Need help on International Schools in Paris (for CM2)

[violinodoro]

Hello,
We will be moving to Paris in few month from South of France. Our son, 9, went to Bilingual school since he was 2, so we would like to put him in that kind of environment in Paris too. After serious research on the web, we are getting down to 3 schools: Ecole Jeannine Manuel, Ermitage (20 km out of Paris, in Maisons-Laffites) and EIB Monceau. With small differences from school to school, they all ask for an interview with parents and a kid. Has any of you went through these interviews? Ecole Jeannine Manuel seems to have a great program, and we like very much the "cartier" , but it is also soooo hard to get place in there (we know no one who went through that school or who is there now. Is it really that great? And what are the tips to getting the place?) And some more questions concerning Ermitage : any insights about that school? How would you rate it? Anyone has a kid there? Any comment is really helpful, as we are somewhat puzzled as of now...

Hello, Are you planning to live in the city or the suburbs? You have other options if you decide live outside Paris, for instance the British section of the Lycee International in St Germain en Laye, and the British section's external class at Pierre et Marie Curie in Le Vesinet. One of my children did a year at L'Hermitage and liked it although there were a lot of kids there who had too much disposable income for their own good! It is the second choice school, strictly in academic terms, in the area behind the Lycee International, but that might actually be a good thing. Similarly Jeannine Manuel is the harder of the two EIB in Paris. I would say really consider how studious your child is - not how bright - before putting them in one of the more academic schools because you will be signing them up for years of academic pressure which reaches ridiculous proportions by the time they do their bac. Good luck with your search!