Tutti Frutti School

Age of child?

How long in Belgium?

Where will work / home be?

Tutti Frutti might be suitable for some, especially if you arrive too late for enrolment at a local school and at least want a bit of exposure to French or if you want a bit of exposure to English. It will never make a child fluent in English or French if they aren't before starting.

So if you can say a bit more, could possibly recommend or not, or whether better to use your 4k per year elsewhere.

Hi Tervurener

Thanks for your quick reply! I may be in the wrong city to post as i meant to be in Brussesls section:D ..

Well we will stay for good or at least 5 years, if all goes accorindly to plan..

You are right , best of both world but does not worth it if they are not fluent..she is fluent in both

Temporary acoomodation in St Lambert until end of January..but we do not have any idea of where we will want to live to be honest..

Work is in Etterbeek for me and my partner is actively look for work but not easy from Scotland for him to apply, so no idea where he will have to commute to

Tutti Frutti have an intake in January , which will leave us time to settle down but

Again, thanks very much

WSL to St Gilles every day? I certainly wouldn't do that with a young child, I wouldn't even expect a big one to do it. Hellish journey.

5 years means at some point, you'll have to look for a primaire place. The older your child, the harder it is to get a place. Most children start at 2.5 to 3 years, with every year upwards, you are relying on children leaving a school to get a place at your desired school. Most schools are fondamentales or linked maternelles/primaires, very few schools which are stand-alone primaires, so most people choose their primaire at 2.5 to 3 years. In your circumstances, it would not really be a good decision on this point alone to choose Tutti Frutti, especially if your child is already over the age of 3 years old.

You are already too late for many local maternelles in Brussels for next year, so I'd be applying right now for as many as possible and trying to guess where you'd be living. WSL to Etterbeek is an excellent choice, goes from urban to suburban in that area, St Gilles has in my opinion not one single advantage over Etterbeek and WSL for living with children.

If you started November to June in English, you could look at Roots and Wings in WSP, in the middle of Parc Parmentier. It's possible you'll be within walking distance or on a quick tram/bus route to this school. It's English only, which if I were in your shoes with French at home, I'd say it's a far better environment to support English than at 50% English 50% French school. The fees are really not that bad there, you show your income and the owner will probably do you a deal. Then you could review how long you wish to support English, whether to look for a local French school, supporting English with after-school activities instead. If your child has already been 2 or 3 years in English, rest of school year at Roots and Wings, next September in French with after-school in English, that should be more than enough and probably more effective than spending 4 hours of your own day crossing the city, 2 hours of your child's time crossing the city, to a school where maybe less than 50% of the children speak English and where only 50% of the time is in English. 1 hour in exclusive English after-school activities per day will be more effective than 3 hours in a school environment where your child might be a minority of English speakers.

And after all that, the parents I know with children at Tutti Frutti are all quite happy, but none of the kids have come out with much French at all, but all the parents were aware of that at the beginning, it really is a school used mainly by those transitting Belgium or by Eurocrat children whose children will at some point go to European school and spend some of their time in English, for them it's a good choice, for your circumstances, I would be really seriously re-thinking strategy.

Totally agree with you,precious precious info and assistance Tervurener .

All your explanations make sense and it will be a killer to commute that long,for not much result.All the details about maternelles and primaire enrollement was not even something i thought about,thanks for bringing this to my attention.Definitely need to seriously look into all this

The thing is that it's quite difficult to assess all this parameters from abroad, but your reply is extremely helpful and save me time and reseaching online.

WSP is a good location, since we are looking for a house and not a flat it seems a reasonable place to have a decent 3 bedroom for an ok-ish rent.
Although I think my future colleagues were talking about renting around Braine l'Alleud or La Hulpe and Waterloo,cheaper and  just to have more space , peace and probably easier for the maternelle ect.. but again no idea of commute  and stuff to do...I will explore this possibility once i will be there, so much stuff to consider and not much time .

So your suggestions are actually a confirmation of what i thoutgh will be a good area but was not sure, my office is close to Petillon actually I believe this is close to WSP.

I will contact Roots & Wings monday and hopefully they can sort something out.

Do you think I should apply for schools already for sept 14? I jsut cant believe how tough it can be

One other stuff I wanted to ask you is about school holidays, I presume there are activity clubs or stuff like that? is it difficult to get places and do you have an idea of the fees for them?

Your time and help is much appreciated, these forums are a life and time savers

Merci, Thanks

LGR

Enrolments for entry into maternelles in September 2014 have already passed at many of the more popular schools. With the exception of a few schools (such as the maternelles controlled by Ville de Bruxelles), most schools do their own enrolments, meaning you enquire about procedures at each school. Some enrolments are by phone, some by post, some in person. It is always advisable, given you have already missed several schools, to choose a small area, concentrate on getting one or 2 places in maternelles in that small area, then finally look for housing AFTER securing school places.

Holiday week stages are plentiful and cost from €40 per week to several 100s of € per week. A few which are very cheap and also very good, such as Action Sport in Etterbeek or ADEPS (under €50 a week) fill up very quickly. In eastern Brussels however, you will always find places on stages costing under €100 a week even at the last minute. Holiday stages are much more plentiful that school places.

As for living in Braine l'Alleud/Waterloo/La Hulpe......... well my eyes are rolling. Right so an identical house in size and garden costing €1500 in WSP might cost €1300 in La Hulpe. Add on 2 hours MINIMUM commuting time per day, add on transport costs, add on garderie costs (yes won't be so much but still a cost), add on your child seeing you for 2 hours less per day. So you'll have the time factor but also the financial cost of living further away. Once you add the extra financial cost to the cost of rent, it might actually be MORE expensive to live further away!!!!!!! I know several families who've moved south for a bigger house for the same price as inside Brussels region, only to regret their decision, some paying high penalties on rental contracts to leave early and move to Brussels region. It's a bit different if you're buying, as buying a house may simply be out of the question for many young Bruxellois families now so either they buy further out or rent in the city, but for rental, you really are going to save maybe €200 a month and then have to pay out perhaps more in transport/garderie fees, making it a more expensive option.

With 2 adults and 1 child, you could live in a 2 bed house, you can find them even in the most expensive communes for less than €1000 a month.

PS Pétillon office, I'd therefore be looking too at Watermael-Boitsfort in the north of the commune and Auderghem. Along line 5 metro basically. And yes the Chant d'Oiseau area of WSP is walking distance of Pétillon, as is more urban Etterbeek. Good schools in the immediate area.