 Poster: A snowHead
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I've rented a chalet for next season and on Dec 1st I will be moving out to Morzine with my family for 5 months. Our two children will be 13 months and 4 years old. The younger will enroll in a local nursery but I'm not sure what to do with our 4 year old. Should I enrol him into a french school. How many hours a day do they attend school for ? All opinions gratefully received.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Will there be a legal requirement to ensure children attend school at that age, obviously in the UK they would be in a reception class at that age.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Not in the UK as the eldest was born in November which means he will not be required to start school in the UK until September 06 when he will be nearly five. I believe (I may be wrong it happens a lot!) that in France children do start school a little earlier or perhaps I am getting confused with an equivelant of the reception class at home.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Frosty,
From memory children start in Ecole Maternelle at age 3. You can proably enrole your eldest in the local school if there are places by contacting the Mairie. There is a fair amount of bureaucracy involved including having the childrens birth certificates translated into French.
I think the hours for school are 8:30 - 3:30 or so mon, tue, thur and fri with an optional half day on saturday.
You may find the local ESF does lessons on weekends and wednesdays for the locals at a reasonable rate which could help your child learn to ski, these may book up in advance.
All the above is from memory so I would check the facts but I hope you have a great season.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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T Bar - thanks that is excatly what I was after, I've already e-mailed the ESF with and asked for some resident rates but still was'nt sure what the form was etc. Thanks again
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Frosty
You might like to have a look at a website called "Education Otherwise", an organisation which exists to support families who have decided to educate children themselves, not in school. Not exactly what you are doing, given your child is 4, but there are lots of ideas and resources for making sure kids don't miss out - quite interesting and inspiring though thankfully my kids quite liked school and I never got further than reading the website! What a fantastic opportunity for your little ones to be exposed to French, which will embed itself in their synapses and come readily to the fore in later life.
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Pam w - thank you, all help gratefully received.
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Your children are so lucky, I would love to have had an opportunity like that, to be bilingual and learn to ski like a local.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I will probably never "ski like a local" !!! too many bad habits but hopefully my eldest will be skiing well by the end of the season. Both boys are already learning two languages (Dutch and English) and I'm a little cnocerned that a third one will be confusing, I hear lots of encouraging things about multi lingual childrens ability to pick up languages but I still have concerns that they may be a little behind their friends in English which needs to be the first language when they start school back in the UK.
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I wouldn't have thought 3 languages would be much more confusing as 2. I guess as long as you speak English to them at home it won't be a problem, and I'm sure there'll be lots of English children around. Plus your oldest will have a good few months back in the UK before starting school, won't he?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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There are no real hard and fast rules ref the école maternelle.... they do takes kids from 3 years up (used to be 2, but they are on an economy drive). As to whether they will take children over lunchtime that's not so clear - no problem for working parents, but it may not be so easy for parents on holiday! As a rule it's 8.30am to 11.30am, then 1.30pm through to 4.30pm or 5pm. Beyond school hours there's often a "study" hour or so, allowing working parents to leave their kids from as early as 7.30am and up to 6 in the evening... with justification, of course!
It does depend a little on the children's characters, but they should adapt ok at that age. Certainly no problem at 13 months. Our oldest (now 23) was born in France, spent 3 years in England from a year old, went back to France for 4 years, then back to the UK for 6 years, then returned to France where she went through the latter part of her secondary education and her degree. Completely bilingual as a result.
As well as the ESF you'll find there will be other alternatives. The local ski club is a possibility although they may have minimum standards. The "commune" will probably do some tuition (usuing the ESF but at special rates), usually on a Saturday - the cost is very reasonable. Both the latter, if available, would work out cheaper than standard ESF charges. I'm not so sure about getting much of a discount from the ESF just because you're local. Certainly doesn't work like that in Bourg St Maurice.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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PG - Thanks, thats really helpful, I was thinking in terms of my son being a regular pupil rather than simply benefitting from a discount because I live locally but I do now understand the system, thanks. T Bar's earlier comments had me thinking that I could combine childcare and education and with some juggling it may still be possible, I am making enquiries to find out whats available to me as, shall we say a long term visitor.
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Frosty, Re: learning the lingo, My sister is 7 and has picked up both Castillian and Catalan since they moved to Spain , granted they are pretty similar, but she flicks between all 3 and translates for my useless father, who's idea of speaking Spanish involves talking loud and slow 
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You know it makes sense.
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Sorry if there is any misunderstanding; my comments are based on my experiences of about 5 years ago when I stayed in Briancon for about 5 months having lived overseas before that. They are certainly accurate for that time. The ESF lessons were a regular course on saturdays wednesdays and sundays and were only practical for those living locally and were considerably cheaper than other group lessons but there was not a local discount as such hope this clears things up.
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