French educational system criticised

I THOUGHT our dream of moving to France as a family of four would go smoothly.

We both spoke French, the kids had had lessons and we had lived in France, pre-children, for three years.
We had also been expats around the world for the previous eight years.

However, the research did not prepare us for the harsh reality of French schooling. The difficulties of finding a property for our tourism business and my husband getting work in his field could all have been overcome.

However, the French school system could not be got around, as the area we chose for business reasons did not have private schools which might have offered the kind of education we had experienced in other areas of the world.

The system was too rigid, inflexible and almost backward-looking in its attitude to education. It was not going to offer our children the quality and options available back in the UK.

So after much soul-searching we decided to come back and put our French dream on the back-burner, to be revisited when education was not a consideration.

We have met a number of people who returned because of education, and spoken to friends here who have French relatives who all agree that they would rather educate their kids somewhere else other than France.

Sue WILSON,
by email