Living in Bordeaux

[littlebear1978]

Hi there, can anyone offer advice/experience in living in Bordeaux? My husband is moving for work so finding a job is not an issue. I'm just starting to look into long term rentals which will let us take our dog. Cannot find a good website or anything at the moment! School is a priority for a 14 yr old and an 8 yr old ( 8 yr old may need home schooling as asd).
Any advice or suggestions would be great! We also have to learn the language but are willing to go with it and totally have a change of life

We moved to GRENOBLE 2 years ago and it has a local primary school with an international section (basically kids are in a normal French primary which takes kids from the local area, but the kids in the ‘international’ section also get classes at the level of English they would have back in UK). It’s a great compromise as the kids learn French (they have a teacher there to support and give extra basic French classes to all the new foreign children until they are up to speed) but also are in a school where they can keep their written English up to UK school standard, and also when they first arrive and can’t speak French, it’s a slightly softer landing for them as there are many English speaking children at the school. There is also an international college (ages 11-14, like ‘middle school’) and lycée (15-18). GRENOBLE is next to the alps, so if you like the outdoors it is amazingly beautiful. It’s also only an hour from Lyon airport or 90 minutes from Geneva. Good luck!

There is an english curriculum school in The Lot called The Old School here Very popular expat area. A bit of a journey to Bordeaux but your husband could commute or your son could board (quite common in France). Bordeaux is a fabulous place - it's a pity it doesn't have a good international school.

IST has a better reputation so if moving to Toulouse is an option, I'd consider it. The school is mostly full of Airbus kids and is in Colomiers, about half an hour outside the city.

The good thing about IST is it will have a high-turnover of students which will make life much easier for your 14 year old. Moving at that age is extremely difficult wherever you go. I would not advise moving him into a French lycée. Unless he has exceptional linguistic and social abilities, he will find it extremely difficult.

I wouldnt send a 14 year old straight to a french school. Id consider doing online school, and then getting extra french tuition on top

French school is unlikely to accept a newly arrived 14 year old who doesn’t speak French - there are exams to pass in college before students are allowed in.

A French state school (ecole/collège/lycée de secteur) is obliged to accept a child whether it speaks French or not. There is no guaranteed FLE though and they are unlikely to succeed without it. It might be better to propose a year on a modified time-table with as much FLE as possible and then doing the year again (redoublement).

And we don't have entrance exams to state schools.

Thank you for all the replies! We have actually settled on toulouse! I don't think I will move till my son has done his gcses or just see how things go when my husband had initially set up over there as we will be going on lots of trips so can visit schools and different areas etc. We will be taking lessons in French and won't make any rash decisions. My children come first.
I like the sound of IST and colomiers area but think it will be a gradual thing and we are planning to still rent our house in England for a while and live between for a while, school hols in France and term time in England so we can pick up the language and it will help my son in his French gcse too hopefully