Cheaper english speaking school in Belgium?

They are French speaking schools and not French national schools. 2 different countries.

ok, thanks, but isn't wezeembek & co flemish? are there french schools in non-french communities?

Hi

If you're  interested, there are state English-immersion schools in Liege (about 50 minutes train distance from Brussels). My kids attend one, and it really helped them when we moved here only four months ago. They are 9 and 13, bilingual Spanish-English and new a little bit of French before coming. As far as I know the little ones start with a lot of English and some French, and as they go through the school system they increase the French. My 9-year old does about half in English and half in French, and the 13-year old has a bit more French. In the 3rd-year of secondary, children can choose a third language (Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian). The school also follows a specific pedagogical programme. If you need any more information, let me know.

Best

Anastasia

Wezembeek and Kraainem are in Flanders. They however have special status, as 80% of Belgians are French and not Dutch speaking. There are 3 Dutch speaking schoools in these 2 communes, full of French speakers and 4 French speaking schools, full of international children and French speakers. You just need to live in any of the 6 special status communes in Vlaams Brabant to attend the French schools in Kraainem and Wezembek, in practice that means Krainem and Wezembeek as the other 4 have their own French schools and the other side of Brussels border.

This might help to show you where the language changes from majority Dutch to French.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/190774016/

Thank you Anastasia! Unfortunately Liege is to far away for us.
Tervurener, many, many thanks! I have to admit that it is still complicated for me, the changing languages, systems etc. I need something like a "Belgium for the nulls" but only thing I got till now was the satire on Belgians - it doesn't help a lot ;-)

I must say it has been interesting to read the exchanges between martaurb and tervurener! it's great to see no matter what our views or prides are, we still come to together to assist one another when it comes to our kids at least. As an expat yet relocating once again to Luxembourg this time, I am also in search of schools and what's best for our kids.
Since there is a slim chance for us to also move to Belgium- Anastasia would you please give me the information regarding the school in Liege? I dont like Liege and am doing the best I can to keep away from it.
thanks and much success Martaurb for finding the schools of choice.

Public immersion schools only exist in French Community funded schools, either German, Dutch or  English. Immersion can start at age 4 (3e maternelle) in Wallonia and in Brussels at age 13 (3e secondaire). The full details of the rules and list of schools are here..... and in Brussels region from September 2014 doing English immersion from age 13 are College St Hubert in Watermael-Boitsfort and Jean 23 in Woluwe-St-Pierre. Remember all these immersion schools have programmes designed for French speaking children and not English mother tongue ones, so the level of English in the French speaking children in the school in Liege where they might have been doing it for 8 or 9 years is going to be much higher than in the Brussels region schools where it's just started at age 13.

http://www.enseignement.be/index.php?pa … id=42&ids=

tervurener- thanks this is good to know.

Hi there i was just checking out the schools in belgium as well. does anybody know if there is a boarding school that hosts at least 200 boarders? i am looking for our international camp next year for a new site and we would love a boarding school in belgium or france who could host us. if you have any hints it would be very much appreciated.

thanks a lot
jan
p.s. if you want to check out what we do campadventur.de

Floreffe maybe, heaps if boarding houses, only few really big ones.

This is link to Catholic ones, lists number of beds under entries
http://enseignement.catholique.be/segec … &id=37

Hi,

I know that the international schools like St. John's and ISB offer reduced tuition-fees for families with more than one child that have to pay the school fees themselves.   It may be worth while to apply and ask for financial aid in the process. 

We have trilingual children, and decided not to put them in the Belgian schoolsystem, as bright children are not encouraged to progress up to their full potential in that system.  Many well-off Belgian people who can afford it, have their children at the international schools, among which local university professors.  They progress faster and have better chances of getting acccepted at top universities around the world.  More than 1 third of the student population in international schools is Belgian nowadays.

Those families that cannot afford the international schools, do homeschooling.  There are a few thousand children that are being homeschooled in Belgium, mostly gifted children that do not fit in the Belgian system, or foreign children.

Hi Brightmoon,

thanks for the input.

sh

Hmmm would dispute the above comments.
No way is 1/3 of St Johns/BSB/ISB Belgian, perhaps 10% max, neither do they easily offer reduced rates to those paying themselves, they do however offer a few students a reduced rate which is not great and must go before governors for approval.

Hi,
you are right - I was too enthusiastic when I said 30% Belgians.  I actually meant to say: children that either speak Dutch or French at home and could go into the Belgian school system.   When you check the numbers on the schools' websites, you will see that this adds up to about 30% of the student population.
The situation is the same for all international schools in Belgium, not St. John's International School in particular.  The quality of the international schools is better than the local schools, especially for secundary level.  More and more talented children in Belgium are being homeschooled, sent to boarding schools abroad or enter the international system. 
The Belgian school system used to be very good, but year after year it sank in the Pisa rankings. 
My advise would be to consider what you want to get out of the school you're sending your child to, how much you can afford, and how you can make up for the missing bits.  There are many options for complementing any curriculum, as long as the children are happy and don't get depressed....

Try Brussels International Catholic School.  Low tuition.  Most courses taught in English using the Cambridge curriculum.  Bilingual school.  Tell them Dr. Foster referred you.

Very helpful information. Many thanks.

Hi, just found this thread as I'm looking for schools in Brussels for my kids. Would you mind telling me how it all went for you in the end, and what learning points others might be able to take from that?  Hope all went very well.

Hello,

I would like to know if the govt schools in Antwerp teach English. Is it true that they only learn Dutch, french or German in govt schools? Is there a chance where my son can take more English classes in a govt schools? The international schools are very expensive.

SBP04 wrote:

Hello,

I would like to know if the govt schools in Antwerp teach English. Is it true that they only learn Dutch, french or German in govt schools? Is there a chance where my son can take more English classes in a govt schools? The international schools are very expensive.

You don't state the age of your child.

Do a google search, it will give your answer depending on the age of your child about English in schools in Antwerpen.

Do a google search to find English lessons offered as an extra-curricular in Antwerpen inside the buildings of public schools.

Yes Dutch is the main language of instruction in public Antwerpen schools.

Hi,

Sorry I forgot to mention my son is 2 and we will be moving there after a few months. Our mother tongue is English so I am a little concerned if he goes to a govt school, will he learn any English at all? Someone I spoke to in Antwerp mentioned that by paying extra you can have more English lesson in govt schools? Is there true?

Are there any subsidized schools where they teach English as a 1st Language? 

Thanks for your help in advance.

Your child has English at home, surely he speaks it? Therefore no need to learn a language he already speaks.

Have son at UK university about to move to no public university in USA. He and millions of other English mother tongue speakers go to English universities around the world, having gone to school in other languages.