharing thread for us mumsnetters living in France?
I've been here for two years, this is my second time living here so 4 years in total.
I have my moans about France, the paperwork, the driving but other than that I love it

Have sent invites to all the pms now. If you've pm'd me and not got anything let me know :)

Is anyone with DC at school in the French system interested in discussing the merits of schooling your DC in a Section Internationale leading to the OIB versus schooling your DC in a French school and doing IELTS on the side, as preparation for entry to UK university?

I would be bonsoir but we don't have int'l schools here except over in Luxembourg which are way out of my price range... By the time the girls are old enough we may well be back in Paris, as DH is starting to get homesick.

230 posts and nobody has come on saying "I read that title as a genital thread"? :o

Ha ha. Will from now on read it as genital thread. Thanks trills :o

We have Freesat on our Humax boxes; it works a treat. We have two thingies from the satellite, so we can record two different programmes at the same time. As most of the good stuff is past our bedtime we record and watch the next day without adverts. We could never get catch-up or internet TV because of our pathetic "broadband". Even YouTube has to stop for silent reflection every ten seconds or so.

International schools are, however, not the same thing as Sections Internationales.

I'm sure the topic will remain current for the foreseeable future so we can always discuss at a later date!

Yeah I know, but we don't have any of those either in a commuteable area :(

Don't be sad! My position on this ( which has changed as my SC have moved on and up through education) is that Sections Internationales and, in particular the OIB, offer marginal advantage at best, and sometimes disadvantage, over a normal bac in a French school plus IELTS when it comes to UK university entrance.

Really? What kind of disadvantage?

Well I wasn't sad as in sobbing sad, but I would like to have the choice iyswim.

Bloody TF1 haven't put last Friday's episode of Masterchef on replay so I just watched something called Babyboom on replay which looks like the equivalent of One Born Every... Does every French TV show on TF1 basically buy its rights from the uk?

Bonsoir I'm not quite sure what IELTS is? I'm looking at Lycee Grand Air at La Baule for DS1 - they're one of the few Lycee's this way to offer the IBAC, which from (what little) research I've done seems to be a more flexible approach to further education - as it's extra coursework in English on top of the regular choice of Bac, it doesn't preclude study in France either - though no-one seems to think HE is France is much good anyway?! I'm really new to all this as DS1 is only in 6ieme, but I know at this particular Lycee, the IBAC course is hugely oversubscribed and the Directrice can (apparently) pick and choose those pupils she accepts, so I'm kind of considering 3ieme there too, but he'd have to go as an Intern, so again, not really sure....lot's to consider!

The disadvantage of the OIB is that it creates a significant extra workload for pupils which can have a negative impact on time available for other subjects to which British universities may attach conditional offers. For example, a pupil doing OIB and bac S may well be applying for courses such as Engineering or Economics where universities are likely to require 15 to 17 in Maths and/or Physics-Chemistry. Those sorts of marks are hard to achieve and require a lot of work, which is much easier to do without the added burden of OIB English. What's more, universities are totally neutral on the OIB vs the normal bac for those subjects - 7.0 in IELTS is totally sufficient and much less of an added burden than OIB. OIB comes into its own for humanities degrees only - particularly English or History.

Google IELTS and you will get excellent information.

Thanks Bonsoir thats interesting.

We're leaning towards French schooling for primaire at least. After that I'm not really sure. We were thinking maybe section internationale from collège...but as DS is only just 2 we're kinda waiting before deciding!

Not sure DS would go to uni in the UK anyway. It'd all depend what subject he's interested in. And where he wants to live.

I have to agree about the workload having been teaching in a section euro. My preference is still for DS to do IB diploma over the French bac, but I think the French bac is better than A-levels any day of the week and I'm not impressed with what I've seen of the OIB for S, and undecided for L.

We will also aim for totally French primaire, and if we're no longer in France then we'll probably try to stay in the French system. At college we'll probably look at International sections, but we're also strongly considering 13+ entry to an excellent school with a strong IB diploma programme near where my parents live or the boarding option at EABJM Lille.

Why do you think that the French bac is better than A-levels, NomDeClavier?

I agree that the OIB workload is pretty heavy (DD is doing it) but it is not all about university applications. It is about getting a rounded education and also there is a lot of self-discipline involved that makes (hopefully) for an easier life if/or when they go to university. They are not being spoon-fed and have to manage their time and learning better. Universities (RG) tend to give at least one extra point or allowance for OIB over a general BAC. Being able to get the French Bac and study two A levels in English is evident to many in admissions of a certain "ability" that is valued not just for humanities but science based subjects as well.

ASIBA (the British OIB association) lobbied UCAS a few years ago to try to get universities to lower their offers (for overall average) to OIB candidates and was reasonable successful for a while, but not many universities are giving the extra credit to OIB candidates anymore.

I agree entirely that the OIB is conceived to enshrine a broader, more rounded education, but if you get reasonable mark in IELTS you will have had to do lots of extra English, above and beyond what a normal French school will have taught you. So you will have that extra something (and, actually, IELTS is a very good exam) but you won't put your all important maths grade in jeopardy to the same extent (and British universities do not give extra credit to OIB candidates for individual offer grades, like maths).

I think A-levels encourage specialisation too early. It's perfectly possible to make bad choices at 15 or 16 doing well-regarded subjects that you like at the time which you then turn out to be no good at and that can then scupper you for university and subsequently. On the other hand entry to engineering with a Bac L probably isn't possible but you'll have very little probably getting on to any course with a good Bac S.

I also think the French curriculum is better structured and although the exam load is heavy you don't have the modular faff, although that is thankfully being phased out.

The French education system isn't perfect, it demands a lot of extra work to teach DC how to think along side it, and to think critically and laterally, but the A-level system lost an edge when they abolished synoptic papers.

There are reforms and reviews of the British system, and I like this core maths idea, but the overall format of the French bac is more to my taste. Plus the Bac is a fairly essential component of French identity in a way A-levels just aren't in Britain. DH, who is French, did the IB when out of France (because his father was posted away so he and his siblings were chucked in at the deep end at an international school) and has had trouble explaining/justifying that when doing postgrad study in France, and to a certain extent professionally. His brother had a similar issue, although less since he went back into the system and did the prepa-grande école thing. I hate to think what it might have been like if he'd done A-levels. The British are one of the few in the world to study so few subjects post-16 and I don't think it does any favours. It's much easier to draw parallels between the IB and the bac than the bac and A-levels.

Bonsoir I agree that the ILETS is a good exam but only if you are not a native English speaker

Why do you think that? Native speakers do not systematically get top marks in IELTS. Its purpose is clearly to test whether or not someone's English is sufficiently good to allow them to study in English, but it is not an exam that makes a mockery of native speakers (like the French bac in English, or A-level in French).

I would agree with all that, NomDeClavier. The Bac S is way preferable to all others in that it closes almost no doors.

Still think there is plenty wrong with it though! Philosophy and the absolutely dreadful MFL exams...

Bonsoir - I mean in the context of going to a British university and reflecting an ability to write essays. I say it is good for testing a student's ability to understand English but if someone is already fluent in English (written and spoken) then it has limited uses and it is very demoralising for them having to study at this level as they are not stretched (IME)

They don't have to study for it - they just need to familiarise themselves with the format, if they are already fluent speakers, readers and writers of English. Which is the time saver versus OIB. And universities all give conditional offers to include IELTS for DC who are not schooled in English.

Obviously if you feel like doing the OIB, fair enough. I just don't think that, on the basis of my observations, I would go out of the way to put my DC in for the OIB when I know that Bac S + IELTS is less work and just as likely (if not more likely) to produce a successful application to a British university.