Search Q&A
Living in Tervuren / Kraainem / Wezembeek
Hi Folks,
We are young married couple looking for a house to buy in the areas of Tervuren / Kraainem / Wezembeek Oppem. Could you share your experiences living in these areas regarding finding creche & good primary school.
Will it be a big issue if we dont speak Flemish? I know Kraainem & Wezembeek has common facilities for Fr & Flemish speakers but this is not the case for Tervuren.
thanks in advance
We have lived in Kraainem for a while and I think it's really a good place with a family.
For creche, we went with a small private one, we signed up qute in advance (I was 4 months pregnant).
For maternelle, you have a good choice, as you can choose the French-speaking schools of Krainem and Wezembeek - Oppem where only children from these communes can go, so they are not so crowded. Also, financed by Flanders, the infrastructure is good. But you can also choose any school in Bussels.
We visited Diabolo in Kraainem and La Fermette in W-O and both looed really good. We finally went with Stockel, but only because we bought a house in WSP in the end. But we really liked living in Kraainem.
We've lived in Kraainem for 6 years and think its great. Close enough to the city to be in Brussels in 10 minutes and far enough away to be in the countryside. Plenty of parks and playgrounds etc for kids.
The language is no issue at all, its a very international commune and French speakers are in the majority now. Our little girl goes to a French speaking creche and our son is in the communal French speaking school Diabolo. We're really happy with both.
How old are your children if you have any? Are you bothered about which language? The Tervuren schools I have been reliably told, none of them are allowed to speak to you in English so you will need to learn Dutch to communicate with school. The French schools are now more crowded in Wezembeek and Kraainem than they were, but if the secondary admissions remain the same, it's a major disadvantage to sent your children there if they are in upper primary years and no sibling priority for French secondary, you end up down the waiting list for the 2 nearest and excellent secondaries. I think all of the areas are great for children, but I'd be looking at being nearest to things important to you, such as public transport, sports facilities, schools, shops.
I'd cross off Tervuren if you are looking for French, unless you really want to spend time going backwards and forwards over 10km a day when you can walk to school instead.
Tervuren is very handy for a number of good FR schools in Woluwe. I knew a good number of Tervurenaars who went to school in NL schools in Brussels. So that's pretty much a non-argument.
If you need any advise on the house you are considering to buy or help with a renovation, feel free to let me know ! I'm an interior architect, working languages ENG, DE, FR, (NL) - for work references please visit : www.sophiegreen.eu
For Tervuren, depends on whether you are happy to travel 10-12km round trip every day for French or whether you prefer a walk to school in Dutch, referring to the centre of Tervuren. The 2 Stockel schools and 2 Ste-Alix area schools are nearest to the centre of Tervuren. There are indeed many children living in Tervuren at these schools, but they do have to travel much further than their neighbours at the Flemish schools in Tervuren, including for after-school activities.
If you're going to include Tervuren and wanting French, then I'd include also Sterrebeek, the southern part of which is accessible by tram to Stockel.
