Kids playdate

Hi Emmanuelle!

Welcome to Expat.com

Armand

Hi there,

My daughter is 13 months old so doesn't really speak yet but I speak to her in English. I lived in Ireland 15 years as a child.

If that may help!

Jac

Hi Emmanuelll,

Welcome to New Caledonia! Where about are you based?

I have two sons. The eldest is 8 and the youngest 2.

Send me a mail, if you'd like to meet up sometime.

Roberta

Hello, are you still in New Caledonia ? We just moved to to NOUMÉA from France.  I am Canadian. I have a 6 year old and a 3 year. I would love to meet new people.
Cheers Tanya

Hi Tanya, we have just arrived in Noumea too. It is our 2nd month. Before Noumea we lived in Toronto Canada. Nice to see you here.

Hi Tanya,

Yes, we're still in Noumea. Send me a message if you'd like to meet sometime.
I hope you're enjoying the island life

Roberta

Hi there, we are considering the move to New Cal as my husband is from there, the 3 younger children would move with us so I would love to hear thoughts on The James Cook School and the 5 bilingual schools too.
My husband is a Chiropractor so we need to do research on that side of things yet and I am hoping to be able to do my work online.
I know there is uncertainty ahead with the referendum pending so I would love to hear how your feeling about it!
Any thoughts are welcome, thank you kindly
Sally

The James Cook School is an international school, but to my knowledge mostly they are using French during the days. So do not expect to have a full english school like in other countries. There is also a billingual public school in Noumea: Georges Baudoux (http://webbaudoux.ac-noumea.nc/ ) but they also use French mostly. The two schools are located in the same area.

I don't have any idea of 5 bilingual schools you have mentioned other than George Boudoux.

Now the comparision of the school fees between the above two schools is just like heaven and earth. So if you have unlimited budget, you can try James Cook.

You have perhaps heard from your husband that in New Calkedonia English is not spoken widely. There  more people understand English in Paris than in Noumea, this is just to describe how you must prepare yourself.

Thanks so much for the reply, does anyone else here have school age children'
Our 3 youngest who would come with us will be 6,7&8 this year, how have your children coped with school in French?
James Cook May be far too expensive for 3 children for us, I will look into the Bilingual school thank you. It was on a Blog that I read about the other schools so I don't have any other information.
Yes we fully understand the English barrier, we visit as we have family and many friends so we are very lucky.
Kind regards
Sally

I do have 2 kids in school age, they are 10 and 12.

The downside of choosing public schools, i.e you need to live in their neighborhood. So for George Boudoux you only have 3 options, i.e Artillerie, Orphelinate, and Quartier Latin, plus perhaps a bit part of other surrounding neighborhood which I am not aware of. The George Boudoux  is located nearby the downtown, so the apartments/houses are small and expensive.

We used to be in Canada before, this country is a bilingual (english and french). We are not english speakers nor french, We could easily put our children into english schools but we rather chose French school for them with the intention that they could speak other language. For the first month, they did not understand anything, but kids are always kid. They learn the language not only from the spoken words but also from the gestures/body language. So in the third month they could already speak french.

No need to worry putting your kids into French school, they will quickly understand it. The big problem is us, as an adult we tend to use our english' way of thinking when try to speak in french, and this always bring us to fail.

Thanks for your reply,
That happens to be my husbands old high school, so that's great, my children are too young yet for there so I will look closer at the schools later in the year. I may keep them enrolled in their current school for the first few months and school them from home to get settled and familiar, that will give me a chance  to get sorted.

Hi all,

I moved here 2 months ago from Australia and have a 2.5 yo son and pregnant with my second. I would live to meet up with other English speakers and for my son to play with other kids. If anyone is interested please don't hesitate to contact me

Thanks

There is an English Club run by Rick Stratford in Noumea. He set a meeting once a month. This 1st of July will be a special because it is the Canada Day. He will shut off rue Frédéric Evenor de Greslan (Anse Vata above the Institut des Maîtres) so everbody can join and have a BBQ (BYOF). Kids can cycle and roller blading.

I think his email is published so I will just put here: richard.stratford (at) canl (dot) nc

Come there and you can start building relationships with other English speakers family.

Cheers,