French or English Primary - Pros & Cons and WWYD?

[Ecole]

We are a trilingual family in London. DH is the french speaker and DD (3.9) had always refused to speak French until she started at a Bilingual French English nursery recently.
Since then, she has really flourished and to DH's joy, she has started speaking French and being proud of her nationality.

Our plan has always been to send her to the local community school this September, and that would be that.
However, a new French School is opening in our area and we are really torn about whether we should send DD there or not.

On the one hand we really wanted her to make local friends and go to the local school.
On the other hand, we feel she will lose the French language and culture if she does go to the local school. Moreover, we feel that the French education system (especially at primary level) suits DD - she likes strict parameters.

Our current plan is to to send her to the French School until 11/12, where we hope she will attend our local state secondary (which has an excellent reputation).
However, because she the French School doesn't accept children until Y1 age, DD will have to spend one year at the local primary before changing schools again.

Would all this change be too much for her? She'll have only been at her current nursery for two terms, then she'll go to school for a year, then change again.

Also, there is the fees situation to think about - only £2k a term, but it's all the holidays (half term tends to last for two weeks and Wednesday half days) where I would need to pay for childcare.

WWYD? Are we mad for considering the French School?
Sorry for long post ...

No, not mad at all.

I say go for it.

If English is very established as your DD's majority language and only her Dad speaks the minority language to her, then she will need a big boost to ensure more than passive bilingualism.

We are in France and if we had access to a local english language school, I would go for it in a heartbeat, as I am desperate keen for the DC to do more than understand English (ie our minority language here).

Good luck.

we live in canada where there are a lot of french immersion schools - lots of folk choose them for their dcs. i would definitely try it out for a year or two. you can always change later if it seems appropriate.

Thanks, it's good to know that others would jump at the chance.
And yes, I suppose if we didn't like it we could change schools ... but it would be another change for poor DD

meant , not

Ecole do you mean the the new development in KT?

If so my understanding is that they are linking the new Lycee with an existing French Primary that has been in that area for a number of years so the primary section isn't new even if the buildings are.

Yes, it's the CFBL that I'm referring to.
Doesn't open until September so can't visit until then. And, DD is due to start English primary in September.

DH went to school in France, but I just feel a bit in the dark.
One idea we did have was to visit L'Ile aux Enfants (the existing primary) to help us get a sense of what classes might be like.

i wouldn't worry about changing too much tbh - dd1 is in her 5th school in g6, and will be moving schools again in the summer. she's still top of the class lol, and has learned to make friends easily. change doesn't have to be a bad thing.

ds1 will be going into his 3rd school, as will dd2 (7). the joys of following the flag.

I think visiting L'Ile aux Enfants sounds like a good idea at least you will get a sense of what the French style of education is like and whether or not your DD will fit in.

I would accept the place at your local primary for YR that way if you are not happy with the French option you can just leave your DD where she is.

Thanks for all your replies.
There's an open evening about the new school at the Lycee on the Monday, so hopefully that will answer a few of my questions about the school itself.

Feeling much more calm about it all today as DH and I had a very good chat about it all and have come up with a plan of action