asj968

Hello,

A bit of advice please.

We may be moving to France sooner than we thought. A job may be coming up which is appealing.

My only concern is around education of our 3 children. It is likeley that we may be based around the Pas de Calais region and I wondered what advice anyone has around schooling.

Our 3 children are 15 (half way through GCSEs - wants to do A levels), 13 and 9.

Are there any options for continuing the british cyllabus for the eldest? are there any english / international / english speaking schools in the area? (for the eldest)

I am not sure home schooling would be an option as we would be at work.

Any advice on integrating the children i.e coming to terms with the language in prep for french schools and what qualifications can they gain in France that are of use if they return to the UK when they are older. Certainly the elder two wish to attend British Universities.

So many questions.... we may have a 12 month lead into this before being required to move.

Thanks for any help.

val50

Hi there
I know a few of us moved to France with teenagers. It's such a difficult age anyway, and what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another. We were lucky, got ours into a sous-contrat school. The French bac. is accepted all over the world. Our eldest had no problem being offered places at university in UK, but chose to go to Caen instead.
There is a internation school in Lille
http://france.english-schools.org/ec...ine-manuel.htm
nearest others though I think are in Paris.
at least you have time to prepare, and lots of people on here to help any other questions you may have.
Good luck

asj968

Thanks for the info Val.

What is a sous-contrat school?

Any more info gratefully accepted :0)

val50

You get private schools in France, generally with smaller classes. They are either Sous-contrat or hors-contrat
At sous contrat schools, the government pays the teachers’ salaries and the school follows the national curriculum and schedule. At hors contrat schools they are not subsidised by the government and free to set their own curriculum.
Schools which are sous contrat ask parents to pay a relatively small annual fee - we were paying 680 euro a year when our son left in 2006. The fees don’t include lunches, registration fees, transport, materials etc.
Hors contrat schools have annual fees that are more in common with private schools anywhere in the world and can average between about €8,000 to €15,000 per year.
If you do a search of the forum, I think you might find quite a bit more info, as I know the subject has come up quite a bit from time to time.