Moving to Montpellier, France, with 4 kids under 8?

[CSLewis]

Our kids have always been home-educated, but we are thinking of moving to France for 6-12 months. My husband's family is French, so we would like them to get a good grounding in the language before they get too much older.

However, I am concernced about the leap from being home-educated in the UK (with a relaxed, child-led style of learning) to going to Primary School in France, which I've heard is a much more rigid system than in the UK. Plus I know nothing about the system at all. My eldest dd will turn 8 mid-August - does this mean she will be the youngest in her year as would be the case in the UK?

The other thing I'm thinking of is a more relaxed school-ish environment - Montessori/Waldorf, etc - but don't even know if these exist in France.

Of course, we could just carry on home-educating, which would be a lot simpler in many ways, but would make making friends and learning the language much more difficult...

Any advice/ideas/help very welcome!

The intake year in France is the calendar year; so all children born in 2001 go to school together. Your August born DD will have children born in September, October, November and December in her class.

French schools are all sous contrat and follow the French NC or are wildly expensive (and few and far between). Your main choice is between your local secular state school, over which you will have no choice - your children will be allocated places by the mairie - or a private Catholic school. Other options - private secular schools, mainly - are pretty rare.

HE is complicated in France - you are supposed to follow the French NC.

I would send them to school (research where you are going to live very carefully first) for a full 12 months. They won't learn enough French in under 12 months to make the venture worthwhile for them.

Thanks, Bonsoir, that's helpful. I've been looking up Montessori schools, of which there seem to be a few around. Most are Ecoles Maternelles which only go up to the age of 6, but there appear to be some which take older children, even beyond primary. I'd need to establish prices, obviously, but that might be a good solution for us.

When you say 'private Catholic schools' - does that mean that you have to pay for them, as in the 'private' system in the UK? We are Catholic, so that would work for us - only if you didn't have to pay, though!

I don't know of any "sous contrat" montessori schools, but there ARE some "sous contrat" steiner schools. There's one up the road from me (but I'm nowhere near Montpellier).
The private "sous contrat" catholic schools you have to pay for but they tend to be not very expensive (80 to 300 euros per month, depending on various criteria). The thing to avoid is "hors contrat" which can be extortionate. Most montessori schools will be "hors contrat".
I've also heard that "méthode Freinet" schools can be quite "open" compared to standard public schools but don't know much about it.
Sous contrat means that a school is under license to the public system so similar curriculum therefore part-subsidised by the state. Hors contrat means entirely independent so extortionate!

Oh yes, and some public schools have an "integration class" for kids who start but don't speak much French. Can't remember what it's called, however...

Most catholic schools are pretty affordable.

There are one or two sous contrat Montessori schools in France. My DC attend/attended one of them), which isn't hugely expensive - parents pay on a sliding scale depending on income.

We chose it specifically the French system can be terrifyingly rigid, and we have been very happy with it both in terms of its academic standards and its approach to teaching.

However it is nowhere near Montpellier...

'adaptation' classes are available in some schools. No idea about Montepellier.

Home Edding in France is horrendous - I work 1 day a week with a family doing it and I am in absolute awe of the mother keeping on top of all the requirements set by the CNED....

"Home Edding in France is horrendous - I work 1 day a week with a family doing it and I am in absolute awe of the mother keeping on top of all the requirements set by the CNED...."

I don't know how anyone who hadn't been brought up to worship at the Church of L'Education Nationale and to believe that French education was the gospel could possibly even contemplate the CNED...

Catholic schools in some areas are much cheaper than Brioche Doree quotes. We pay about 15€ per month per child.

Do please consider your teachers though, putting an 8 year old who doesn't speak the language into a class of french children can be very hard on the teacher. Also bear in mind that if there are other english children at the school then they tend to flock together and so learning the language becomes more difficult.

The age your dd is would mean that she should be going into the CE2 year group in September. I would advise very strongly to start in September as many schools don't like to take new children part way through the year as the ciriculum is strictly set for the whole year. Lessons are set in workbooks and are rigid. There is much rote learning, they will be expected at that age to do dictées every week, and will be starting on some of the more detailed bits of french grammer.

Expect the first term to be difficult, with your dd hardly joining in, the second to be slightly easier, and by the third term the language should be kicking in.

The people and the weather in Montpellier are so lovely, despite teething pains with the move, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time!

I didn't see this earlier as am on holiday, but I lived in Montpellier for four years (left a year ago). We loved it there and people were really friendly.

There is a Steiner school but only up to age 6, and for primary school our friends who sent their children there moved them to the Catholic school my son went to.
Here is the link: www.steiner-waldorf.org/ecoles_steiner/montpellier.html
I know in Steiner they don't want people to be unable to attend because of costs so they are sometimes able to reduce the cost.

It is true the French system is very rigid etc and I agree it is likely to be a shock for your children. We only got as far as the end of maternelle and to be honest I was very impressed (having been very reluctant to send my son to the French system!). He went to Ecole Sainte-Geneviève in avenue Louis Ravas and the teachers were generally very good, but it would be much more structured than a UK school and even more so once they reach 6. This was a private Catholic school (though they didn't mind that we weren't Catholic) and cost around 40 euros a month. There were no other English-speaking children there when we were there. It would probably be hard to get in for September though.

A guy I knew also started a bilingual Montessori pre-school but it is very expensive: www.maisondesenfants.net/

There is a bilingual school in Baillargues, but again I think this would be expensive: www.ecole-privee-bilingue.fr/

Other friends used this bilingual one in Montpellier, but again it is private: www.bschool.fr/en/home.html

The other Montessori one is on this page: www.montessori-les-pouces-verts.fr/s_informer/liens/liens.php under l'Hérault.

Good luck and do ask again if you want more info!!

Thanks, this is all very helpful. My impression is that most French schools have quite similar standards of discipline and academic results, so I'm more interested in finding one which will be 'NICE', IYSWIM; friendly, understanding and helpful of the language difficulties my kids will have - and flexible on what they expect academically when they've just arrived, which is why I was looking more at the Montessori route.

However, they all look too expensive for us, unfortunately. We'd then prob go down the private Catholic route (we are Catholic). My second dd will turn six in November - would she be starting the first class of 'primary' in September, then? And, Weta, would you describe your son's teachers as nice and friendly?

Many thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Yes, your second DD would be entering CP (first year of primary) in September 2010 if she has a November 2004 birthday. My DD is a November 2004 baby.

If French teachers are nice and friendly, that is a massive added bonus IMO. They are not trained to be nice and friendly to parents; however, they are often a lot nicer to the children than their public persona belies!

DD's teacher this year was hopeless. Used to complain about DD to me while DD was listening, then wonder why she didn't want to talk to her! Am really hoping she doesn't have DS next year as she is now school directrice so is having class of petits instead of grands.
DD's teacher the previous year was an absolute lamb and we loved her, but some of the French parents hated her because she wasn't "strict" enough (for a class of 4-year-olds!!)

Sorry for not replying earlier - I was back home travelling round NZ.

Although your DD2 would normally be starting CP, I think it would be worth asking for her to do Grande Section instead as it is much gentler and the language would be less of a problem. They do seem to have some flexibility the other way round (ie January babies often start a year earlier than they should) so it might be possible. IME the best approach is to state your case calmly and explain that you come from a different country and system, and that while you appreciate that they have their rules, you are hoping they may be able to be just a little bit flexible in this particular case ('exceptionnellement' is the most useful word here!).

My son's teachers were generally friendly and kind, although not in the same way as UK teachers would be. You have to make an appointment to chat to them (and the school gates are locked during the day) but once you get used to that it's fine. I was a bit taken aback when at 3 he took the teacher a flower one day and she asked him the colour - he replied 'blue' (which was what I'd told him it was) and she said 'oh no, it's not, it's purple' and there was no way she would give an inch on it. But she was nice and was more flexible than I expected - the first time he stayed for the afternoon he kicked off about sleeping in the dormitory, and she let him sleep in the classroom instead.

In Moyenne Section he had a really good teacher who single-handedly got him over his shyness and had him talking comfortably in front of the class, and the Grande Section teacher was absolutely excellent, a really lovely person and very dynamic (though her father is British!).

The Catholic schools generally have a good reputation. I have a friend who teaches in another one so I could ask her about it... She's also a very nice and friendly person. Are there any in particular you are thinking of? I think if you contact them and chat about the language difficulties etc you will get a better feel for how they would approach it.

We came to a village that shares schools with another village just after dd's 9th birthday. She jumped from year 4 to CM1 (equivalent of yr 5) in 2 days. Her school was in the 'other' village with only 1 class with both cm1+2 in the same room and 1 teacher the head, who was brilliant.

She sometimes stayed in the garderie after school and chatted to the lady in charge. Also, the dinner lady helped her loads. However, at that age, she was very outgoing and bursting to talk to everyone.

At that stage there was no extra help with French. In the holidays we sent her to a holiday club who were very helpful - they even bought a dictionary in case they needed to look a word. We didn't want her to lose the language she had learned and thought that it would be good to learn more in a 'play' environment.

Now at her college, they have started extra French for non-francophones, but I have no idea if this is universal, or mandatory. The previous principal didn't do it, it was the new one that started it. I do think that 6eme is a bit late to be honest.

I did meet someone at a cat fair that home-schooled, but from what she said, I don't think it's very common here.

Good luck with the move if you decide to do it.