I’m sure he will be fine, but I wouldn’t underestimate either the difficulty or length of those transition ‘months’. I’d say don’t be put off, because kids are generally more adaptable and robust than we think - but equally be prepared for some bumps along the way. Our kids were much younger - 8 to 12 - and the younger two found it much easier. 10 years later they’re still more French than the one that was 12 when he arrived (he still prefers France though).
If the 16-year-old is going into school be aware that this is a tricky age. Many French schools are pretty rigourous - not to say rigid - by this age, especially if he is academic and wants to do a bac général. Language support varies a lot. Our regular expert on French schooling is @vero , who is French and teaches at this level.
But not usually for more than the winter. So then? If the kids are settled in a school you would have very little room for manoeuvre, and might easily end up in full price seasonal lets. Far better to make every effort to find a one year meublé from the start
Every term? Having just arrived in a new country where they may not be completely fluent in the language, and are out of step with the syllabus. Strikes me as the sort of thing that some kids could find stressful amd demotivating (others of course might relish it!).
In a meublé there will be no constant deadline looming of having to find somewhere else. And if house purchase takes longer than expected then that isn’t an issue.
Why every term? @chrisell said - probably rightly - that ‘regardless of legality there are plenty of long let gites from September ish’. We know gite owners that only normally let in July and August anyway - and school years in France pretty much wind up at the end of June. Personally, I don’t think finding a let September-June is out of the question at all.
Of course… for the older child there is always the possibility of using the International School (?)… somewhere around Paris I think it is.
Then it doesn’t matter where the rest of the family is…
I’d have thought the younger child will more easily hop from school to school if local change of address can’t be found when each short-term rental comes to an end…
A couple of years ago, I was amazed to learn that a local Brit had sent his teenage daughter there for her education, while he moved the family to France and “got things sorted”…
He lives down here… and she has continued at school… up there… coming home for the holidays etc… it seems to have worked very well.
Our situation was slightly weird in that the London house sale happened quickly when I was working on the opposite side of the world (and lesson 1 - packing a house in 4 days with jet lag is horrible) - trying to sort a rental out was impossible via the proper channels. Long let on a gite sorted in 48 hours via the internet - so…
Gite owners tend not to need every piece of information under the sun and its a damn site easier to have a base you arrive at - even it thats the base to find your annual rental. As I said there are drawbacks but it gets your feet on the ground.
True - There are several international or bilingual schools in fact - including one down your way Stella - https://www.oldschoolfrance.com/
I corresponded with The British School of Paris - came across as very efficient, though I have no direct experience of their teaching.
Once you can prove that you have stayed 3 months in the same town, you can get a postal address from the CCAS which you can use to get in the system. We did it that way.
What a great wealth of information from everyone. Thank you.
The 15 (will be 16 by then) year old is definitely my biggest concern and focus. He’s not an academic – basically has no interest in traditional subjects. He’s more interested in fashion design, cooking, etc. I was hoping to maybe find him a vocational school. Though, I’m not sure if they would require a certain level of French comprehension for that – he would have only completed year 3 of French class by then.
If I understand correctly, school in France is only compulsory through age 16 anyways? Maybe if the worst comes to worst, since he wouldn’t legally have to attend school in France, we could find some way for him to finish his studies online and receive a US diploma (at least he’ll have something). Meanwhile, we’ll work on building up his French in daily life.
Thanks to you all I’ve actually been able to track down some long let options available to my family now and have been in touch with the landlord. I’ll keep you all posted on our progress. After that we’ll need to figure out transportation, bank, doctors, school registration, any required insurance, and the list goes on and on… but we’ll get there!
He could certainly do English A-Levels online - eg. Pembrokeshire College - again fee-paying - and I’m sure there are many more vocational options - but it would be much better for future employment in France to have French qualifications - you’ll be surprised how many métiers in France need specific qualifications.
Have you done it? Can you point at adverts for this? The fact that people only let in high season doesn’t mean they will be open to an illegal long let out of season. Often it’s not worth it financially.
Nut sounds as if e problem has been solved, which is good.
