Schooling in Liege

3POSTS

9 years ago

Hello All,

We moved recently to Liege with our 10聽 and 8 year old kids. We dont speak French and I am finding it聽 difficult to start life afresh here. I will be very grateful if someone points me in the right direction.

I would like to know if there are any French-English schools.聽 Will my non-french speaking 10 year old child be able to get some language support in the school and eventually be at par with his peers? Which areas will be suitable in Liege in terms of good schools and chances of getting family accommodation?

Thanks for any pearls of wisdom,

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Currylover Serial expat

272POSTS

9 years ago

Hi there

I cannot help with any suggestions of areas or schools without knowing the exact location of work.

No there are no French-English schools, there are a few French schools which do English immersion, but they are designed for French speakers learning English, not for English kids learning French, so the English lessons will be far too basic for your own kids.

The likelihood on help inside school will depend on the school choice and the ability of the school to provide help.

fabulous007 Member

3POSTS

9 years ago

Thanks currylover for your reply.

So I assume kids will suffer in studies coz of our decision

We are trying to learn french on our own and finding it a bit difficult.

My husband work is near City center.

Thanks again.

Currylover Serial expat

272POSTS

9 years ago

I didn't say your kids will suffer. Why do you assume your kids will suffer? What will they suffer from? Where is the work? The city centre is very large.

You can use this rather old index which is a crude way of finding deprivation and privilege amongst students. Liege central is 4000 post code, any school above 8 out of 20 shows children as an average are more wealthy backgrounds for Liege which is not a rich city.

I can think of Sainte-Veronique for example relatively central, that is on 11/20 and I know children at the secondary there, it's a good academic school. You might want to look at Leonie de Waha too, they do English immersion there, as does Jardin Botanique 1, all 3 of these schools are relatively close to each other.

You'll find this map useful.

fabulous007 Member

3POSTS

9 years ago

Thanks for the links. I think kids will suffer because of language problem. How will they cope in class?

My husband is in 4000 Liege Central. St. Veronique聽 and Waha schools have no places anymore.

I am also worried that in a mid session, it would be difficult to secure a place in schools.

Regards.

phipiemar VIP Member

4733POSTS

9 years ago

Hello Fabulous007,

Very good idea to come settle down in my city.

Makes contact with that person. It will provide you all information and also a brochure that will enable you to find all the addresses of Liege province in schools that provide bilingual education.

agnes.deriviere@provincedeliege.be

Currylover Serial expat

272POSTS

9 years ago

I'd be interested in knowing about bilingual schools in Liege province as I am not aware of any.

There are some French schools in the local system which offer English and Dutch immersion, but they aren't bilingual, they are French curriculum and in the playground and they have a maximum of 13 hours a week in English, few schools go up to those 13 hours a week. The French schools offering English immersion are not designed for English mother tongue speakers, they are designed for learners of English, therefore the target level will be low for a mother tongue English speaker. However, you will find all the schools in Liege offering this on the map I linked to above.

You can also find the full list for Belgium here, but it might not be completely up to date, remember not bilingual but French immersion. For non French speakers here long term, to get a high level of French quickly, it might be wiser to choose a monolingual French school which has a higher than normal number of non French speakers in it. However you're arriving mid year so this year you might just have to settle for less than ideal. Good Luck.

phipiemar VIP Member

4733POSTS

9 years ago

There, you're going to have fun playing on semantics.

Of course bilingual schools or immersion were never made for foreigners who do not speak one of the Belgian national languages.

But everything is done to the child to have a harmonious development. The entrance of a child in infancy in a school speaking a language other than that of his parents can be extremely beneficial if parents are able to evolve also...

The psychological shock is still higher among parents than among children. And the child is extremely sensitive to this, he/she must be placed with teachers used to treat this problem.

And for the rest, the parents only have to apply to the administrative services of their town to find out where receive French courses abroad.

Leavinghome Member

1POSTS

9 years ago

I was happy to see this post as we are thinking of moving there with my 14 yo daughter who speaks english only ( like her parents) in the two years.聽聽I was going to start french lessons and she does go to an IB school but I dont want her to be behind bc she doesnt understand the language.聽聽Are there any online high schools that she could take and immerse in other activities to learn French?

Martha G Member

2POSTS

9 years ago

#10

Hello, have you moved to Liege already!?Both my kids15 and 14 yrs old are fluent in English and Spanish. If you are here and would like we could get together.

1 member reacted to this post

STEFFIFI ViP

11022POSTS

9 years ago

#11

Above 12 years old it begins to be hard to enter at school in a language you don't know...聽 So, from 14-15-16... It's the "lyc茅e", the high school... The school of orientation according capacities, marks, etc... Si at this age, it's very hard to go in a local school without knowledge of the local language...

Fatimamerzagui New member

5POSTS

8 years ago

#12

Good afternoon,
Anyone can advise for a good school English in liege please
My sister have two sons one age 12 and one age 10 year who don鈥檛 speak French
Thank you very much
Tyma

Fatimamerzagui New member

5POSTS

8 years ago

#13

Dear
I want to know how it is going on in your first year in Liege and if you find schools in English
Please let me know as I have a relative that have the same problem
Thank you

Currylover Serial expat

272POSTS

8 years ago

#14

Using the search function would have given you the answer that there are no English schools in Liege.

Liege city has only French speaking public schools.

1 member reacted to this post

Currylover Serial expat

272POSTS

8 years ago

#15

STEFFIFI wrote:
Above 12 years old it begins to be hard to enter at school in a language you don't know...聽 So, from 14-15-16... It's the "lyc茅e", the high school... The school of orientation according capacities, marks, etc... Si at this age, it's very hard to go in a local school without knowledge of the local language...

PS secondary school 12-18 is not always called lycee. It's ecole secondaire. Some of the ecoles secondaires are called lycees, do not read anything into the word, it used to designate a girls only secondary school but does not any more.