THE BILINGUAL CRECHE RUN in PARIS!

Nursery school in Holland Park, London:

When I finally realised I had to move back to Paris, I almost collapsed in front of what I thought would be Mount Everest. Moreover, I felt sorry my daughter who is barely 2 years old, would lose her understanding of English language ; and as French parents, we would particularly miss her yelling in horror "OH MY GOD!" (each time something falls down).

So we decided we would find (in less than 2 months time and in the middle of the holidays) a bilingual nursery in Paris 17eme!

 

I started talking about my search to my colleagues but I was quite reluctant to do so as many of them would laugh at me and thought it was a joke: "Really? But she does not even talk in French, don't you think it is a bit elitist to force her to learn English?" (I won't comment on that as it will be a good opportunity to develop the subject with one of our specialists!). Then some of them, kindly orientated me towards very handy solutions: very very good schools (EAB, Lennen, or Jeannine Manuel), but either there were miles from my place, or they were not accepting kids below 3 years old. Thank you though!!

 

Then I started googling: and found the following private institutions:

 

Stewart International: located in Porte de Champerret 17ème

I visited the place, situated in a Hausmanian building, when it was being refurbished; I was quite surprised as it was my first visit in a French school and at first it looked small, dark with no outside space. I realised it was not so bad afterwards as British standards are very different. I was welcomed by a very kind English native, Gillian. The nursery welcomes children from the age of 2 (still wearing nappies) and they are taught English and/or Russian! The staff comes from various backgrounds (not all native speakers).

http://petiteecolebilingue.free.fr/eng/maternelle/maternelle-eng.html

Price: around 6000 Euros for 10 months (lunch not included).

 Les Petits Dragons: Located in Batignolles 17eme.

Most certainly the smallest nursery I have ever visited

 (ground floor, no outside space). That said I was totally charmed by Anna, the Polish director of this nursery. Children are looked after in a joyful environment, in a Nordic way and go to the "Square des Batignolles" twice a day. The staff comes from various backgrounds. There is no class hours, you choose how long you want your child to stay at the nursery per week, it opens at 8:30 and closes at 19:00 (closes only 3 weeks in August and on bank holidays). Food has to be provided by parents.

Price: 672 Euros per month (full time).

 

Le Petit Cours: Located in Montmartre, Mairie 18eme.

Is a real school with class days in class rooms and doors shutting down when you're late! (8:30 to 16:30, with possible extension up to 18:00) and following French holidays.

Situated in a Haussmanian building, there is no outside space and children are not going outside until they are around 4 (gym classes). 

Once a month, they will enjoy visits to the museum, or to a concert (Salle Pleyel!) even for the little ones.

The school welcomes children from any age provided that they are not wearing nappies (and up until they are 10 years old!).

There is an English club on Wednesdays afternoon for those who are not going to this school full time (where they can enjoy many activities like cooking, in English!). And they have also a 45 minutes spanish lesson every day.

Staff are all native speakers.

http://www.lepetitcours.com/

Price: 790 Euros per month (lunch and evening classes not included).

If you need more information about these schools, please do not hesitate to ask: ellansacha@gmail.com!

Take care,

Ella