Potential move to Frankfurt

[ShatterResistant]

Hi all
My family and I are in the late stages of considering a move to Frankfurt. DH has been offered a job there, speaks German and has lived there before. I have none of those things! DCs are 3 and 4, and I NEED them to go to some kind of kindergarten, or the move REALLY won’t work for me. Can anyone advise me on the ins and outs of this? International school isn’t really on the cards, as we won’t be on a fancy package, and I don’t have anything against a purely German environment, although I’d prefer something bilingual. Any experience of little ones in Frankfurt (or anything else you think I should know while I can still stop DH from moving this inexorably ahead) greatly appreciated.

Frankfurt fabulous place for young families. You will need to learn some German but English widely spoken. Am outdoor life, you can cycle everywhere, lovely river with pop up summer bars. Wine and beer festivals, good reasonable stand of living.
Cold winters with snow but fabulus summers as well.
Very child friendly city.

Thanks monday. I have visited before, because DH is a massive fan of the place, and I do remember the lifestyle being nice. This won’t be my first time living abroad, but it would be the first experience with children, which obviously adds a whole new dimension...

As PP says, it’s a great place for families! I came here 18 years ago and am now married and have two DC
Some of the bilingual kindergarten options might not be too expensive compared to what you pay for childcare in the UK, but the local options will be free (from the summer at least in the city, many suburbs already have free kindergarten) you just pay for food (we are in Bad Homburg and pay €42 per month for food). Local kindergartens will be used to having kids with very little or no German and they would pick it up very quickly.
You could look at Kids Camp for a bilingual option but there are many smaller places available. Would you live directly in the city?
There is an online system for getting a kindergarten place and whilstevery child is entitled to a space there isn’t enough supply to cover demand at the moment so you might have to wait a bit for a space to become available or be flexible with which kindergarten you would take.

There are loads of English speaking activities for kids that age though and plenty to do to keep them occupied until you get that sorted.
You might want to have a look at expat babies Frankfurt on Facebook there’s loads of info there and it’s a great place to ask specific questions.
I’m also more than happy to help with any questions.

The online system is great information, welshcake, thank you. And i’ll definitely look at the FB group you mention.

DH is talking about Oberursel as a good place to live?!

As something of a control freak, it’s a real relief to have you all as an independent source of information!

The one for Frankfurt is called kindernet but if you live in one of the suburbs they each have their own online system but that’s easy to find out. Oberursel is a good place to live (next town over from me!) there is also an English speaking playgroup (not an official Kindergarten) there called Little Angels which is supposed to be very good so have a look at that as an option before you get a Kindergarten space.
Oberursel has good public transport as there is an S-Bahn and a U-Bahn line so easy commute of about 20-25 mins to city centre. Have a look at immobilienscout24 for rental properties, there’s lots on the market in Oberursel at the moment.
When would you be moving if it all works out?

I’ll look into Little Angels, thanks. What’s the difference between a kindergarten and a Playgroup, would you say?

We’re looking at a couple of months- DH would probably come beginning of March and start work, find us somewhere to live, and the children and I would follow end of March when the school term here finishes up.

There’s a lot to figure out. I’m so grateful for your help.

I must have overlooked the ages sorry, if one of your DC is already in school I would definitely look at getting them in a local kindergarten. Then you’re in the system so to speak and will be connected to school etc later (to start at 6 usually). Although there isn’t any structured learning in kindergarten they obviously learn through play and there are paedeological conepts they follow (you could look up the Berliner Model for an example). Playgroups are privately organised groups that generally take kids up to age 3 or 4. Some kindergartens have kids in set groups in the morning and then have free play in the afternoon and mix up the groups and others allow the kids to decide where they want to go and play (offener Konzept) which would probably be a bit daunting at first for non-German speakers. Just something to be aware of.
Good luck and feel free to PM me with any questions