French schools near Basel/integration

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hi,

We are a family of 5 moving to the Basel area. We have decided to live in France but want to make sure that we choose the right location depending on the schools and how well they manage integration.

Our children are B8, B7, G5 and we plan to send them to a French state school. I see there are many bilingual French/German schools in the area (understandably). Can anyone tell me if there are any French/English schools?

Failing that, can anyone recommend a school in the border area that offers good language teaching to help the kids with French? Or is it just sink or swim? We are planning to get them some French classes before the move but of course this will be pretty basic.

Any insight or recommendations would be great, thanks.

2
Hi,

I live in France, also with three children in state school. There are no French-English schools. Another option is international school in Basel, which would be in English, but it's expensive, and obviously not great for integrating if you live in France. The schools do help children coming from abroad with extra French classes. I knew someone a few years back who got a lot of extra classes in Widemann school in St. Louis - I don't know if this is still the case, as things change a lot these days in the school system (and also depends on budget of schools).

It's the townhall - mairie - of each town that regulates the schools on a local level, so they are your best first point of contact. If you're not sure where you will live, you could just contact one - eg St Louis, Hegenheim, Blotzheim - check out here for some information and contact details - http://www.saint-louis.fr/index.php/...ontextuel=true

I hope you'll also get some responses of integrating children recently. There are lots of nice towns for bringing up children, but I think I would consider Hesingue, Hegenheim and Blotzheim, maybe Bartenheim.

I've just had a look at your other posts. If you have a chance to come and look at the towns it will make your decision easier. We decided to live in St Louis for transport links. I find it very convenient. The bus to Basel is every 20 minutes (except at night, Sundays) - the 604. Similarly, there is a 603 bus to huningue and Village neuf. So they are the most convenient. Looking back, not sure if I would have chosen St. Louis - it's a small town, but I am not that happy with some of the kids behaviour - eg my 7 year old tells me it's normal that all the kids curse. In many classes, the teachers have at least a few problem kids, and that keeps the class back. In my son's secondary school, any boy who gets a haircut gets slapped on the head. Some people may think these are small matters, but I think it's probably better in the villages, which are often prettier too. But on the other hand we can walk/cycle to cinema, swimming pool, shops, Basel. For me, once we had moved here, I did not want to move the kids to another town again. If you are intending to stay, you may also like to consider the local college - secondary school, as your eldest will start there at 10.

Financial considerations; not sure if you know but they are changing the law regarding private health insurance, so that it will cost a lot more to be insured - at the moment there is talk of paying 8% of your salary to be covered by the national healthcare system CMU - see other threads about this(before you could choose your insurer and this could be a lot less, depending on your salary). I mention this because, for newcomers, it makes France less attractive financially.

Sorry to be negative, but I know it's best to have all the info before you decide, and I remember how difficult it was for us to decide. At the end of the day, it's also not that easy to find a house exactly where you want, so that will be a factor unless you're willing to wait. I'm Irish too, by the way. If you have any questions, just let me know, here or by pm. Good luck!

3
French state schools have pretty tough reputations, many French parents send their kids to fee paying schools.

I really can't see why you would choose to live in France rather than Basel, especially with the current uncertainty relating to work permits.

4
Dack,

I see your point about living in Basel; I think there's a lot of pluses. One major thing I don't like about living as a frontalier is that we speak French now, but if we want to go to the nearest city- Basel - we can't understand everything. Eg you want to buy books, and it's all in German. Those who choose to settle in Basel don't have that problem.

But, about the visa issue, surely it doesn't matter whether you choose to live in Basel or France? If you get the visa, you're sorted anyway, no?

By the way, for the op, the only private schools nearby in France are the colleges in Blotzheim - Ecole des Missions - and in Landser.

5
First of all Manley, I see you have not been following Swiss politics lately. The entire work permit issue for EU foreigners (you're Irish, right?) is up in the air, no telling how it will work out.

If speaking French is important to you (and I can understand that) you have the option of living in the Swiss French speaking town of Delemont which is an easy commute by public transport to Basel and is quite a nice place, much prettier than St. Louis.

6
Hi Manley Hopkins,

Thanks for such an informative reply, good to know all of that. My children's ages are 8, 7 and 5 (boy, boy, girl). I hadn't realised secondary started at 10; my eldest will only have a year before that, so definitely a consideration.

We looked at the fee-paying English language schools in Basel but as you say, they are very expensive and we would prefer the children to have the benefit of learning the language and integrating. I've been over a few times and we had been thinking of exactly the villages you mention, but also Saint Louis (for the convenience you mention and for the contrast to the rural life the children have known up to now).

I suppose the position we are in now is hoping for recommendations for specific schools - the children's education and integration is the most important thing for us - which would inform our decision as to precise location. It's useful to know that there are no Eng/Fr schools. We'll look at contacting the Mairie - I assume they assign the schools, but do you know the criteria they use? Do they consider language teaching for English speakers or is it purely by home location? Sorry to bombard you with questions....

Thanks for the heads up about health insurance. It's not exactly cheap here either, insurers are putting up policy costs by 50% a time, Laya has just done it twice in 6 months, but 8% is big. Is private health insurance currently compulsory?

Thanks again, very much appreciate your time.

7
I know it's all up in the air, and perhaps I've not followed it thoroughly, but I'm just saying that if you get a work permit, I wouldn't have thought it matters whether you live in France or Switzerland. I may be wrong though.

No, speaking French isn't important to me. What I meant is that if newcomers choose to live in France but don't speak German, then it's difficult for them to also feel at home when they go to Basel, and there are not many who can manage to learn two new languages well at the same time.

8
OP, are you up to speed on the work permit issue? Is it really a good idea planning to become a Frontalier?

9
Your school is based on your location. You can't change that, unless you have a good reason - eg already have a childminder in a different town - then you get a 'derogation' allowing you to go to a school where you wouldn't normally be allowed to. It's good to look at choosing school first, but I personally couldn't get any information before I came here, and actually went to the school. I think if the town/village looks nice, then the kids will probably be. Ie, if you had time to come over and hang around outside the school at lunch/end of day! Or failing that, the 'fancier' places, like Hegenheim. St. Louis has a lower socio-economic profile than the smaller villages, in my experience.

Perhaps because of its convenience, St. Louis is home to a huge number of nationalities - eg Turkish, Kosovan, Moroccan, Algerian. This means that it is very culturally diverse. On the minus side, it means many children don't have French as their first language - this is good in one way if you are one of them, but bad in the sense that the level of French in the class is not always good. Also, there is no homogeneity of culture. If you stand at the school gate, you will find lots of clusters of people from the same country talking to each other in different languages, so it's not always easy.

By the way for college, it depends when your son is born. The cut off point isn't September, but January, so he goes to school in the year when he will turn 11. If his birthday's in January, he will be 11 when he starts. If it's October, he will be 10 when he starts.

For insurance, it is obligatory, starting from June this year, 6% until end 2015, then it will be 8%, but this covers only 70% so you need to get a mutuel top-up which will probably cost a couple of hundred euros a month.

10
OP we are in the same boat, family of 5, with 3 girls aged 9, 6 and 3, currently in England, moving soon to Basel. Our girls already speak French and German.

We still have not decided where we will live, though we are leaning towards Switzerland. As we currently see it, the main differences for us are

Pros CH: education, easy commute, language

Pros FR: bigger and more affordable houses to buy, more disposable income

Pros DE: language

I've done a budget spreadsheet for our family for each of the 3 options (CH, FR, DE). The FR financial advantage does not seem huge though not negligible by any means (circa €4000).

I agree with you in that the determining factor for us is our children's education. I would love for someone to recommend a French school where teachers/heads do not strive for excellence from 5 years olds but rather appreciate the importance of play and respect children's individual needs as much as possible in a group setting (I am a bit of a hippy). I feel it is currently the case in our girls' school in England. Would love to have a similar attitude at our daughters' new school. Where is this going to be is the question...

11
ghdm, while searching the forum, I found that you had already posted on this topic a year ago. So, looks like you have been planning your move for some time now.

What made you decide to settle in France? (we just decided we were relocating 2 wks ago!)

12
Bear in mind that if the exchange rate reruns to 1.4, that will have a big effect on your finances

13
Good point thank you. Deciding where to live is multifaceted, the financial saving is only one aspect, and there are many in our case...

14
Consider also possible legal changes limiting the number of cross border "Frontalier" permits.

15
there will most likely be changes limiting B and C permits as well, no?

16
No, not regarding C permits

17
Hi sougue75, sorry not to get back to you, was not being alerted to replies to the thread for some reason.

We are currently looking for a house to rent and hope to move in the summer. We are focusing on the towns around Saint Louis. I'm also tempted by Colmar because it's so lovely, but know nothing about living there/schools etc. and can't find many mentions on the forums about it. Yes, it has taken a while for the move to happen - circumstances beyond our control.

Have you made progress? Like you, there were so many factors that went into our decision to choose France - language, finances, lifestyle, social factors and many more. It's such an individual choice. There are always hidden factors, expenses etc. as well that you can't anticipate, but it usually evens out in the end in my experience. Everywhere has good and bad and if you listened to every complaint and quibble, you'd never move anywhere!

Still hoping for word-of-mouth recommendations for schools in the area, so far we have been told the one in Hegenheim is good but hard to find a house there at the moment with the space we need.

Anyway, I'm sure it will work out one way or another! It's always possible to move again once settled, so we'll just dive in.

And thanks again to Manley Hopkins for the heads-up on the health insurance details. I don't suppose you know anyone in Colmar who might be able to give an opinion on the area?

18
Hi a couple of things:

The village of Leymen in France (south of Basel) has the swiss tram line 10 for commuting all the way into Basel. I know they have a primary school. Can't tell you the quality of the school.

http://www.map-france.com/Leymen-68220/

The Basel not for profit organisation, open door, runs English classes and playgroups

http://opendoorbasel.ch

19
Thanks Annie, have heard of Leymen and it's one of the towns we're looking at. My children are too old for pre-school groups but thank you for thinking of it, hopefully I will find other expat groups as well.

20
Hi sorry I wasn't being clear enough, the open door structured groups run to the age of around 10/ 11 year olds. It helps children keep up with their mother tongue english. They are held on various afternoons when the local schools have no afternoon programmes (it varies between schools)