PRIMARY SCHOOLING ADVICE

[lamalou12]

Dear Members. I wonder if anyone could give us advice about primary schooling in and around the Lamalou les Bains area? We have had a holiday home there for 8 years but are considering moving with our two young children (5 &3). We are due to look at the bi-lingual school in Baillargues in June but the costs of fees might be prohibitive for us. Does anyone have any experience of the primary schools in our area (as far out as Magalas etc) and know of schools which support non-french speaking students for a time after joining. Although we appreciate that they are more likely to integrate into the language much quicker in a state school, as a mum, I suppose I just worry that it will be an upsetting experience for my eldest son who has only just come to the end of Reception year in England and only learns French once a week in a school club. Many thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.

[maxou]

lamalou12,

I don't think that there is any worry for your kids in the local ecole maternelle (primary school comes later here). Both of them may even be in the same class if its anything like our experiences in Montpellier where the petite, moyenne and grande sections are mixed together. It seems to work very well for our youngest, who isn't the only bilingual kid in the class.
FWIW there are children who started the year not speaking French, who are now quite happy and most importantly have plenty of friends.
Obviously the big smoke is a little more cosmopolitan then Lamalou as you could imagine, but it is still a community like any other Enrolling your children in the school nearest to where you live will help yourselves integrate more comfortably and you will make friends far quicker doing so.

[hesfordj]

I second that. I would avoid the bilingual schools. They are mainly aimed at kids who are here for 1 or 2 years. At 5 and 3, your kids are young enough to slip into the system. The first couple of weeks will be tough but they will be fine after that. It's the adults that will still be struggling 3 years down the line

[Christopher]

Our experience with sending Scarlett, now 4, to the nearest maternelle has been great; she's bilingual, since I'm English and her mother is French and so not the same problem as you; but the problem would become the school run, not how they get on in class; kids are fine I think wherever you put them.

[wendyb]

You might find information on here that's interesting http://kids-and-montpellier.blogspot.fr/

[Las-Cobas]

I would confer with every comment against bilingual schooling, Even Jonathan. My daughter came over here at 6 years old, and was completely immersed in he French system including Uni. She got a mention in Lycée and went on to become a Professeur of languages teaching French and English in Finland. What I would suggest, is that you enrol, your kids in the local French school before you move, even if it is a few months, this will give them a grounding in French schooling. I would also recommend the nearest large town school, rather than a village school.

Enjoy the move your kids will be great, unlike their Mum and Dad who will be crap with homework. Remember the French will always be Foreigners, my Mother in law especially, and they drive on the wrong side of the road. !

[Jacqui U]

Hello Lamalou12

I am sorry that this is such a long post but I felt you might be reassured by our own experiences - please do not have any worries about your children settling well into local schools!

We moved near to Lamalou in April 2002 when my youngest daughter was 5 10/12 (months are important at that age!) and our eldest was 11 10/12.

My husband just knocked on the door of the Lamalou Primary School (Ecole Primaire Paul Valery) holding the hand of our little one and the Headmaster (who was teaching his class at the time) opened the door himself and welcomed them straight in. My husband explained that we had just moved to a nearby hamlet (within the catchment area for Lamalou) and we wanted to enrol our daughter. The Headmaster said - leave her with us now and come back at 16:20!

On returning at the end of the school day, my husband chatted to the Headmaster who explained that she could not start at the Primaire until she was actualy 6 years old so he had introduced her to the Maternelle (on the same site). And she never looked back. She travelled each day on the bus with other children from our village, thus forging friendships straight away.

The CP teacher at the Primaire spoke excellent English, although she explained to us that she would be speaking French to our daughter primarily, she would be able to explain things in English when necessary. This teacher would even provide the correct homework answers for us in a sealed envelope so that when we helped our daughter to do her 'homework', we knew what the correct French answers were (you try working out what the birds are in the pictures and then finding the French equivalent?!)

We have nothing but praise for the Lamalou Maternelle and Primaire. They supported our English child all the way and were always approachable. She was welcomed as a great addition to the school, never as a potential inconvenience. They made a big issue of getting her to 'correct' the teachers mis-pronunciation of words in the English lessons - which she loved!!

With our eldest daughter, my husband turned up at the College at Bedarieux where they recommended (and organised there and then over the phone!) that she went for the remaining 2 months of the school year to the Primaire in Herepian rather than Lamalou because they knew that the CM2 teacher there was fluent in English and had experience of dealing with non-French children at this crucial age. She then started at College in the September following.

Our eldest in now at University in Montpellier after passing her Bac S at Bedarieux, whilst the youngest is in her first year at the Lycee. The classmates of my youngest daughter have bets each year on how long it will be before the English Teacher realises she is actually English because she is so fluent in French (with a Midi accent!).

If you have any questions I can help with, please do not hesitate to ask.

[Sandra]

that is a great story, can I ask what level is your childrens written english, i am presuming that they speak english without an accent as well.

[Jacqui U]

Sorry - another LONG post!!

Our two children speak English with the same (Southern England) accent as my husband and I, and both of them read and write English fluently - but we actively worked to ensure this because it became apparent very quickly that their English was at risk of becoming their 'second language' for reading and for writing! They talk/dream in French only for goodness sake!!

Our eldest daughter, arriving here at almost 12 years of age, spoke/wrote/read English fluently (she is/was always a big reader of books). She soon started reading books in French although preferred those in English for a few years - but now is equally happy reading in both languages.
We are told that she is totally fluent speaking French but it is clear that she is English (or possibly from Belgium!).
She has to remember when talking to adults to be more grammatically 'old fashioned' and 'vous' orientated because she obviously learnt to speak French from her classmates!
In college, instead of expecting her to follow the same syllabus in the English lessons as her classmates, the English teachers would give her an English book that she had to read, write a summary of, discussing characters, plot etc (with a colourful front cover she had to design herself) - which she then had to 'present' to the class, taking questions etc, all in English. It was a great idea and worked well.
In college/lycee, we found that her written French always contained grammatical errors and we discovered that the teachers were 'being lenient' - but when it came to outside examiners, she was heavily penalised! At University, she has had to buck up - no such leniency there!!

Our youngest daughter, arriving here at almost 6 years of age, spoke English fluently but had yet to start to read/write it well.
French is a very structured and rule-orientated language for reading/pronunciation/grammar, and this suited her down to the ground - she has an excellent memory recall for rules and took to it like a duck to water!
At home we continued to read to her in English but let her settle in learning to read French for the first year or so before starting to push her to read English. She was reluctant - although once her class started proper structured English lessons (taught in the same rule-orientated way as for French) she picked it up immediately.
For many years though she preferred to read a book in French because she could read a book quicker than when it was in English, but by the age of about 12 she was equally fluent reading in both languages.
But we did have to push her over the middle years. It helped that we are all great readers of books. My husband and I usually read their books as well so we are all able to have great discussions about them - and our youngest did not want to miss out on taking part!
She speaks French like a native and is never thought to be English. It is instinctive for her now - for example, even with totally new words, she will 'know' without thinking twice whether it is male or female.

How we handled things:
1. Although my husband and I speak French, we deliberatley kept English as the language spoken in our home. Our daughters speak English to each other when we are around, but use French between themselves otherwise - and when descending to arguing, it is always in French!!

2. No English TV for the first 2-3 years in the house - only basic French channels. However, we realised they were at risk of 'losing' their English so introduced basic English TV - that certainly did the trick!!

3. We continued to read to them always in English.

4. We encouraged them to set up blogs for our family in the UK to follow what they were up to - in English.

5. Although computers at school are French we deliberatley kept our home computers English to ensure they can type using both keyboards and use standard programmes in both languages.

6. When 'work experience' came around we ensured they did them in France and also in England.

What else?! I will try and remember........

[lamalou12]

Thank you all for your posts and my sincere apologies for the delay in responding!

It is really good to hear that there have been lots of positive experiences of French schooling, particularly in Lamalou. I have made an appointment to go to the school in Baillargues next week - more so out of curiosity - but certainly it would make much more sense, bearing in mind we have a home in Lamalou, if my sons could start at the local school.

Jacqui - thanks particularly for your posts - when you mention that you and your husband both speak French, are you (or at least were you at the time of arriving) fluent? The milestone I have to get over is that I have spoken very little French since school and my confidence to speak it is probably what has held me back from making a move before. My husband will have to continue to work in England for a time so I also have the fear of having to support my sons through the transition, on my own most of the time, thats why I thought the bilingual school might be a better bet to test the water, before we made a permanent move - perhaps that's just being a bit chicken on my part!

Do you think it would be possible for me to do a similar thing to you by just popping into the school for a chat or do you think more appropriate to make an appointment? I couldn't find an email address for them, otherwise I would have had a go at written French!! Was it as simple as you suggest in that the schools have the right to admit pupils as opposed to the local authority? If so, it might make more sense for me to approach them next week when I am in Lamalou. My eldest will complete Reception class this July and will be 6 in September, so it seems better to try this year rather than leave it another school year. My youngest will be 4 in October so would not have been joining an English school until 2014 anyway.

I was so glad to get your post - it really helped as we have never spent more than a couple of weeks at a time at the house. I am booked to spend the whole summer holiday there to see how we get on away from home, largely without my husband. At this rate, I might not end up going back!!

It would be really helpful to keep in touch if you did not mind? Do you have a contact you might recommend for the school?

Many thanks again

Carly Nunn

[Jacqui U]

Hello Carly

I too apologise for not always being prompt with my replies!

My husband was fluent in French when we moved here and I could get by - however, we found the Midi accent a culture shock since we spoke and understood 'Northern French'! I spoke/learnt French extensively throughout my schooling but had spoken it little since except on holiday - and I too found it was the confidence (to make mistakes with aplomb!) that I found difficult.

Having been very confident with his fluency when we arrived, if asked now my husband would say he was/is not fluent - but this is false modesty really given what he organised and the fact that all the locals always assume he is from Belgium (ie fluent in French but with a slightly odd accent)!!

My husband and the girls moved here in the April, whilst I continued to work my 6 months notice period in the UK (coming out here each weekend) until the August - so it fell to my husband to do all the organising.

We definitely dealt directly with each school and they made their own decisions - there was no interaction with the 'Local Authority'. Whether this is normal I do not know, it certainly was for us.

We did however visit the Mairie for our village to introduce ourselves as residents and this might have constituted 'contacting the Local Authority'?

Are you coming out in 2 weeks to then stay all summer? If so, I would consider popping in to the Lamalou school, explain that you are intending to move here for the September term and ask if your children could attend a few classes (maternelle probably) until the end of this term. The children would then get a chance to be at their 'new school' and you would be able to try out and see how you feel about it as well. At worst, the school can only say no - and even if they only offer one or more half days, it would help you and the children I think.

If you are staying the whole summer, why don't you book the children into the many summer organised events that are run - Lamalou has a lot going on.

When we first arrived here, we asked the girls if there was anything they had always wanted to do - and (after chosing a kitten each!) they asked to try horse riding. We let them do this just outside Lamalou for a few months as it helped introduce them to French people doing something special that they had chosen themselves.

The tourist Office has lots of info - it is worth a pop-in. ( http://www.ot-lamaloulesbains.fr/fr ) Some of the site is in English.

There is a different Headmaster now at the school and I will find out his name for you. I will also see if the English-speaking CP teacher is still there and send you the details.

I will send you my contact details. A good summer is on its way!!

Jacqui
xx