Gosh! Most people don't seem to know they're moving with this much notice.
If there is one thing you can do, get French lessons, particularly for your daughter, before you come.
Things will be so much better for her if she's had two or three years instruction with the tutor knowing that this is to prepare her for school and life here.
I know some people 'get by' and some do really, really well, but it would be a distinct benefit for your daughter.
The general consensus from other related threads seems to be that 11 years of age is the sensible maximum age to move a child into a different education system and language. Any later and you run the risk that if your daughter struggles to pick up the language, or you have to return to the UK then it is very difficult to catch up on missed syllabus.
The more fluent in French your daughter can become before the move, the better.
Hi Tresco.
Wow, how many times have we done this??? Just to say one happy story. J and I moved here when our son was nine, straight into the little primaire in the village, no english speakers, now doing the brevet at college this year and hopefully off to lycee - still no brit friends but totally ok. Good luck!!!
JSA Aude wrote:Hi Tresco. Wow, how many times have we done this???
Wow, how many times have we done this???
Hi there JSA.
I'm glad to hear your son continues to do well in school. Did you choose his school after deciding where to live, or vice versa?
Did consider sending him to the primaire in the local town of the vicinity we had chosen to live in but, having decided on this house and having a little school in the village opted for the latter. Definitely was the right decision as he then got to know the children in the villag/ locality who he went up to college with and are still his best mates. The head was also his teacher, a super chap who, with his wife, was involved in the village fete etc thereby we ended up helping out at the various events and have done for the last six years. Would highly recommend a village school if possible, much more convenient (!) and also enables the child to mix and make friends with the local children.
harry2325,
One of the main considerations overlooked by people looking to move to France with school age children is the very high statistical risk they will have to return to the UK, usually for financial reasons. It is estimated that well over 60% of British people of working age who move to France return or move to another country within three years to five years.
For children of primary school age this probably does not matter, but for children at secondary school, the disruption to their schooling can be damaging to their academic success, if they have missed critical areas of the syllabus.
Hi,
We came last year with a 13 and 10yr old, they have now both spent a year in a French school with many up and downs, i spent last week worrying as the youngest has just moved upto college......he has settled in great and loves it more than the primaire. We have been very lucky i think with both children picking the language up quickly and feeling happy in France. We were told not to bring the 13yr old due to his age but he wanted to come and was keen to make it work, this has contributed to his success and i would never have risked it if we had to force him to come. Fingers crossed for them both for the future its still early days yet!
Harry I think it depends on where you are, I have heard many children starting in the year below them or re-doing the same year twice, this never applied to our area and our children are still in the correct year that they would be in UK, so I would check with the school you have in mind.
J
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