EaB - Paris Monceau and LaMartine

[fairground]

Hi to all you parisiens out there - particularly those with bilingually schooled children. We are moving to Paris soon (Anglo/French couple) and have 2 children (Petite Section/CE2) who are bilingually schooled (following French curriculum) at the moment. We have been offerred places at EaB - LaMartine from April for both girls. My husband is already in Paris, and we are keen to minimise the separation of the family. What is your view regarding this school? I know it is related to EaB Monceau, but it would seem that we cannot get places there until September, and obviously that means 9 months of separation versus 5 months if we take the LaMartine places.
Anyone have any views on the Lamartine campus (particularly versus Monceau)
Thanks

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Hello

My daughter is at EaB Monceau (moyenne section).

Lamartine is fine but not as good a school as Monceau and, to the best of my knowledge, not nearly as good for bilingual children as most of the proper Anglophones go to Monceau and are all taught English together.

Can you not put your children in Lamartine from April-June and then put them in Monceau from September?

Hi Anna - thanks for your response. I would like to avoid chopping and changing schools too much for the girls, so I think once we get to Paris, we will stay in the school we start at (plus I don't think EAB would take it too well if we switched!).

In some respects, to have a school more dominant in French may not be too bad a thing for us at this point as we have lived in 3 different, predominantly English speaking countries all the girl's lives, so their English is somewhat stronger, despite always attending French schools (my youngest, to be fair, only started in September at the Lycee here!)

Will keep you posted on what we decide - if we end up at Monceau I will definately let you know and maybe we could meet up after school one day!

In your position, I would wait for September and go to Monceau. It's a better school and, crucially, a much nicer environment... .

Yes, CAT me whenever you feel like a coffee/chat once you get here .

Thanks Anna for the feedback. I will have a serious think about the pros and cons - particularly since they have acutally offered us a place at Lamartine but not yet at Monceau (they are quite clear there would be nothing available before Rentree) and I don't want to tempt fate - i.e end up with no place anywhere!

Hmm. Monceau is more popular than Lamartine, and with good reason - there are plenty of parents with children at Monceau who live much closer to Lamartine.

Hi

I'm thinking to enrol our daughter to the EAB next year, when she will reach 3 y o, and definetely have a soft spot on the Monceau campus after I visited extremely cramped other english schools yesterday where I have doubts children might enjoy studying. How good are the academic achievements in French or International studies of students who attended there ?

Which other school would you recommend in Paris intra muros that offers english or bilingual cursus ?

Thanks
Luis

I don't know EAB but I can recommend the EABJM from an academic POV. DH2Bs sister got 45/45 in her IB from there 3 years ago and several of her friends did very well in the French Bac with International option. Possibly better to transfer there at 11 though, or for CE2 to the Theatre campus, if you're worried about space as Dupleix and Suffren are both quite small, although my charge has been very happy at Suffren and he is a VERY active little boy. I don't think any of the children there have suffered from the small size of the school and it does give it a lovely homely atmosphere.

I am thinking of EABJM or the ISP. Less keen on the idea of the British School as don't want to commute and don't want them growing up in a British bubble as they did in Belgium.

Actually, I am not thinking about it at all at the moment and I go in 6 weeks!

My DD is at EaB, just about to enter the third year of maternelle - she has been there since the beginning of petite section.

IMO, EaB is a great école maternelle and a sound primary school - your child will progress very well there up until 11, by all accounts, compared to other local schools. But you mustn't count on keeping your child there beyond primary, and certainly not for lycée.

MrsSchadenfreude - didn't know you were moving Paris . ISP is an "expat bubble" school, very definitely. But, if you are not planning on spending your whole life here and/or your children are quite old already, it can be a good option.

Sorry - I should have made it clear that DD is at EaB Monceau.

The schools I am considering for the future are EABJM, Ecole Alsacienne and Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. But I am not at all convinced that I shall move DD before the end of primary (even if I do intend to make applications for the first year of primary for September 2010). All four schools have their good and bad points.

Oh Lordy! But at least it is in Central Paris. The British School in Brussels was in what was known as the British ghetto and most of the mothers didn't even venture into Brussels!

Was told not a cat in hell's chance of getting into the Lycee International unless children are super bright. They are not daft, but I don't have mini Einsteins on my hands.

I've got a contract for 4 years, girls are 8 and 11 and I will be working in the 16th (hopefully living there too) hence the appeal of the International School!

I can quite understand, if your girls are 8 and 11 and you intend to return to the UK when they are 12 and 15, that you would want to put them in an IB school. My sister lives in Amsterdam, and before that Madrid, not knowing where she is going to be next, and she keeps her children in IB schools.

Lycée International would be very hard work for them (and, contrary to popular opinion, you don't need to be daughter-of-Einstein to get in, just decent university potential) and personally I don't think is worth bothering with unless you are sure of actually getting to the end (it is the lycée proper that is so good, the primary and collège have quite a lot of complications about them).

I would have more reservations about living in the 16th than sending my children to ISP! It's very staid and boring!

Anna, Where would you recommend living that is not too difficult to get to the 16th from? I had heard that it was spectactularly dull! I may also be working some of the time in the Faubourg St Honore area, so will need to get there as well.

Although it's appealling, the idea of living in a house in somewhere like Croissy or Bougival, the thought of commuting again fills me with dismay! I am commuting at the moment as DH's job brought us out to the sticks, but this is an alien concept to me - I have always lived in central London and walked to work before, and have every intention of moving back to my flat in central London post Paris.

Yes, you have been correctly informed: the 16th is boring beyond belief, and I know and DP knows the area around ISP very well as his parents (and grandparents before them) live in Avenue Mozart.

If your children are going to ISP, they really need to be on a RATP bus route as, at their age, they will soon be able to do the journey on their own. I'm presuming that your younger DD will be at Ranelagh site and your elder DD at the rue Beethoven site. Either way, both are going to be pretty accessible from the 7th arrondissement which is much, much nicer than the 16th, though more expensive. You could play around with www.ratp.fr to compare sites and bus routes.

The rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré runs from Place des Ternes at the western extremity of the 8th arrondissement bordering on the 17th to the eastern extremity of the 8th arrondissment bordering on the 1st. So it is immensely accessible from the 8th or south-eastern part of the 17th or the eastern part of the 16th. I wouldn't worry about travelling there (on your own, for work) so much as getting transport for your DDs right - it is unusual for children to travel far to school in Paris, and secondary school days can be long and oddly timetabled (don't know if ISP follows this crappy French trend).

Will look into the 7th. Have already turned down a 2 bed flat on Victor Hugo. Rent ceiling is around 4000 euros a month, I think.

4,000 euros a month? That's loads . Lucky you! You can easily get three double bedrooms/two bathrooms in a nice area for 4,000.

Try looking in Le Figaro.

The 7th is nice (I'm biased!) and convenient for ISP. ISP Beethoven is right by a metro stop on the 6 which runs right the way through the 7th. Around the rue Sevres/ave breteuil area on the 6th/7th border you would be able to pick up the metro 6 (for Beethoven) and the bus 70 (for Ranelagh). Alternatively the 82 bus will get you within a short walk of Beethoven and goes right through the 7th, which means you could live up closer to rue de bac/boulevard d'invalides. Living by the Champ de Mars you'd be within walking distance of Beethoven but getting to Ranelagh might be a problem.

The best bus for both schools would be the 72 which goes through the 8th, 1st and 4th arr. following the river.

The eastern part of the seventh (east of Les Invalides) is a lot nicer (younger and more fashionable) than the western part, though, which is quite traditionally Catholic-bourgeoisie (that really would not suit our family at all!).

OK...I have finally got the bull by the horns and have emailed ISP and asked if they have room for the DDs...

Finally taking head out of sand...

Good for you! Hope it works out (it should do, most of those international schools have lost pupils to the credit crunch and the repatriation of international executives).

I have lukewarmly emailed the American and British Schools too. Really don't want to live in the sticks or a British/American ghetto. Had long chat with someone about schools in Paris today, and interestingly, she agreed with you on EaB not for lycée.

DD1 engrossed in learning the parts of the horse in French this evening!