Enrolling at School - France

[morethanclueless]

Hi everyone,

I am moving to France from the UK (in the process of buying a house) and will need to enrol my kids into the local maternelle/primaire in time for this September. I want to be best prepared and would rather know earlier rather than later what bits of documentation I will need to have hand e.g. the documents that I'll need for school enrolment. Do I need a copy of all the vaccinations my kids have received in the UK? (They are all up-to-date with the UK immunisation program). Does this need to be translated, if so, does this need to be done by anyone in particular? Also, do I have to enrol by a given date?

On another note, am I right in thinking that I will need to buy insurance for my kids when they attend French school? I am not completely sure what this would cover and where I would go to get it.

Finally, what do my kids need on their first day - they will be 4, 5, 7 years old in September. I understand that the school does not provide writing text books etc.

Any advice is welcome! I know that I am thinking ahead, but it is how I like to work!

Thanks

I would contact the local Mairie in the commune you will be living and ask the above. They will have all the options (state or privee) and tell you what you need to do.
Certainly the Insurance is offered by the school, but you may already be covered by your bank - it's about €10 per child per year at Primaire. The school would usually issue a list of what equipment you will need at La Rentree - though ime it's only ever been from CP, so n/a for your 4yr old, though again it may differ. They will ask about vaccinations, but I've never had to provide translated proof - just the dates the immunisations were done. You might need to get a GP to help with the translations as they're not the same.
Depending on when you arrive it might be a good idea to look around the schools/meet the teachers etc before you decide?
hth a bit!

Yes, you need to go to your town hall (mairie) about enrolling them in state school (école publique). Your mairie may have a website with preliminary information. The one think you are sure to need is proof of your home address and proof of filiation to your DC (all your birth certificates and your marriage certificate if relevant).

If you want a private (Catholic) school, you usually need to approach the school directly.

Thank you for your replies! It seems as though the Town Hall is the place to go. I have never visited one in the UK for administrative purposes so i am not sure to expect. Do I just turn up (and someone will advise me/be helpful) or do you need to book an appointment? I assume i need to go there before contacting/visiting any state schools directly?

You won't be able to visit any state schools - you won't be given a choice. Your DC will be allocated a school based on your home address.

In our commune there is a choice of public or privee Primaire.

I would find out the number of your commune's mairie and call them. If it's rural (I only know rural in France) they will probably ask you to come in and see them and they'll give you all the information you need then. How good is your French as they are unlikely to speak or want to speak English, especially if you are in a non-expat rural area like me?

If you go private (not expensive like UK) then you need to contact schools directly. We visited both the (private) schools my DCs attend and were offered places immediately. Is there someone you know locally as this is the best way to find out about local schools?

Good luck with your move.

Whereabouts are you moving to?

Agree with contacting the Mairie. I just walked in without an appointment, but I'd looked at their website first to find out what I needed and took all the documents with me. They only glanced at the vaccination page (though mine's in French).

We were told for state schools that there is no visiting as such (you don't get a choice, you get allocated one), but we had to sign up, then got a certificate from the Mairie. We then had to make an appointment with the Headteacher, and during that appointment give the certificate. Only then were we officially enrolled. Then there would be a visit around June-ish to meet our child's teacher.

You do need proof of where you live though - my friend was in the process of buying and was told she needed the completed sale documents, the "compromis de vente" (sales promise) wasn't good enough.

We chose to go private in the end - for that we chose the school, filled in a request form with various documents, got invited for interview and only after the interview found out if we had a place. Private schools are cheaper though - think they average about 1500€ per year per child. Our school has a reduction from the 3rd child enrolled.

For enrolling in public schools, we were told it was from oct - dec 2013 for a rentrée sept 2014. However they do of course make allowances for people who move after this date.

This site www.education.gouv.fr/cid161/inscription.html should contain info you need (but my servers playing up so I can't check)

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the time that you have taken in reading and then replying.

Castlesintheair - I used to speak very good French, but that was almost 20 years ago. I'd say I'm good, but very rusty. I understand pretty well and I can say what I need to, but I'm sure I sound clumsy and very English. My husband did A-level French and can make himself understood well too. Once there, we aim to improve. Certainly we will have to to keep up with our children who will be better than us before we know it.

For those of you who have chosen private schools may I ask why? Am I right in thinking that private schools are all Catholic? I would have no issue with my children attending a Catholic school, but they may take issue with us since neither my husband nor I and none of our children are christened or have had religious upbringings. Would we not feel ostracised and overwhelmed by the religious influence in their curriculum? I assumed, therefore, that private school would not be an option for us although a friend of mine said that their pastoral care was excellent (in her experience), particularly for her daughter who came to France not speaking a word. She is not Catholic, and would describe herself as CofE Lite. She didn't find the religious aspect overwhelming.

TwoThreeFourSix - what happened at the school interview? My children currently do not speak French although I am looking into lessons so that they have some vocab before we get there.

We are currently looking in the area to the East/South of Toulouse.

I should mention that in addition to my three maternelle/primaire school-aged children I also have an 18 month old who will be 2 when we get to France. My husband and I work so we will be looking into creche/halte-garderie options, and again I'm currently pretty clueless.

Where we are it makes no difference what religion you are, anyone can go to catholic privee. At my son's college (secondary) the head told us at interview that 85% have no religion. My son has not been inside a church since starting in September and his school is in the same village as a very famous abbaye! So no religion is not an issue. Private schools (where we are anyway) are just smaller, selective to the extent you pay and probably better overall, but depends where you are of course. They are probably more equipped to dealing with non-french speakers. I imagine where you are going there are lots of expats and schools will be well used to them.

Don't worry about the language. My DCs have only been in school since September and already have good understanding, not bad speaking ability.

I'm not Catholic (not even christened). DH (French) went to a Catholic school but doesn't believe anymore. DS isn't baptised, which we thought might be a stumbling block to getting into the school.

We chose private school after a lot of soul-searching, as I really wasn't keen on the religious bit. A huge deciding factor was that the private school is 3 minutes walk from our flat, whereas the public school is over 20 minutes walk (and probably longer with a tired child), which would be tricky to manage as we both work FT. Plus that public school was only for 2 years and then we would have to change to a different site which is even further away!

In the end I liked the family feeling the private school gave out (loads of information on the website etc. and when we met the headteacher there was a definite community/family feeling) and I had heard quite a few negative things about the public school DS had been allocated.

The interview felt a bit like a test to make sure we were "good enough" but we do live in a rather posh part of Paris and the school is one of the top ones in France (another reason we chose it). It was mainly just a conversation, to find out why we wanted to go to the school, and why DS isn't baptised. Also 80% was the Headteacher presenting the school to us and selling it to us which was a nice surprise.

Actually, a deciding factor in sending DS to private was a (French) colleague of mine mentionning that she was really annoyed her parents hadn't baptised her, as she feels she missed out on a whole cultural part of France and France's history. Certainly I feel that DS learning about Catholicism etc. will add to his knowledge more than anything else, and I'll just have to counter any teachings I feel strongly about, if and when it is needed. My main fear is them taking a strong stance against things like abortion for example, but DH assures me that his school didn't talk about things like that so maybe it'll be alright. DS isn't even 3 yet though so we have some time ahead of us!

Creche and halte-garderies tend to be really oversubscribed. Again I'm in Paris, but women tend to sign their babies up for creche before they're even born just to get a place!

That makes it sound like big emphasis on why DS wasn't baptised - it was just one question. But to be honest she didn't ask us a huge number of questions, it was more a conversation.

Just to add also, our catholic Primaire is not over-focused on religion - they cover the Christmas story/Easter etc, but I like that, and of course the Public schools are totally secular with no teaching of any religion at all.

My DSSs' school is a Catholic school in Paris. They are Jewish and in fact DSS2 did his Bar Mitzvah a month after starting at this particular school. Some Catholic schools are more religious than others but they are often no more religious than a village primary in England.

In Paris, the family feel and caring atmosphere are real plusses versus the state school system which can be incredibly anonymous.

If you are in a rural area the private schools are very unlikely to be selective. Religion is a very minor part of school life, and Cathocism (sp?) are held outside of school so not obligatory. I guess less than half the children in our school go on to do communion.

It is worth thinking about the next level up as well (we didn't but got lucky) which college would they go to? Which Lycée? In my experience once in the privée system most kids stay there right through. It is worth taking a look at the ranking of Lycées.

Private schools will be happy for you to look around, but bear in mind that they don't automatically get funding for children from other communes so are much more welcoming to children from within the commune.

When we moved - it was end November, I just rang the school about a month before. The head put me onto a school in another village as the school was split over 2 sites - up to CE2 in our village CM1/2 in the other village.

The head of the school just told me to turn up on the day after we arrived - a Thursday as we arrived on a Wednesday - and emailed me a list of stationery that she needed to have.

Weirdly, the mairie, although they sold tickets for the cantine, couldn't give me any info about the school bus.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you - endless kids' activities took over!

Thank you everyone for all your messages. It sounds like I should investigate both the state and private schools which is something I hadn't really considered before.

castlesintheair - you said your kids were coping well in their new French school. Do you mind me asking how old they are? Did they speak any French already?

Do any of you (with non French speaking children at school entry) have any thoughts you might want to share about making the first few weeks at school as painless as possible? I have an awful vision of my kids wandering around feeling lost and miserable. That is because how I felt on my first French exchange - and I was considerably older and I did have a basic level of French! I was thinking that maybe I should get a French tutor in the UK a few months before we depart.

How about watching some DVDs in French?
Cartoons are so easy to understand the storyline without knowing any words, and it'd start getting their ear in.

I can't really recommend anything in particular as DS is only 2, but if you post in living overseas with a title about what 4, 5 and 7 year olds can watch in French I'm sure you'll get loads of replies.

For the record, DS like T'choupi and Chuggington in French. Loads available on youtube.

morethanclueless, my DCs are 12, 10 and 7. The youngest spoke no French at all, the eldest two very, very basic age/name questions, some vocab.

Formal learning doesn't start until aged 6 so your children won't have a problem academically and they will pick up the language quickly, although don't be surprised if they don't speak it for several months (the silent period as it is known). My DCs have been treated like minor celebrities as there are no expats here. I've also found the French kids to be very friendly and sweet, where we are anyway, and my DCs have felt welcome and fitted in no probs. I was bricking it before they started in September but even my eldest has such good French now after only 5 months. A lot of slang and swearing, but he is happy

Good idea twothreefoursix! I will look into it. I know some French kids locally so i'll ask them.

castlesintheair - you are very encouraging. I'm glad to hear that your kids took it in their stride. How did the first day/week go though?!

I think it depends on the childs personality how it will go tbh - for us, DS1 was 2 but had lived in the UK until that point and had little or no French, DS2 was born here so had heard DS1 talking French with his friends, had been to the school with me every day before he started etc, DS2 found it way harder, the exact opposite of what I would have expected. I can't pretend the first week or so was easy for either of them, but it passes quickly and they settle. I imagine starting school in any language has its problems! Also, studies show when immersed in a 2nd language children understand the notion of a word six months before they introduce it into their vocabulary, so don't be worried if there's not much chattering before that. DS1 is 12 & in his first year at college, DS2 in GS (age 5)

The first day/week was fine. I agree that it depends on personality but all 3 of mine are different and it has gone well for them. If I recall correctly you are going to an expat area so they will be well used to dealing with non-French speakers. I would say it's more important that you speak French than them at this stage!

Hi OP,

I just left France after a couple years living there and had my DS in our local maternelle. My main advice would be that things are very different depending on where you live, so perhaps try to reach out to expats in the specific area you're targeting. For example, we didn't go to the mairie, but to the school directly. (fyi it was in Feb/March that we enrolled for September) We had the option of a private (Catholic) school but in our area they really were not any better than the state school. (It would only have cost 40€ a month though.)

I would strongly urge you to get your kids prepped on French as much as you can before you go, unless you find a school that is used to having expat kids.

Creche/halte garderie are indeed usually oversubscribed -- we applied to creche for two years with no luck. However, you can use a childminder and this is also subsidised by the state so costs very little. In our city we could get a list of available childminders from the mairie (I think it was the mairie) and we found a really lovely one in our area. This really helped DS adapt to French and other kids before maternelle.

Overall we found the whole process really painless but it's possible we were just lucky. (We lived in a mid-sized Loire Valley city that's run pretty well generally and not overcrowded.)

Thanks everyone. I feel far more encouraged!