Cheap English school

Hala Amr, there are 3 languages in Belgium, French, Dutch (Flemish) and German. All things official / public must be in those 3 languages. Gent is in Ost Vlaanderen which is in the Flemish area of Belgium so all public education is in Dutch (Flemish). Here is a list of schools which have an integration programme into Flemish language and education for speakers of other languages, secondary education level.
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/onderwijsa … Vlaanderen
In Gent, there is a good integration programme for children who are speakers of other languages. Here are some links to FREE programmes for children.
http://www.jeugdwerknet.be/nieuws/item/ … aneet-genthttp://www.roeland.be/en/language-cours … /taalzomer

If you want a "cheap" school in English, well the cheapest you will find costs 7000 euro per year and is in Brussels, quite far, most expensive is around 30k, about 20 schools in Brussels. There are also 3 schools in Antwerpen.

Dear Sir,
     thanks for your replay but i would ask about the Public schools that learn dutch , what about the English language as a second language are they learn it as second language ???? and about the scientific material is they in English or dutch??


also can you give me the link of the cheap school at Brussels?

i appreciated you cooperation

Public schools in Vlaanderen (Flanders) are all in Dutch (Flemish) language. From 3rd primary, the year they turn 8, children must also learn French as a second language for typically 4 periods a week, but many schools will start French much earlier than 3rd primary. A few school might do English in addition to French, but this is not on the Flemish curriculum. I am not 100% certain, but I think in 1st secondary, you can replace the first modern language of French with English. If you cannot do this at 1st secondary, year you turn 12, it happens in 3rd secondary, year you turn 14. A typical timetable for a modern language in a secondary school would be 4 hours a week. So there is not actually that much English taught in Flemish schools, the children tend to pick up English from TV and from the fact that English is spoken so widely in the world. There are a few schools in Flanders where French is the language of the school, Dutch taught as the first modern language from 3rd primary - this happens on the border of Flanders with Wallonia and Brussels and none are near Gent.

In Wallonia, French is the language of schools. There are a few schools in Wallonia which do "immersion" in Dutch or German or English, but they are for children who speak French and are immersed in another modern language, all or part of the teaching time is in the other language. These are the only schools in Belgium where English is the language of instruction (English taught as a modern language is an entirely different way of teaching and as said already, is at secondary level) and it is not designed for children who don't speak French and already speak the "immersion" language. There are no English "immersion" schools in Wallonia near to Gent.

Here is a map of all international schools in the greater Brussels area. The only school which does 50/50 French/English at less than 10k per year is Brussels International Catholic school. I know many many children who have been there and left again, mainly due to their dislike of the religious content and the fact they realize how narrow the curriculum is. I cannot stress how religious it is there. It is however popular because it is the only school in that price category. The curriculum at secondary especially is very limited as the secondary section is not as popular as maternelle and primaire, many children leave after primaire. There is NO school which teaches entirely in English which costs less than 15k per year.
http://batchgeo.com/map/0777fe5f939fe09 … 91ceee1066

PS I cannot also stress enough that Belgium is a French/Dutch/German speaking country. If you do not learn the language of the community you live in, you will find your life quite limited and will probably end up living in an expat bubble.

They start learning English in school when there around 13 to 14 second year secondary school

thanks lot for all of you, my question was because for my 3 years children now lean in English school in Malaysia and after we come to gent we will leave may be after 5 years and he will back to English school.
by the way thanks lot for all of you and i appreciated your help and will appreciate also you suggestions.

Maybe best just teaching them english yourself if you want to move to gent and take them to a public school. Kids are very good at learning languages

If your son is 3 and stays for 5 years and goes to a Dutch language school here then leaves Belgium at the age of 8, then there's a chance he may retain the Dutch. 8 is also young enough to pick up a new language without too much effort usually. Our children moved here aged 3, 7 and 10, all of them were fluent in a year, they are now aged 6, 10 and 13. If we left now to an English speaking country, the 10 and 13 year old are unlikely to forget their French, the 6 year old would probably lose some French if she never had a chance to speak it again.

For a 3 year old, he could go to school immediately full time, would be speaking Dutch fluently in less than a year, could do all the activities other children do outside school. If you kept him in English, you'd have to travel 2 hours a day to Brussels or Antwerp and he'd never get to integrate with the children who live next door.

schoolmum wrote:

If your son is 3 and stays for 5 years and goes to a Dutch language school here then leaves Belgium at the age of 8, then there's a chance he may retain the Dutch. 8 is also young enough to pick up a new language without too much effort usually. Our children moved here aged 3, 7 and 10, all of them were fluent in a year, they are now aged 6, 10 and 13. If we left now to an English speaking country, the 10 and 13 year old are unlikely to forget their French, the 6 year old would probably lose some French if she never had a chance to speak it again.

For a 3 year old, he could go to school immediately full time, would be speaking Dutch fluently in less than a year, could do all the activities other children do outside school. If you kept him in English, you'd have to travel 2 hours a day to Brussels or Antwerp and he'd never get to integrate with the children who live next door.

You make some very food points there..
As you mentioned in a previous post if you don't make any effort to learn the language then you will be limited in almost every aspect of day to day life.
Children have a great aptitude for languages when they are young so it might be better to teach the child English at home as Hannah says and let him learn Dutch in school. If you are planning on staying for up to 5 years then the child will definitely need Dutch to interact socially.

thanks for all of you for your kindly cooperation

There will be a English speaking international school opening in Gent in September however i dont no about prices etc.

thaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks , please when you the price tell me

[email protected]
try asking the head teacher regards

Here's the most recent link I found dated 2nd December saying those trying to set up the school were in search of a building for the school, doesn't say what age group they plan to open with.
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail … d=S63J2LPK

Hello, I am a new member of this site and I just read your conversation. I have just moved to Ghent and I am looking for a job. I have an English degree and I have taught English as a second language professionally for a year in two private schools. I have also done a lot of private tutoring. My students were children from the age of 5 to the age of 18 as well as adults. If you are still looking for an English tutor, I would be happy to email you my CV. Thank you very much!

Dears,

I have a similar situation and I would like to have some advices too

I'm moving from Italy to Leuven with the entire family (wife and 2 kids aged 2 and 4, respectively).

One of my major concern is obviously the impact of such change on my family and my older kid in particular. My idea is to send him to public nursery school.

Do you think he will be able to learn dutch language with proficiency before the beginning of elementary school?

Are there specific public dutch-based schools that offer some kind of help for foreign kids that need to learn dutch?

Any further advice is obviously welcome

Thanks in advance

Best Regards

Enrico

No there are no schools which offer specific help to a 4 year old because a typical 4 year old needs no help and 99% of them will pick up Dutch in a year, so long as they attend full time school.

My advice is not to worry and find places for both children ASAP in a kleuterschool or basisschool, on a good route to work, then find somewhere to live as near to the school as possible.

Here is a map of every single kleuterschool in Leuven, plus a few areas nearby.
http://batchgeo.com/map/188163d76156014 … ec12dc1664

kleuterschool = 2 1/2 to 6
lagere school = 6 to 12
basisschool = 2 1/2 to 12

Many of the schools near the business parks and large teaching hospital called UZ Gasthuisberg Leuven and near the university buildings have children of many nationalities and are used to children arriving without any Dutch. So if you are coming to work at the university / teaching hospital / business park to the south, take a look at the schools inside the ring road and those to the south of the ring road.

When contacting schools, you will need to state year of birth of your children. If the 4 year old is born in 2008, you will need to ask for a place THIS school year for 2nd kleuterklas, for school year September 2013-June 2014 for 3rd kleuterklas. If the 2 year old is born before October 2010, then you need to ask for a place in "onthaal" or "instap" klas, for school year September 2013-June 2014, for 1st kleutersklas.

Contacting schools will lead to more responses. If you email every school though, do it in Dutch and English (use a translation program), stating when you will arrive in Leuven, the exact dates of birth of your children.

Keep a spreadsheet of locations of schools, responses for communication.

Try and secure places in at least 2 schools!!!

You will find a link to information on all Leuven schools here, including the timetable for enrolling for onthaal / instapklas if you were already living in Leuven.
http://www.leuven.be/leven/onderwijs/in … onderwijs/

Here is another link to a smaller group of these schools, some of the Catholic ones in Leuven. The Catholic schools are still public schools and make up perhap 60% of school places and are usually more favoured by parents. You do not have to be Catholic to send your children to them and there is no religion taught until the age of 6. Some people wrongly thing Catholic schools indoctrinate children, this is certainly not the case and if you disregard Catholic schools for this reason, you are cutting your chances of school places in half.
http://www.skbl.be/

Here is a map of public transport in Leuven. Children are free up to the age of 6 and if travelling with an adult after the age of 6 on certain tickets remain free. A yearly bus pass is only €232, that's  €4.46 per week! It's far cheaper than a car, the bus is often quicker within the city too.
http://www.delijn.be/images/leuven_stad_tcm7-1682.pdf

Finally, there is an active group of anglophone parents in Leuven part of an organisation called Brussels Childbirth Trust (BCT). Less than half speak English as a first language and this organisation draws its members from around the world. They can offer support on school choice, friendship, practical help on where is good / bad to live etc etc. I strongly recommend joining even before arriving in Leuven, so you can access support from members. The website is down, contact the membership email listed.
http://www.bctbelgium.org/

For example I have a friend from finland. Her family spoke sweedish at hope so she went to school not knowing a word of finnish and learned it all in school

terrific pieces of info...Thank you very much!

I'll carefully consider the material you provided

I going to move in Leuven in feb and my family will follow after a month or so

For sure I'll need your help again in the near future!

Thanks again

Hi
I'm planning to study at Malysia,do you have idea about cheap english school at Kuala lupur,I have three kids and I can't afford
expensive schools
thanks
Suzan

Hi,
I want to tell something just to share my experience. I know that all English speaking schools in Belgium are private. There is an international school in Ghent. It is very cheap compare to Brussel and Antwerp private schools, because it just opened last year and working as nonprofit organization. Also, all school team are very professional and well motivated to teach something. You can look at their web page:

isg-ghent.org/

 

I want to tell you that Gent International school is already referenced to above !!!!!!

Hi All, I'm a newbie here...
I need information about living in Ghent with 2 children (4 years old and 10 years old).

I'm planning to join my husband who will styudy at UGent in Feb 2016. Hoperfully I will come to Ghent maybe in July or August 2016 with my children.

I have read that If you have children that live in Belgium, you can apply for a child (benefit) allowance. As a non Belgium citizen, can I receive that allowance? since I am interested in entering my children to International School of Ghent that is not free of tuition.

That's it for now. Looking forward for all of your reply, surely I will visit this blog very often.

I really appreciate it.

Best regard from Indonesia

Kania Adisiwi

If your husband will be paying social security in Belgium, you will be able to claim child benefit here. If not, then no, as you are not contributing to the country, you cannot claim.

Local schools are excellent. You might want to consider not paying 20k for 2 children for English school, when they can be educated for free at a local school.