Beverley1

Hi

Please can anyone help me. My husband and i are considering moving to France (Vendee area) and we only really have one concern, our children. We have two daughters aged 13 and 11. Does anyone have children of this age, if so i would be very grateful to hear from you. My main concern (which is the very obvious one) the language barrier. It would be a great help to hear how your children have coped with the move and which school's you decided to place them in.

Also, a push in the right direction as to which part would be best for schools, etc, we would like to be in the countryside but not to far from civilisation and close ish to the beach.


Thanks very much for taking the time to contact me

I look forward to your replies

Beverley

Katiewheels

HI Beverley

We moved to Poitou Charente in November and before we knew it, the local Maire had our eldest daughter Lily (8) in school a week after she arrived, a bit like rabbits caught in the headlights on her first day but she now loves it, she is finding it hard with learning all her work in French and the education system here is far more advanced than in England, but she is keen to learn so she will be fine. On average she attends Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri and catches the bus at 745am, starts school at 9.00 and finishes at 4.30, then she has an hour homework each night.

We have no regrets so far, love the food, countryside, people, weather etc etc etc.

The only real concern I had was education and I am really happy with the schools here, safe in the knowledge my daughetrs will be bi-lingual and a hell of a lot more intelligent than some at her previous school in England. Vive France!

Kate

steveparker

Feb 2003 we moved to Charente Maritime, St bonnet sur Gironde. Sold our house, bought the Transit van and a LHD car and off we went. Viewed 50 plus houses. Bought a lovely old shepherds single storey,quite habitable.
We have two boys, at the time aged 13 and 11. The youngest started school.Just before signing the Compromis my wife declared 'Get me out of here'
Went ahead with the sale. Completed the sale while repacking the van and headed back to England the day after the house went through.
Rented in the same area we had left. Got the boys back into the same schools. Flew back and forth a few times to give the new house a quick makeover. June 2003 found a serious buyer ourselves. August saw the Marie and signed with the new buyers during a two week holiday, then drove their lorry back to the UK with the remainder of our bits on my own ( non stop) while my family stayed on hols in France.
Unloaded at 4am. Got the train back from Waterloo the next day.
Several couples who said give it longer have since returned. My youngest hated the school and they did not seem to want to give him the extra help he needed. I loved France .. the area- house-pace and style of life.
My wife said it reminded her of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang- the child catching scene- where were all the children?-streets and parks deserted.
Glutten for punishment.... now in the final stages of our Oz visa.
No Going Back This TIme for sure!!

Katiewheels

Hi Steve, what a nightmare! It is such a shame that it didnt work out for you all in France, however I am a great believer in fate, it seems to me that you gave it a try, didnt like it and that has cleared the path to making your decision about Oz (or yellow brick road if you like).

As far as anyone asking what life is like in France, I really think that you have to give something a go before you can pass comment on it. I always hear stories of people returning to England after France, but there are still 3m ex pats in France which just goes to prove that it is down to the individual/circumstance etc.

We are very lucky in the fact that so far everything has fallen into place nicely here. We run an Internet based business that is UK focused so we can work from home anywhere in Europe, but if we didnt do this, we wouldnt be here as neither of us speak fluent French, or have a trade.

We were seriously ripped off in Spain before we decided to come to France. We put down a 2k deposit on a beautiful, huge brand new Villa in Catral, Valencia, only to find out from the British Embassy there, that the whole development would be privvy to land grab laws within the next 10 years, we lost the deposit, but fortunately saved 70k which would have been the 30% we had to put down. So we are counting our blessings here now.

I agree with your wife about the child catcher (wasnt he scary)!!! The parks are isolated and at times the streets are like ghost towns, I have tried to imagine wild parties going on behind the shutters to satiate my curiosity, but to be honest we came here to escape the rat race, so deserted streets are not an issue any more. (we are 35 and 37). God, I sound boring!!!!!

I will finish by wishing you all a great future in Australia, (very envious) would love to go there but just spent all our money on paint brushes to paint the french countryside!!!!!. Happy New Year and lots of good luck.

Katie (Francophile)

eurotramp

Do you mean that your daughter will be more intelligent, or that the children in France are more intelligent then in the UK?

If second...what a rubbish.....

Katiewheels

hmmmm......................

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France...ducation.shtml

say it all i think



HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

eurotramp

AND?

Katiewheels

You know what, I thought this was a friendly site, not one with rude and arrogant senior "members" on it, tell you what, fill ya boots luvvy, Im a happy go lucky person and dont need your negative vibes, reply all you want with your snotty little statements. Im out of here!

eurotramp

For god sake...all I wanted to say that it is rubbish to think that kids in France are more intelligent then eng. kids....never mind what kind of school they go to..since when has intelligences anything to do with schooling?
Ether you are or you dont

Sue

Eurotramp was not trying to be rude.......I think you mis-read her comment. Not to mention the fact that English is not her first language.

Your reply, however, can be classified as rude!

warsaw29

hello kate
i will be moving to the var region to work later this year & my 6 year old will start at the 'local' school. Whilst i am sure he will adapt & opinion seems that kids always do i am nervous about the change, the language & how he will deal with it. From your experience does it take long to settle in?
Keen to hear from anyone else who has been in similar circumstances
dave

priscilia

Warsaw 29,
We made friends with americans who put their 4 and a 1/2 years old twin daughters in the same school as our daughters this year. After 2 months they were getting on fine and were after learning already quite a bit of french.
The only thing I would recommend is to find some other english speaking kids they could play with once in a while, I know they loved to come over to our house, I think it was a break for them.
6 years old is probably not too bad to start school here it's the first year at school really, where they start learning how to read and write and count.

As for the french education system, it's horrible!!! I should know I'm french, it's too many hours for too many years and far too much homework for not much result. I also lived in Ireland, I know it's not exactly england but the system is similar, they don't spend as many hours at school, they get their leaving cert earlier than we get our bac, you do see kids playing outside because they don't have to spend all their evenings doing homework (that's where they all are in France!!Not having mad parties, believe me!)and the result is the same if not better, I checked what they were studying in Ireland and it was the same level as in France if not higher and I found it much more flexible too.

Now I don't blame you for leaving england for the sunshine, we did it too, but don't be kidding yourself about the schools here, they are ok but not better, actually we also are applying for a visa for australia!

goppie

We have been in France nearly Three years I was desperate to get out the first year. Lots of crap from people already here trying to convince themselves I think that its great. Here in the Charente it is as boring as hell , lots of people of all ages leaving, especially those with teanage children. Our children were 13,11 and 9 on arrival ,the only one to get stuck in was the nine year old. Having said that he still hated the quiet. The two girls found school and teachers s!!t and hated every moment . I too have been bored rotten and now with so many places closing down its worse. Were off very soon, and I am sure this is not going to help me sell my house, do you know what I dont care. So come here and see yourself grow older and and exist because you do not live here. And by the way the fresh food here is also crap

steveparker

OMG what did I start

DJM

Bought a house in the Southern Vendee countryside about an hour from the coast 2 years ago as a holiday home. After numerous holidays decided to go for it and moved over last August. Summer was great and then came the beginning of school for my 13 year old son. He didn't know what had hit him after UK school. On the bus for 7.30, home at 6 and then the European homework mountain each night. Our main reason for coming was to get away from the UK schools as they were getting so bad. Overcrowding, drugs, bullying, violence against teachers, teenage pregnancies, lack of discipline, lack of respect etc. Now after nearly 6 months of the French system I am beginning to hate myself for putting my son into this environment. Most nights he comes home and moans about the racist French kids. I really thouht that he would come here mix and make loads of friends. All he has are 3 English boys from school that he sees. The problem there is the distance away that they live. No way could they see one another after school and obviously no time after homework. I never thought it would be perfect but I would never encourage anyone with older kids to come here. Summer's great but thats only for a couple of months.
I totally agree with the others who posted with regards to the deserted streets and lack of life. We think there should be a warning of some sort for foreigners "LA VENDEE FERME". Do yourselves a favour and dont do it.
Now my favourite gripe. MICRO CLIMATE!!!! Haven't seen it yet. Winter here is soul destroying. In the country its just acres of mud.
We've met loads of Brits here and in my opinion the oldies and ones with young kids do fine but most with teenagers want out.
We are going to give it to August then rethink our lives. Luckily we rented out our UK home so have that option to return to. But we really dont want to go back to UK. Spain is a favourite but have heard horror stories about there. At least i could put son back into a UK type school without the UK bad bits and some SUN!!!!