Apologies this will be a bit long winded.
We are a Kiwi/English family who have moved from our beloved Hahei Beach on the Coromandel Coast of NZ to France. Pommie hubby works on a boat that was supposed to be based in Sth of France so 4yo son & 8yo daughter & I up sticks & made the move to France in July 2012.
Boat no longer based in France!
Kids have had a horrific experience at the hands of the French School System & have gone from being kids who loved going to school & kindy To now loathing having to go to school.
Granted the language barrier has been a huge factor, but sadly the French School system is a rather heartless, souless place for a young person to be locked up in - and I do mean locked up. It's like sending your kids off to prison. As a parent you arrive at the gate no later than 8.25am, push them through & then you're locked out until 4.30pm when they are pushed out the gate to you. You can't get much different to what we've come from in NZ.
In our first 7 days in school either my children or I were screamed at by the Directrice for things such as ... going through the wrong door, my daughter taking her brother to his class, being late due to traffic congestion saw us locked out & being screamed at through the door. The kids were forbidden to see each other during break time - pretty harsh being 2 of only 8 English speaking kids in a school of 350.
Moved kids from this school after 3 weeks to school we are paying for, who seemed to be a little more sympathetic to our situation & had only 13 in 8yo daughters class so said they would have time to spend with her to help her move on with her language skills. Lip service I'm afraid as they confirmed to me that they have continued to teach as normal and expect daughter to pick it up eventually. She has been yelled at for refusing to stand up in class and read out loud in French after only 6 weeks in a French School. I was told she knows nothing & is clearly behind in everything but they will not sit down with me to make a plan to help her. Teacher has had the whole class laughing at her because she has done things differently to everyone else.
4yo son's teacher was bullying him for not taking enough care with his writing. I was told that he needed to be shocked into making an effort & that his work was that of a pig. Reminding them that he is only 4 & is a running, climbing trees, swimming kind of kid who only became interested in using pens & crayons 4 or 5 months earlier so doesn't quite have the skills and control they seem to expect, all but fell on deaf ears. Basically my kids have been traumatised by a bunch of people who have shown no compassion or humanity, let alone show any positive teaching attributes.
So .... we are looking to move to the UK so kids at least don't have to struggle with the language. What a minefield though trying to find a good school. We are not really bound by any particular area, though I am keen on smaller schools which means more rural by the looks, which is good. Hubby's brother in Cornwall & have contacted schools there but everyone that seems to be like home is oversubscribed as as we're not bound to any faith it seems that unless we get a house on the doorstep of the school it is unlikely we'll get in.
In-laws live in Stevenage, cousins in Cambridgeshire & Essex and as a Kiwi I'd like to live by the coast. What to do? Where to go? Have been told need to find house in zone for secondary school as that's even harder to get into than primary. It's a daunting task & I've been trawling the web for weeks.
If anyone can recommend a great primary that has a great secondary to feed to that's not a school of 1200 students (NZ school had 140) & is by the coast with a safe community, good sports facilities (little ripper rugby for the up coming All Black & hockey & netball for the Silver Fern) would be greatly appreciated.
Too much to ask for?
Of course we don't have an address to give to council either as we're not in the UK yet so we can move anywhere for the best life we can find in the UK.
Thanks all for reading the novel above & any advice.
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Moving to the UK - trying to find good school that we can get into
19 replies
nzwahine · 25/01/2013 18:44
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