British / French / IB curriculum? Difficulty to switch in between?

[mommytobe2020]

We are a French / American family living in central london. We are sending our son to reception soon and had plans for him to join a prep school. I’ve recently started to consider maybe this is not the best route for him as we would love for him to speak French, but he isn’t learning well at home.

is it possible to start in the French system, such as a bilingual school and then transfer into a British prep? Maybe during the 7+?

Any views on the IB curriculum? Perhaps we should just stick this route where he can get a bilingual education on the IB track?

confused and would love any pros / cons to each. Any feedback? Thanks!

7+ in London have high standard of essay writing, comprehension in English and Maths with word problems. I suggest you check 7+ exams and see if this would be cover in bilingual school or do you have to spend extra hours on top of school days.

I agree, take a look at the 7plus papers available on the selective schools website to get an idea of standard needed by end of first term of year 2 (this means year 1 national curriculum content needs to be taught during reception). Plus be aware that even in a top performing prep school little classroom time is given to modern foreign languages, 1 to 2 lessons a week, the focus is on maths and English. Hence you would need to keep up any French learning outside school (Google French schools that run on Saturdays that cater for this market).

Thanks so much for this! I will take a look. I am completely new to the system here, so just trying to figure out what is best for our son. Tbh I prefer the British pathway, but also want language early on for our son for personal family reasons.
@tennissquare i wasn’t aware of these saturday French schools. Thanks so much for bringing to my attention! This sounds like a good compromise between the options.