French exchanges - do children in England still do these and how are they organised?

[Anna8888]

We were talking about this last night. Both of us remember from our youth that schools in England and France had long-standing agreements and sent children back and forth at the end of the summer term on a regular basis, with children attending school either end.

Does this still happen? If not, how do parents ensure their children learn French (and other languages) beyond what they acquire in the classroom?

We looked into a school near Bristol for my stepsons that charged £2,500 for five weeks boarding.

I've done lots of hunting and that was much the best option I've come across, unfortunately it was 5 weeks of the boys' term time here in France and we couldn't take them out of school here for so long.

We are planning on sending them to Millfield next summer (EFL courses) and that costs about £750 a week... so if we could find lovely families for each of them with boys the right age, that might be our preferred option.

I have the family (my dsis) and hopefully DD won't need an EFL course, it was just a shame she couldn't do the last month of term at the local primary with her cousin. It would have been sooo handy on so many levels (well, for me really, not sure what the school would get out of it, but still....).

My school was twinned with another in Rouen and used to do a lot of exchanges that way. I believe they still do, but only because the twinning relationship goes back a long way. Both are Catholic schools, btw, papal network and all that.

I agree you need to find a family, much, much better than an EFL course, not to mention cheaper.

I did loads of residential language courses in my youth (France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Germany) and always loved them, so have nothing against a (good) EFL course except the (bloody awful) cost .

But a family would be great... anyone got a 13 year old DS who loves French?

Brangelina, I think it might be worth asking the school, I suspect some are more flexible than others over that sort of arrangement. I know my step sisters children attended state school for half a term when they were back in the UK on their last visit and that was organised in advance, so they weren't resident when it was arranged or even permanently resident when it happened. Wouldn't your children be resident with their cousins in any case for the time spent in school?

No, but got a 13yo stepson who loves his playstation. Do you want to send yours to Italy instead? DP's ex has got loads of room too....

Hmm - my partner has been studying Italian for the past three years (since he opened his Milan subsidiary...) but DSS1 speaks French (obviously), has 5 years of English, 1 year of Latin and is just about to start Spanish (don't think Italian was even an option).

But our DDs can do an exchange in a few years time as I want mine to learn Italian and presumably you want yours to learn French .

Yes, but only for a month, so I'm not sure it would count as residency (isn't it 60 days or something in the UK?

Basically, schools in Italy break up in early June, so the idea think would be to send DD from then until the UK end of term, so 4-6wks? I might have a word with the school when my niece starts, my sis is such a wuss about these things.

Absolutely Anna, it's a deal

DD's school only does a German exchange - but she has been to France severak times on school trips.

This summer though she is doing a DIY exchange with a girl introduced via a Teacher contact. Hope it works! This girl comes here for a week & then they fly back together for a week in the French Alps.

Anna or any interested others, I've just been told about this new website which aims to match families for language exchanges or study holidays. It's currently got an initial offer of free registration (normally £50) if you join before 31st August.