Moving to France - school age children who don't speak French

[Mrsmoo28]

So, we're getting disillusioned with life in the UK. You've heard it before, I guess . We're worried about loss of family values, cost of further education, house prices etc etc.
We've sold our house and can't find an alternative after looking++. We could afford to rent / buy a good property in France and we could afford not not work for a year or so or could return home to contract to bring money in whilst we learnt the language / established longer term plans. We have 2 children 7 and 6 who are settled at an outstanding primary and are very bright.
DH and I speak minimal French but are willing to learn. We'd be thinking of putting the children in a French school.
We have had an itch pre and post children but don't want to scratch it to the detriment of our little people.
Thoughts please?
Positives and negatives, realities and correct/incorrect stereotypes welcome.
Thanks

What do you mean by family values?

I would research it a bit more and maybe do a couple of visits so you are realistic. Ex and I did this and viewed properties in France but found it wasn’t as straight forward as we thought eg property laws, local mayor, bits of land around the homes belonging to different people. He also found the language harder than he expected. We decided against it eventually.

Having said that I know a couple of who have just sold up and relocated to France in their 70s!

Family values are more deeply enshrined in French culture and law than they are in English law. This has upsides and downsides!

I wouldn't take settled, bright children out of an outstanding primary for anything. It will be the most dreadful upheaval for them, into the unknown. No.

The grass is always greener somewhere else. No experience of this but trying to learn the curriculum in a foreign language ( plus learning the foreign language ) must be difficult ?
Maybe if you stick to the plan long term it will work out well but if you have second thoughts and move back once the kids have settled over there it will be an upheaval for them. As PP said maybe buy property in your existing area to rent out while you’re away? It will give you an income too.
I think you need to be more certain of your plans before you make a move.

Loads of great advice.

We've been here 15 years and I have two DS's (16 & 9) who have been entirely schooled here and although I have heard plenty of negatives from others about the education system, we personally have only good things to say. They have both had opportunities which wouldn't have been available in the UK (or we couldn't have afforded it!) Skiing, sailing, translating at sporting events etc etc are the kind of things I'm thinking of, as well as complete fluency - French & English (which needs work too, otherwise they'll just chat and have no background grammar etc) DS1 also speaks Spanish and understands a good level of latin.

It is more difficult for adults, but I'm a bit of the mindset "if you don't try you won't know" - I can't stand the thought of regretting not trying something I really wanted to do. But that's me. Only you can know.

I will also add that we have a gite here, and had a family who stayed for 10 months. Their DS was the same age as DS2 when they were here (5/6) and he went to the village school with him. His confidence was knocked a bit to start with, but he was certainly at a similar level as the others by the end of the school year, but obviously some children are more linguistically inclined than others. I think you need a plan, you need to probably come and spend some time here (not at the beach on holiday!) and think how life would be day-to-day. But it's not all negative. The thought of going back to the UK gives me the horrors and I'm doing all I can not to be forced into a positon where that is a possibility.

There’s a good reason why london is a larger French city in population terms than many French cities and that’s because of all opportunities in the U.K. particularly England.

I wouldn’t want to put my children through the French secondary system. You think A levels are brutal? Try the baccalaureate.

As I'm in the middle of discovering Abra1de DS1 is doing OIB - which is the standard French bac plus 8-9 extra a week in English literature/History/Geography

It’s tough, isn’t it? Talking to various young French friends has been an eye-opener, and my two who went through A levels worked hard—one is now at medical school, but even she says the French system sounds worse.

Our elder DC did the French Bac S before going to university in the U.K. They were extremely well prepared for university!

DD2 has here last Bac S exam today. So up to 18 she has had to keep Learning:
Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology (and geology), French (up to 17), Philosophy, History, Geography, English, German and Sport - All pretty much up to A level standard. Classes start at 8am and most days Don't finish til 6pm then she has to get the bus home so not home until 7pm. It is brutal.

Indeed, French. That’s why we moved to live 3’ walk from school!

I echo everything that has been said about the French Bac. The French system is very much a one size fits all affair - everyone is measured using the same stick. There is no option to stick to a narrow specialist field or pick a few soft subjects. My husband jokes that the motto for French schools should be Fit in or F* Off. Fortunately my dcs have managed to keep up so far - I’m not sure what we would have done otherwise.

The French bac is due to change in 2021 and there will be, in theory, more choice and flexibility for DC entering Lycee from September 2018.

BIG mistake. They certainly won't be fluent and the whole process of getting them into school, healthcare will be a nightmare.
Very unsettling for them.
You don't speak French so how will you deal with all the papers etc?
It takes years to be fluent and 5 and under is what is recommended. 7 I think is too old. (I teach English in Spain)

The French bac is due to change in 2021 No escaping Philo and French though.

Philosophie will be marginalised in the reformed bac

France is one of 4 eu/efta countries where French is an official language. Why France only?

I guess you can buy somewhere and livr a bit cheaper than you can in the other 3.

1 of the other 3 has areas. Just as cheap as France.

I guess you mean Belgium since the other two are €€€. That doesn't tend to be as trendy for Brits as France, and unusually less familiar. And them of course the kids would have to learn Dutch too .

Belgium is a much more suburban country than France and the weather is awful.

Why would children have to learn Dutch in Belgium? That shows the unfamiliarity.

The kids would have to learn either Spanish or German at secondary if they came to France. I think pretty much everywhere in Europe they learn 2 foreign languages unlike the UK.

In the long run your DC will be fine. They will almost certainly struggle with the language to start with - probably for the first year it will be really hard for them - but as they gain fluency and confidence their lives will become easier. However, for you and your DH I think it will be hard as neither of you speak French. I've lived in both Italy and France and initially it was really hard - and I was young and single and able to go out and meet people and make friends. As a couple who need to work and earn and who have kids you'll find it hard to soclialise, make friends and have the time to learn the language. It really isn't that easy to learn another language unless you can immerse yourself in it - and when you're married to someone who speaks English to you all the time at home it's impossible to be immersed. If you're serious about this then I would highly recommend that you both enrol in a total immersion programme at the Institut Francais in London and get your French to conversational standard before you go. You'll probably never be truly fluent - fluency if fucking hard to attain as an adult - even if you move to France and live there the rest of your lives.