French speaking school in Ghent

Not that ive come across. Theres a international school however

I asked my friend whos a teacher and she said there isnt a public one. Only natural as Ghent isnt french speaking

Thanks a lot for your answer!

By law there are no French schools in Flanders and no Dutch schools in Wallonia, unless a commune / gemeente has "facility" status, in which case you'll find the opposite language up to primary level only, there are not many of these schools and they are all along the language border.

There are several boarding schools in Belgium, for all 3 official languages, from primary and secondary children, they are frequently used by parents living in Wallonia and speaking Dutch at home and vice versa, so they often send their children into the opposite region to boarding. A public boarding school is less than 5k per year here.

Gent's first international school open last year, in the building of a local Flemish system primary/pre-primary, going up to 12 years old only. Its primary teaching language is English, facilities shared with the Flemish school.

You could look at this place which is used to taking EU students who are not francophone.
http://college.maredsous.be/index.php?id=48

Or this one.
http://www.seminaire-de-floreffe.be/internat.htm

Or this one which is very famous.
http://66.147.244.109/~godinneb/

Thank you very much for your detailed answer. One more question: is it possible to travel daily from Ghent to Wallonia to a french speaking public school? Our son is 16 and if the nearest french speaking school isn't very far, we could chose this option. I think in 6 months it is not  very probable that he can learn duthch, but his french could improve.
thanks in advance.

Your nearest French secondaire is 50k and a very minimum of one hour a way by car, more likely to be 90 minutes or more in rush hour. What would you do on wednesdays where there is only school till 12, you would have to hang around Brussels for 3 hours for school to finish, because returning to Gent and then back again to Brussels would take up to 3 hours!

Either
1) accept a Flemish school, there are special classes for those who speak no Dutch including ones in Gent
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/onderwijsa … p=1&app=20
2) send your son on an educational exchange to another country, like to Ireland or UK where he could make use of his English or to elsewhere in francophone Belgium, France or Switzerland
3) send your son to a Belgian French boarding school
4) continue in Hungarian with distance learning.

Its possable to do it to brussels daily. My friend teaches in a french school in Brussels however she has to get up at 6am to get there her train is 7.12

She also works in anderlect (I think its how u spell it ) so quite a ways from the station but maybe finding a brussels school closer to brussels station. The train takes about 40 min in reality

Thank you very much, we will think about it. Probable we will choose the first option. I will let you know how it worked out.

Avoid Anderlecht completely, that's why so many people who live there send their children elsewhere. Even the most confident 16 year old would absolutely stand out there, I'd see it as punishment to send a teenager without fluent French there. If you really want a French school, go the boarding route.

Yeah i wasnt suggesting Anderlecht (besides the school she works for isnt a high school)just that train wise Brussels to Gent is doable something closer in Brussels might be an opton. Maybe look around see what schools are good in Brussels if your not in a postion to pay for a school

Thank you all for your answers, we will be in Ghent in March and will look around. We plan our visit between 01/14-06/14. We have some time to think about it.

I have one more question. My son has learnt to play music (percussion) in Hungary since the age of 10. He is quite serious about it. Are there music schools in Ghent where he can take music lessons?

You won't get a 16 year old into a good school in Brussels without French fluency, for 6 months, the good schools are full to capacity. You'd get a 2nd rate school. In last year's 1st secondary enrolments, although there were large numbers of children without school places, there were in reality 5 spare places for each child who had not place, because their parents didn't want the 2nd rate schools. In the end, most had to take them.

Yes there are official and very cheap music schools in Gent but he will be obliged to study music theory in Dutch at them. They are after regular school.

There will be private and much more expensive schools too, where music theory is not separate and obligatory and instead will be included into the practical lesson.


Try contacting the Gent Conservatoire on where a 16 year old could study percussion in English.
http://www.schoolofarts.be/

Thanks, I think after what you wrote we will look fo a dutch school in Ghent. My son learns languages quite easily, and we spent a year in the Netherlands in 2008. Although at that time he went to an international school (english speaking). International schools are much cheaper there, than in Belgium. Anyway he picked up some dutch there, probable that will help. So thanks again for your kind help.

http://www.vipschool.be/joomla/toren-van-babelhttp://www.pm-gent.be/Home.htmhttp://www.viso.be/visotemp/index.php?o … Itemid=248

PS Netherlands has private international schools which receive state subsidies for teaching Dutch, plus a system of public international schools were teaching is in English, with small fees, designed for children short-term in Netherlands to give them access to some Dutch language and culture. There is no such system in Belgium and schools are either private and receive no subsidies or tax breaks or public and nearly always free or small top-up fees, eg in the Steiner public schools.

Author: drbk

Hi,

We spent a week in Ghent and visited some schools, and now I think Dutch speaking school is out of question. I contacted the French-speaking boarding schools you suggested. Floreffe answered, they only take kids for a whole school year. I'm still waiting for the answers of other two boarding schools. I would like to thank you again for your really useful advices. If you can suggest any other boarding schools I could contact I would be really grateful. My son is enthusiastic about the idea to go to a boarding school, and improve his French.
Thank you again for your kind help.
krisztina

There are masses of boarding houses in Belgium. Some serve one school, some serve several schools. Nearly all are weekly boarding. You are likely to have to apply to board and also to go to a school too.
Here are the boarding houses run by the French Community directly.
http://www.internats.be/carte-des-internats

You might find this link for the French Community boarding houses easier to follow as they list which ones accept secondary and sex.
http://www.restode.cfwb.be/pgens/autres/internats.asp


Here are the boarding houses run by the Catholic schools.
http://enseignement.catholique.be/segec/index.php?id=37

And here is a link to all of the boarding houses, both French Community and Catholic.
http://www.enseignement.be/index.php?pa … #resultats

I think you'll have to accept a one year placement in all of these boarding houses.

Thank you very much for your quick answer. I will sudy the lists.
I hope to find a boarding school, for half a year, since we will arrive in January and stay for half a year.

thanks again.

You aren't going to find a boarding house for a year, the contract will be for the year. It's not that expensive but you'll have to pay for the year.

I will contact a few boarding school, and I will pay for a whole year if it is really neccesary.
thanks again.

Have you thought about English at the European school in Mol? You can board there, it's actually a Flemish Community boarding house and they accept European school children too.

Could you send me a link?
and thank you for the idea.

I found it, thank you. Unfortunately it is too expensive for us.