Joséphine Vigouroux
Moving abroad often feels like a fresh start: adapting to a new job, discovering a new city... but it's also about finding the 'right' school to ensure your child is well-integrated and happy.
So, how do you choose the right school when you're an expatriate in Paris? Discover all our tips!
If you are considering moving abroad, enrolling your child in a French school can be a good way to ensure continuity with their language and culture. Moving abroad with your child can truly disrupt their familiar routines. Immersing your child in a French school allows them to maintain a special connection with their home country's language and culture. Enrolling your child in a French school will provide continuity with the French curriculum. Are you an expatriate and find the French education system difficult to understand? We decode it for you here.
An expatriate child can also jump into the deep end if you feel that the right school for your child is a local one. Expatriation is a unique experience that allows a child to be totally immersed in the culture of the host country. This can facilitate integration into the country and make your expatriation a challenge for your child. Enrolling your child in a local school can be a unique cultural and linguistic experience. Although difficult at first, choosing a local school has many advantages for a long-term expatriation. What's more, enrolling your child in a local school will provide an introduction to a new curriculum, and if your child already speaks the local language at home, it's a good way to extend language learning and maximize the expatriation experience.
The best way to ensure a smooth expatriation for your children is to preserve some of their cultural and linguistic references by choosing an international or bilingual school. With curricula inspired by Anglo-Saxon teaching methods, these international or bilingual schools guarantee a fairly balanced relationship between the language of their host country and the English language: ideal for an expatriate child. Choosing an international or bilingual school gives your expatriate child the chance to approach bilingualism in a diffuse way in the classroom throughout the day, as is the case in some schools, or in a more targeted way during slots specially dedicated to English.
Moving abroad with children to a destination where it's not easy to find schools adapted to your child's level and needs can also be a challenge. If you can't find the right school for your child during your expatriation, distance learning can be an excellent solution! Your child receives lessons to study at their own pace and can even be supervised by a fully remote team of teachers to ensure the quality of education. You can inquire about solutions like Griffon courses.
What if homeschooling was actually the right school for your child? It's an unconventional path worth exploring that could make the experience of living abroad enjoyable. If you feel you have a knack for teaching and want to pass on knowledge to your children, homeschooling allows you to educate them at home. Of course, this isn't something you can just improvise, and you might need educational resources to provide materials for your children. If you're looking for inspiration, many expatriate families share their experiences on their blogs, such as 3 souris libres.
As you can see, there are many choices available when selecting a good school for expatriate children. It's up to you to consider all the options and determine what best suits your family's dynamic.
