Moving to Brussels with 10 and 7 yo - local schools advice!

[ciribiri]

Good morning,
I am due to move to Brussels in August with my husband and two daughters ages 10 and 7.
I would greatly appreciate some advice on local French schools. Their French is very basic. In addition, they understand Italian.
I'm trying to find out whether the local schools have a support programme in place for children as old as mine, to help with language acquisition and integration.
At the moment, i feel very afraid that they will struggle and be very unhappy.
My husband and I speak French, Italian and Spanish, so we are able to provide support out of school. The international schools are not an option because of cost.
I would be less nervous if they were younger, but at 10 and 8(by September), what might the experience be like for them?
Has anyone here had a simar experience or know of someone who has?
I have been dipping into the threads on moving to Brussels with kids and there is a lot of really great information - i will be studying them carefully for tips! But specifically on children that are a bit older, adapting to local schools, I've not found much.
Any help would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

I only have young children so can't give direct advice - bumping for you in case anyone else does though. My oldest is 6 and the francophone school he's at has a very broad mix of nationalities and home languages - he's far from the only one who doesn't speak French at home. The school did arrange for a separate teacher to give language support to children who were particularly struggling in maternelle, so the option does exist. You might have a chat with the ONE (office de la naissance et de l'enfance), if your local office is helpful - they can signpost all sorts of options you'd never otherwise find out about! And the school (at least at primary level) will have a PMS team who provide psychological, medical and social support - they're probably the people who would arrange language support. You could try making an appointment with them to see what's available.

There's also a big - generally helpful - Facebook group called English-speaking mums in Brussels; you could try asking there, someone might be able to give you better advice based on actual experience!

There's a FB group called Belgian Schools Network where you will get loads of advice. In popular expat areas the schools are used to dealing with non-french speakers - I think there were 54 different native tongues at my dd's primary school. Mine started aged 2.5 so I don't have any personal experience, but I know a few people who started with older kids and they all adapted remarkably quickly.

Thank you so much for your responses! I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner but things have been a whirlwind. Thank you so much for all the advice!