The French BAC - what the kids think?

Can you believe it, is the 9th March and we are snowed in here in the South of France.

What happened to the 300 days of sunshine per year that we are meant to have?

Here when it snows, school buses are considered hazardous and so the kids don't go to school. "Yippee" my kids are ecstatic. I less so as much as there are some pretty spectacular photos to be taken, I have a morbid fear of ice skating in our car and so consequently we become housebound.

So it seems like there will be no school for at least the next 4 days (snow is 35cm deep) and on top of that there is a teacher's strike at the end of the week so the kids will be staying home then too.

Teachers strikes are the norm here and it seems quite normal for there to be at least a week of no school per year because the teachers are upset about something. I am sure there must be a better way of sorting out the grumbles but Sarkowsy doesn't seem to have worked it out yet.

We have 3 kids aged 14, 16 and 18 and all three are in the French school system here in France.

Douglas the youngest is at 'College'- secondary school from ages 11 to 16 roughly. Sam and Ellie are at Lycee - secondary school from ages 16 - 18.

Up until a year and a half ago we lived overseas in Africa and Asia and the kids started going to French schools from the age of 3. This means they speak pretty good French - shame about the parents :(

Rather than me write all about French school life I asked my kids to write what they thought and here is what they said.....

Sam (aged 18) at a Lycee in Carcassonne and studying for a science engineering BAC

Out of all the French schools I've been to (Africa, Vietnam, Thailand), the French school in France was the only one where I didn't know what to expect.

Having lived overseas my whole life it was easy to fit in at school as they knew how it felt to be emerged in a new world with no understanding of unofficial social laws or friends. Everyone was in the same boat as we all moved countries and schools every few years. Basically there was no effort needed to make a great bunch a friends.

When you go to your first day of your new school you always ask yourself "Will I make any friends?". I did. it was actually easy. I always thought that it would be difficult in France because arriving at this stage in school (for me I arrived in 2nd, which is 10th grade in England) everybody knows each other and they have been friends for ages and you'll be the "new guy". Actually I needn't have worried as they are actually quite welcoming, you just have to make the first step.

Now what is the BAC? It's short for the Baccalaureate but just remember that it's the 'French BAC' and not the 'International BAC'. This is the most important and last diploma you get a school. The diploma is cut into 2 phases. You've got the French part, which I'll be doing this year (1er/11th grade) and the rest next year (Terminal/12th grade).

Now for the school program itself.

It's much more general than England and you're not allowed to drop subjects. You have to continue with most subjects right until you get your BAC. However after 2nd you are allowed to drop a few subjects depending on what BAC you are taking.

After you get through 2nd the school asks you what orientation you want to choose, and trust me you want to do your research first.

Most people go for the general courses which are L(literature), ES(economics), S(science). Those are the main ones, but don't worry if none of them suits you as there are actually loads more than that (it depends to what school you go to).

I chose an SSI course which means that when I've finished I will have an SSI BAC.

What is SSI? It's a branch of the S BAC with a focus on engineering. It's great because I want to do engineering later on so why wait until university when I can specialize right now?

Be careful though, choosing a certain course may close some doors that you'll regret some day. I wouldn't specialize too much as it may be hard to find a job later on. That's why I stayed in S as I'll have more than just engineering jobs open to me.

The BAC is hard and it's rare that someone gets over 14/20 or 70%. But don't worry as most people if they've studied hard, will get 12/20. Once you've got your respective BAC (depending on what course you took) you're off to go!

Ellie aged 16 at a Lycee in Limoux. Studying for a STSS BAC (Science et Technology du Santé Social)

Bonjour,

This year I have the French BAC. It really scares me because I don't really know what it's going to be like!

We have been doing a lot of work at school to prepare for it. Next week, I will have my mock French BAC, and then in June I will have the real thing! Everyone at school is getting a bit nervous now.

I have to say that we are lucky to have our French teacher because he teaches very well and he has prepared us well for our French BAC. But anyway, I think everything will go well… I hope.

Next year I will have my proper BAC (all the subjects, but no French). Normally you will be tested on your last year, but my course is a bit different, so my BAC will be on the 2 last years. That means I have even more to revise!

School is France is good, I enjoy it. I didn't know what to expect at the beginning because I had never been to school in Europe before, so it scared me a little bit. But there was no need to be scared as in the end, everyone was very nice and I have a great bunch of friends.

I won't say much about my teachers because that all depends on the school you go to. All though I don't know all the teachers, I feel like I do as all of my friends tell me what their teachers are like. And there are some teachers that all the students hate, but that's the same for all schools.

My school is okay, it's not the best school in the world but it's not the worst. What I do like is that when it snows, we don't have school because the Aude is not equipped for snowy weather. This year has been quite snowy so we have missed about a week of school I would say.

Also my school is near a bakery and a café and near the town square so when ever we have an hour of free time, we can go to one of those places.

Au revoir !!

Douglas aged 14 at College in Limoux

Secondary school here is quite good: there are lots of students so it's not hard to make friends.

I think that the education level is probably a bit lower than English schools but it's not too bad. The teachers are OK: some of them are really bad because they don't know how to teach but others are very good because they don't bore you to death, they make the class a bit fun but we still work.

They are very strict about attitude here so they've added a new punishment called "observation" which means you lose points in your average score for school work.

When a teacher gives you an observation, they can put a punishment with it if they want to: they can give you stuff to copy or they can give you extra exercises.

The scoring is different here too: instead of giving A's or B+'s, they give a mark out of 20 or 10. So you can get 16/20 or 7/10 for example. A few teachers would give you an observation if you got a mark under 10 or 5/20. Anyway, it's a great school.

So there you have it, our kids view on school here in France....

Next Time: Shopping....:)

La Rentree

Hey ho hey ho, it's back to school we go. Yes we have just experienced 'La Rentree'. We have experienced it before (many times) but La Rentree in France itself is different.

To you and me, La Rentree is the same as 'Back to School'. A very welcome day for parents and a day of excitement and nervousness for the kids.

However in France it seems like an opportunity for the shops and business's to tempt us shopping. As if the long summer holiday hadn't already cost us enough.

The amount of adverts and leaflets we have received saying 'It's La Rentree - why not buy a washing machine....invest in a new car....get 10% off your insurance' and so on.

What has that got to do with going back to school?

I suppose you may need a washing machine to wash piles of dirty school clothes and a car to get the kids there and back and then insurance for when your child accidently breaks a dinner plate.....there is obviously a logic in it somewhere.

Our 3 kids were pretty excited to go back - not that they would admit it.

School uniforms don't exist so Ellie meticulously planned her 'outfit' weeks beforehand. The boys just wore whatever was on the top of their clothes pile. That means they will probably wear the same 2 t-shirts and trousers all year. Wear one, Wash one. Saves us a lot of money!

They all go to different schools so getting them all out the door and onto various buses or scooters starts at 6am and finishes just before 8am. That's the least fun bit.

Then there are the school bags.

The kids are expected to carry their books for the day on their backs all day and that includes snack time, lunch time and every other time. Not such a problem.....except their bags regularly weight at least 8-10kg.

Lockers are provided in some schools but there are never enough. There are some girls though who somehow manage to carry just a handbag (much to Douglas's horror - he's 13) containing nothing but a pen and still manage to get through the lesson. We still haven't worked out what their secret is.

School days are long. For the younger ones it is usually 8am until 4.30pm but the day extends as you get older. Sam our eldest has lessons 8am - 6pm with an hour of travelling each way on top.

However there are no lessons Wednesday afternoon so that is the time to do 'activities' of which there are a huge choice here ranging from martial arts to music and dance to crafty things.

In order to participate in anything remotely active, you must have a medical certificate saying you are fit. What a palaver as parents are queuing up at the doctors or just asking the doctor over the phone to prepare them a certificate.

The boys are doing swimming this term and much to their horror we had to do a trip to the sports shop to get them some of those oh so tight and weeny swimming shorts. Then there is the swimming hat. They are not too happy.

So we are now 2 weeks into the new school year. The kids have new friends, our washing machine and car are being put to good use and so far nobody has broken a dinner plate.

Next Time......A year since our move. Was it the right decision?