Schooling in Fra

This post is also available in: Français (French)

How English speaking children cope with schooling in France is a frequent discussion amongst the foreigners living here. This shouldn’t be a surprise; schooling is often a hot topic in your home country, so wondering how your children will cope with the alien environment of a French school can be doubly stressful! Choosing which school to send your kids to is not so much of an issue, (in most of the areas we deal with there is just one school to choose from) it’s how your children can get the most from that one school that needs attention.
This is my opinion, it is based on fact (I have three children aged 8, 10 and 12 years), but it should probably not be quoted as gospel. I do seem to have to express it quite frequently though so I thought I’d publish it.
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My kids have had the (massive) advantage of being born in France. In addition to this, and unusually, we took the decision to send them to a French childminder from age 1 until school started. (This facility is heavily subsidised and in our area was organised by the local ‘Relais des Assistantes Maternelles’ or RAM). This meant that my kids pretty much learnt the two languages together. BUT both my wife and I speak only English at home and, although we have both French and UK television we tend to gravitate towards the UK TV 95% of the time.

I’m not saying this to brag, just to give you an idea of how they are doing, they are average in the class for French, in most other subjects they are slightly above average. In the primary schools many English speaking children manage to follow the curriculum without too much difficulty. However if the basics of the language aren’t mastered by the time they start collège (secondary school) at the age of 11 it can become quite an issue. We’ve done some analysis and I think some (more) of the reasons our kids cope quite well are:

* We enrolled them in as many French run clubs and holiday activities etc. as we could. Here the kids are exposed to more ‘conversational’ French than in the school environment.

* My wife is a full-time Mum and speaks good French (mostly self-taught) so can help with their homework.

* We have a tutor who comes to the house once a week to fill in the gaps.

Even with these ‘extras’ the kids just about keep their heads above water on the schooling front. You shouldn’t expect much extra help from the schools either. Some do run remedial lessons for non-French speakers but only for an hour or so per week, and there is normally no classroom assistant to help them on a daily basis. Quite often any difficulties that your child might have will just be put down to the fact that they are not a native French speaker.

In fact I was talking about this yesterday with someone from Samoëns and another from Chamonix. Apparently can get a bit frosty on occasion in the Chamonix schools, they have had to deal with too many non-French speakers and it sounds like they are getting fed up now (this wasn’t reported in Samoëns). Of particular ire was the scene of an English parent picking their kids up from school whilst dressed in ski kit. You can imagine what the teachers think. There isn’t the same hostility where I live in St Jean d’Aulps, but the proportion of English speaking children in the three primary school classes is 25%, 30% and in one class 50%! You can perhaps understand a little why the French can feel put out.

So you’ve got a couple of options to think about. Either “go native” and find somewhere “French”, or to head for somewhere like the Annecy area that caters for the bi-lingual aspect of your childs education.
Go Native
So to try and avoid other English speaking kids at school. We have witnessed many new English speakers starting school who cling on to a small group of Anglophones in the class. It’s not exactly the language “immersion” many parents imagine before coming here. It slows progress significantly. Stay on top of the situation too; it’s hard work but if the first time you discover you child is struggling at school is in their end of term report you may well have a lot of ground to cover to sort the situation out.
With this in mind here are some suggestions for the predominantly French areas in the Haute Savoie.
Le Petit Bornand and Thones in the Aravis: http://www.alpine-property.com/area/5/aravis
Possibly Samoëns but in fact, on this subject, I think you will be better off further down the valley in Taninings or Mieussy.
annecy
The Annecy Options
It could be Annecy’s proximity to Geneva but there are now several options available to relocated families with bilingual kindergarten and primary schools such as Ecole Bilingue de Haute-Savoie in Annecy and  the Mésanges Ecole Bilingue Montessori in Veigy. French secondary schools in the area are also starting to offer specialised classes  for native English speakers and gifted French kids, seeing  the benefits of having native English speakers in the school.

These developments will no doubt help families avoid having to needlessly  move back to the UK for educational reasons when their children can profit from diverse, high quality schooling in situ – and still go skiing!

You can read more about the Lake Annecy area here: http://www.alpine-property.com/area/10/lac-annecy or see a list of the properties we have for sale around the lake here: http://www.alpine-property.com/lacannecy

The bottom line is – schooling cannot be left to chance; which in fact is the same everywhere!

13 thoughts on “Schooling in Fra

  1. Keith Moore

    HELLO.I AM HAVING DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING A LIST OF PRIMARY,SECONDARY AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN ANNECY.CAN YOU GIVE ME ANY CONTACTS? THANKING YOU.YOURS,KEITH.

    Reply
  2. nadeen

    I send my LO to Jeanne D’arc in Chamonix. They have a high percentage of English speaking and some Swedish speaking students. I find the staff and other mothers very welcoming…except a couple but that can be said of any school in any country. No one dresses up for school run and I have never been given a dissaproving look. Its a ski resort so half the parents work in skiing. I do find the English parents who seem to have the most problems here have 2 things in common. Firstly they refuse to make any effort to learn French and secondly expect it to be like GB. Kudos to you and your wife for the efforts you have made to assimilate. It takes work and an open mind to accept a different culture.

    Reply
    1. Louise

      Thank you for this comment – we are about to move to Chamonix and trying to work out which primary school would be better for our slightly shy 5 year old girl. We have places at Jeanne D’Arc and Centre but would love someone to give a recommendation. Both husband and I make every effort o only speak Frenc when we’re in Chamonix and intend getting our LO a tutor for the summer to give her some basis in French … exciting times but I hope to make the best decision for the kids. ANY advice welcome!

      Reply
      1. Gareth Jefferies Post author

        Sorry for the slow reply. I’m afraid I can’t help with Chamonix primary schools. Despite having a daughter at the Lycée in Chamonix! I’ll ask a friend.

        Reply
  3. Gareth Jefferies Post author

    Nadeen, thanks for your input. On reflection I probably should have toned down my comments about Chamonix. One or two incidents should not become a generalisation!

    Reply
  4. Lindsay

    Hi we are looking at schools around annecy. I have a 5yo, 7yo and 12yo. Would like to find more info on the schools but am struggling to find the info… any help would be fab!
    Many thanks
    Lindsay

    Reply
    1. Gareth Jefferies Post author

      Lindsay, sorry for the delayed reply. Beyond the general information in the article I will struggle to help. If it is a French school you are looking for it will depend on where you will be based. If it is an international school then you can be more flexible, I’ve found a few with a quick Google. I’m not in a position to recommend any though.

      Reply
  5. Fiorella

    Hi Gareth, we are thinking on moving next year to Samoëns, my daughter will be 11 by the time we move and will start secondary school. I’m trying to find a secondary school there. Do you have any link for schools in that area? Also do you know if there any Spanish schools there?
    Thanks

    Reply
  6. JO SULLIVAN

    Hi, We are looking to up sticks for 6-9 months in Morzine with our two daughters who will be 6 and 9 by the time we look to relocate (Dec 2021 until July/Aug 2022). As we will be there for only a relatively short period of time we were wondering whether we should look into getting them into a local school or mix home school (with a tutor, hopefully French speaking) with lots of clubs amd skiing. We are keen to immerse and are keen but appreciate by the time the kids settle into school it will be time to come home, and obviously want it to be as stress free for them as possible! Any thoughts or can you point us to someone who has done something similar?

    Reply

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