Moving to Paris

[elephant45]

Hi I am moving to Paris this October. I have two grown up kids who are away now at university and a third 10yr old. I had a bad experience in Spain immersing my eldest into a spanish state school and so am wary of doing that again, however the private schools are pretty pricey. The victor Hugo school has a place as does Malherbe but none of the others seem to at the moment. Would love a slightly cheaper school, maybe one of the bilingual ones that is state subsidised and helps english children to learn french. Am happy to live either in the western suburbs or in a slightly leafier part of inner paris. I am fluent french speak but my son is not. Would welcome any advice....thanks so much.

Hi! I live in the UK but I'm french, lived in Paris for 8 years and I'm the daughter of school teachers! So, in some public school you can have special classes with foreign students where the main goal is to teach the language. I would strongly suggest to have a look here: www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21304 Your son will be tested on his knowledge (general and french) and will be orientated towards the most efficient level for him. What I would do as well is contact the academie of your area where they will be able to tell you exactly all of your options. For Paris: www.ac-paris.fr/portail/jcms/j_6/accueil The academie is in charge of all the schools of their districts. But as my mother used to tell me, children at this age don't take long to get around the language. She used to have foreign students between 5yo to 13yo and in less than 2 months, they were all fluent. Good luck with the move!

Thank you so much for your advise I will check out those websites.