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School for a international English speaking 13 yrs kid
Dear All,
I am an expat working in Brussels. I have a kid who is 13 years old now. I do not want to send her to any local school because of the language problem. She knows french but still the medium of instruction is preferred in English.
All the international schools are very very costly ranging up to 30.000 euros per year.
How can I find a school (at least a bi-lingual one) which is moderately charged?
Is the option of home schooling OK? Do we have anyone here who have tried home schooling?
Please comment.
TIA.
You will not find a school that teaches in anything but the local languages unless you go private. The normal private schools are expensive but you can always try the Catholic school if religion is not a big issue for you as they are only €8,500 per year rather than €30,000. http://www.bicschool.be
For €8500, you could also send her to an excellent local school where she will get help with language, and afford top-notch private English tuition, and have change left over for summer camp.
Local schools are littered with foreigners.
If you insist on English and Private, consider a boarding school in the UK - it's cheaper and the results are better.
check out Bogaerts International School:
There are many public schools in wallonia that are now teaching English and French ( English immersion). Example - Athene royal in wavre..
Ecole internationale le Verseau in Bierges, right off the E411, is an excellent school. Instruction is mostly in French I think, but they have an excellent English program that prepares students to take the International General Certificate of Secondary Education test if they so wish.
The school is partially state-supported, so the yearly fees are under 4000 euros.
AR Wavre is a local French school that does at secondaire level only a few hours a week in English.
You can do IGCSEs in anything you wish at BSB without being a student, you don't have to go to Le Verseau to do that, you can enter the same exam at BSB for 100 euro!!! I certainly wouldn't chose a school just because some children do a single GCSE.
Jean 23 in WSP has just started an English immersion programme up to 13 hours a week, many more than AR in Wavre, but only from 14 years old. Surely more suitable to go to school in Brussels that Wavre if you work and live in Brussels. But remember these immersion programmes in local schools, with the exception of Le Verseau in Wavre (with 5k fees) do not cater for English mother tongue speakers, but better than nothing.
State UK boarding is 12k per year including food and housing, compared to the cost of Le Verseau in Wavre for what is included in the price, about the same, compared to BICS in Etterbeek, it would work out cheaper and a full GCSE programme too. You get to do 10 GCSEs and 5 A levels there if you wish at a UK state boarding school. Access only for EU nationals though.
Dear TIA,
Please consider our school as an option among the others.
I am in charge of Community Relations for D Y Patil International School located in Aartselaar : http://www.dypisbelgium.be/
We follow an internationally recognised curriculum for children aged 2½ to 18, including the IB Diploma Programme. The school provides career coaching, learning support and a wealth of co-curricular activities. It also offers after-school care and competitive fees.
I wish you a fruitful search!
