French school in Singapore

Colette S · Post by **Colette S** » Mon, 19 Jan 2009 4:20 am

Hi,
It looks like we will be moving to Singapore later this year. I'm very excited about it and hope it all goes ahead. We live in France and would like to keep our child in the French system. Can anyone give me a few pointers on nice accommodation not to far from the French school or basically any info on that particular area would be great. I am told it is near Bukit Timah?? Doesn't mean anything to me at the moment.. Am not sure whether we should live near the school or closer to the centre of town?? What about approximate rental prices for serviced, furnished apartments in Singapore?? Is there an average(ish) going rate??
Any help would be great.
Thanks
Colette

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Mon, 19 Jan 2009 7:17 am

No it's not in Bukit Timah. It's in the North Central part of Singapore on Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 in Serangoon North Area. (I live about a 10 minute walk from the school).

http://maps.singaporeexpats.com/showmap ... y=92073103

Colette S · Post by **Colette S** » Thu, 19 Feb 2009 3:53 am

Sunday Moning Staple,
Thanks for the info. my computer crashed the day after I posted so I have just seen your message today.
I think we will be looking for an apartment / condo near the French school. If you can recommend anything, would love to hear from you.
Cheers
Colette

Callalily · Post by **Callalily** » Sat, 21 Feb 2009 7:05 pm

Hi Colette

It depends what you are after really. There is a condo called Kensington Park Garden which is literally 4-5 mins walk from the school. There are also loads of houses around, especially the serangoon gardens side which are beautiful but most don't have a pool. Prices have gone down loads. A friend has a very large 3 storey house for $10 000 a month 3 mins walk from the LFS sernagoon site but you could probably get something similar for 8000 now. There are school buses too so if you don't like the area around the french school, there is always the option of living somewhere else like we do!! My children go to do LFS so if you want any info, you can pm me.

best of luck

bob1 · Post by **bob1** » Sat, 02 Apr 2011 4:39 pm

Hi callalily,

I tried to PM but as I'm a new registrant I can't. I hope you get this.

We are looking at the French school. We have one son (8) who speaks no French but we'd like him to be in a bilingual environment.

Can you recommend the school? Any issues we should be aware of of. Is the student body mostly French or is it a bit of of mix?

Thanks, Bob

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Sat, 02 Apr 2011 4:59 pm

bob1 wrote: We are looking at the French school. We have one son (8) who speaks no French but we'd like him to be in a bilingual environment.

A word of caution: bilingual in Singapore means "english + mandarin"

merichan · Post by **merichan** » Sat, 02 Apr 2011 7:17 pm

ecureilx wrote:
bob1 wrote: We are looking at the French school. We have one son (8) who speaks no French but we'd like him to be in a bilingual environment.
A word of caution: bilingual in Singapore means "english + mandarin"

Not necessarily

In the french school it means an equal dose of classes in english and in french.

However those really bilingual classes are hard to get into... if you're not in the school since kindie you almost don't have a chance to get a space in the class.

More over they are gonna choose kids that have a sufficient proficiency in both languages for those classes as being taught 50/50 in french and english is very stressful for the kids if they don't already have the level.

Among the parents I know whose kids are in the french school while neither parents speak french, most got their kids in the french section, not the bilingual one. The kids still get a english classes but those are english lessons not other topics.

One more thing... some years have waiting lists as the french school runs at max capacity... so you have to be aware the spots are given in priority to french kids, kids transferred from other french school.

For an 8 year old might be a bit stressful... to end up suddenly taught mostly in french, with mostly french speaking classmates

bob1 · Post by **bob1** » Sat, 02 Apr 2011 7:40 pm

Thanks everyone. We wouldn't mind English/Mandarin as he spent the first 4 years of his life in Beijing and has Chinese locked away in that head somewhere. However we were hoping for him to have a European language. Guess we'll see what they say.

Callalily · Post by **Callalily** » Thu, 07 Apr 2011 8:22 pm

Hi Bob1

I would say that if your son doesn't speak any French at all, it might be very difficult for him as the school only caters for students who have a good understanding of French. if he was 3 or 4, it wouldn't be a problem as I know they take children of that age who don't speak any French but aged 8, he will be lost. This is my humble opinion. Make an appointment with the school and explain your situation. they are very helpful and will tell you what is best.

Best wishes

Lily

Dolph · Post by **Dolph** » Thu, 05 May 2011 12:37 pm

Why not have a look at the Canadian school? They teach in English but also do French and Mandarin.

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