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16/01/2008, 16:01 mazza Joined on 04/01/2008 Posts 7 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. Tresco..  I am not attracted to the French education system...it's just that we are planning to move....my husband has a job....I hope to be employed in their school....and we would like Dominic to be happy.  Someone wrote that it was different being there on holiday and having french friends..... than living and working there, we are fully aware of this and know that there are hurdles that we must overcome. I have french friends who are teachers who have come over to stay with us.  Being employed in the education system in England I arranged for them to spend time in a couple of schools from Primary to High.  All three of them told me that the the english education system is very relaxed and the students do not have enough dicipline or respect for their teachers, and that their behaviour would not be tolerated in the french system. The only thing that they seemed to be in agreement of is the start and finishing times of the children.  Having said all this my other two sons have thoroughly enjoyed their time in school (obviously not all the time)....have both done really well, and have gone on to further education.    Report

16/01/2008, 16:40 Tresco Joined on 23/08/2004 Charente Maritime. Posts 4,635 Re: Moving with a 13 year old.  mazza wrote: Tresco..  I am not attracted to the French education system...it's just that we are planning to move....my husband has a job.... Sorry Mazza. I got mixed up reading so many threads about people moving with children last night.    Report

16/01/2008, 18:59 Deby Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 641 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. I hope to be employed by their school..... Mazza,  I honestly didnt mean to be too blunt earlier.  It is very difficult to be employed in France certainly by the school. If you are a teacher, the chances are the qualifications would not be transferred, so you would have to spend several years doing the CAPESS, if you are not and wanted an administrative role, you would probably have to study in the French system and get the equivalent qualifications, plus your french would need to be fluent and you would need to have a thorough understanding of the french education system. If that was not enough to contend with there has to be a job available, most of these jobs tend to be a job for life, so unless someone dies or retires you will struggle, let alone with the fact that the school is more likely to favour a local person.  I do not wish to pee on your bonfire so to speak but merely inform you of how it is in France, rural or otherwise.  Please do not be seduced by that holiday feeling.  Sensibly rent first - and continue as you are doing lots of research beforehand. Its good to get a balanced view and the Forum is certainly a place to hear how it is.  Yes, France is a great place, but it is not all about sunny days, great food and the feeling of freedom for children to roam around. Best, Deby http://www.chateau-de-clerac.com    Report

16/01/2008, 20:29 rusheslake Joined on 29/03/2005 Twixt Laval & Le Mans (72) Posts 47 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. My good friend came over to France 4 years ago with a 12 & 14 year old... both boys. Whilst the 12 year old, with much homework & home tuition just about coped the 14 y o found that his back was against the wall and Im afraid at 18 now finds himself without a job in rural France. 12 is without doubt the absolute latest you should contemplate uprooting a child and throwing into French education.    Report

17/01/2008, 17:42 Jura Joined on 28/11/2005 Posts 805 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. I agree rusheslake. A move to France is a completely different prospect for the teens as opposed to their parents, basically because the parents are at one end of life whilst the teens are only just at the beginning.  It may be fine whilst your kids are attending the cute little village school and rattling off in French to their hearts delight...but what happens afterwards though? Mum and Dad might find that their niche is running a B&B, selling real estate to other expats or offering a translation and 'hand holding' service, but what happens when their kids have to leave school? There is no doubt that bringing our kids to live in rural France has many advantages; peace, calm and a safer community in general for them to live in, but as for work prospects...they simply do not exist. For the local French teens and even more for the expat teens. The only way around this is to shift to a large city here...but who wants to do that when we can do that 'back home'? Expats, in general are attracted to rural French life. Fine for retiring to, but not for kids who are just starting out in life. As  far as my experiences go, I have found that the Colleges here simply weed out who is fit to go onto Lycee and who is fit to register with Assedic each month from the age of 16. It seems a kids exam results decide the difference here, without taking into account what individual kids want to do with their life. Even that woman who bought a Monastery near Mossett and penned 'Life in a Postcard' has sold up, left and returned to the UK with her son. She knew where the limitations lay with regards to her child's future. Using hindsight I would have stamped my foot a lot harder five years ago. I wish we had waited...about a good twenty years before coming here. With regards to families; a move to France should benefit everyone in the long run...not just Mum and Dad.            Report

17/01/2008, 18:34 cooperlola Joined on 05/05/2006 72 - Sarthe - home of les 24 heures du Mans Posts 6,438 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. You are right, Jura and Rusheslake, but there are ways around this.  My o/h's niece and nephews have lived here for years (my BiL works for the University in Marseilles).  The eldest is going to Uni' in the UK now and quite happily commuting between the two countries.  Job prospects will now be available to her both sides of the channel - not just one.  I suspect the boys will do the same thing. But it is a truly different thing for the academically less gifted, that's for sure.  There is not a lot of work in this country and it's worth considering.  Many French are now seeking work in the UK - (I had several French friends when I lived in the UK who had done just that) and at least that's easier for a bilingual person than one who is not. Yes, it's important to consider their employment prospects in France, but once they are old enough, they can chose to go to the UK if they wish. Healthcare Issues Site    Report

17/01/2008, 18:57 Jura Joined on 28/11/2005 Posts 805 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. Yes Cooperlola, but how do you simply place a 15/16 year old  into a UK secondary school when they have only ever been educated in France?...I have a friend whose daughter is 15. They arrived here when she was 7. They returned to the UK in July last year. This girl has never studied upper primary and secondary school work in the english language, in fact, I found when speaking to her here that her english language skills were very poor indeed. She only ever used the english language when speaking with mum and dad at home...she primarilly operated in French with her friends and teachers. Her parents spoke hardly any French at all and she is an only child.  This is another problem...people bring kids here at a very young age, put them through several years of french education and then expect them to just slip back into the UK system. My friends daughter is having the same problems now in her UK school as a French-born child would have if just dumped in a UK school with very poor english. Your kids do not have the best of both worlds, either you educate them as French or as British and depending which age you change them over means they will only ever be either one or the other. The earlier and the longer you school them in France the more problems they will have coping with a British education later on.    Report

17/01/2008, 19:07 cooperlola Joined on 05/05/2006 72 - Sarthe - home of les 24 heures du Mans Posts 6,438 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. Oh, I'm with you on this, Jura, make no mistake.  At uni' level it's one thing, earlier, a nightmare.  Many foreign students attend UK universites with few problems, but as I say - easier for the accademically gifted, whatever the educational circumstances. I went through this myself (without the language problem)  I lived in Malta from 12 years to 15 years old and went back to the UK in my final O level year.  What a disaster - even on the same apparent sylabus my education was all over the place. I never caught up.  Although this was partly due to the fact that I skived off and worked as little as possible, I'm sure that the constant moving about had a lot to do with my attitude too.   Healthcare Issues Site    Report

17/01/2008, 19:20 Jura Joined on 28/11/2005 Posts 805 Re: Moving with a 13 year old. I see where you are coming from Coop's. This is why we are leaving before our two youngest (3 & 5) start primary school here. I also want to get my teen back into an english language education before he is of GCSE age, I want to give him the chance to catch up. I have already seen one son (20)  take off and return to his country of birth where his chances of education and career prospects have already improved immeasurably, even his social life is 200% to what it was here. He was here for four years and never got anywhere. I don't want our being in France to stuff up the future prospects of my other kids. Their future is what matters, I can continue mine anytime. Hindsight, once again    Report

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