# Exams and schooling in France



## Leonie88

Good day! I married a Frenchman and in February my daughter and I will be moving to France to join him. We are from South Africa. She is currently 17 and doing the IGCSE program (she would have been in matric this year, but I made the decision to take her out of the main schooling program here due to the poor standards, and the Covid situation). Is here anyone who can possibly give advice on where to register her for the May/June exam and then enroll in a good school? What will be the best option for us, seeing I don't know much about the French schooling system and I don't want her to lose another year of schooling.
Thank you!


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## BackinFrance

Schools are currently in chaos here, you would need to find somewhere that can do everything online.


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## Leonie88

BackinFrance said:


> Schools are currently in chaos here, you would need to find somewhere that can do everything online.


She is doing school online, the problem is writing exams because we will be in France and I get no reply from all enquiries I made.


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## BackinFrance

If you are getting no reply, that would be because of the chaos here. When I said somewhere that does everything online, I did mean everything including exams. What a disaster. Sorry for your troubles.


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## Leonie88

BackinFrance said:


> If you are getting no reply, that would be because of the chaos here. When I said somewhere that does everything online, I did mean everything including exams. What a disaster. Sorry for your troubles.


I spoke to the British school in Paris, but seems I am too late in registering, which is odd because hete in SA no registration dates are provided yet🤷🏼‍♀️ maybe best is to wait for her to write exams in October then. Just sad, because that means she will finish school yet another year later. This virus is really crap for our children.


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## BackinFrance

I think the problem now is that to hold such an exams you need people to supervise and there is now no way you can know whether those people will be able to do so.


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## BackinFrance

It is indeed crap for children 😢


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## Leonie88

BackinFrance said:


> It is indeed crap for children 😢


Thank you for replying...🙂


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## BackinFrance

Leonie88 said:


> I spoke to the British school in Paris, but seems I am too late in registering, which is odd because hete in SA no registration dates are provided yet🤷🏼‍♀️ maybe best is to wait for her to write exams in October then. Just sad, because that means she will finish school yet another year later. This virus is really crap for our children.


I think that is all you can do, and the sooner the better.


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## Leonie88

BackinFrance said:


> I think that is all you can do, and the sooner the better.


Yes I think you are right. It's unfortunate, but at least I know she will be extremely well prepared. Education is not something you do half heartedly, one of the reasons I took her out of the curriculum here in South Africa.


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## Bevdeforges

I take it from your comments that you are looking to register your daughter for the British curriculum exams. And I guess you're already in touch with the British schools here in France. You don't say when you'll be arriving here, but we're headed into the second half of the school year here and it may be too late to get her enrolled for things for the current 2021-22 school year. The new school year starts in September.

The AAWE (a women's organization based in Paris for Americans married to French nationals) publishes a book that is a Guide to Education in France. It would probably be easier for you to get a copy after you arrive, but there could be some worthwhile information for you. Guide to Education – AAWE


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## ccm47

Rather than your daughter getting held back by moving in February have you explored the option of her remaining in SA, either through a boarding school or lodging with a friend? She'd then be able to join you asap after exam time which is effectively only around 15 weeks after you leave. I've known a number of adults whose parents had to do this and none of them seem to have suffered unduly, some even welcomed it as a confidence booster for when they went to university.


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## Leonie88

Bevdeforges said:


> I take it from your comments that you are looking to register your daughter for the British curriculum exams. And I guess you're already in touch with the British schools here in France. You don't say when you'll be arriving here, but we're headed into the second half of the school year here and it may be too late to get her enrolled for things for the current 2021-22 school year. The new school year starts in September.
> 
> The AAWE (a women's organization based in Paris for Americans married to French nationals) publishes a book that is a Guide to Education in France. It would probably be easier for you to get a copy after you arrive, but there could be some worthwhile information for you. Guide to Education – AAWE


Thank you. We will be arriving in February, don't know exact date because the documentation part here in South Africa is a slow and painful process. She is doing online schooling at the moment and I just need to get her registered to do the exams, as an external student. I have sent emails to the schools that I could find on the internet, but no one has replied yet but one. Unfortunately also no reply after I sent a further enquiry. And according to them the cut off date for registration is end of this week🤷🏼‍♀️ 
I asked my husband to go to the school and talk face to face, so hopefully we can get information. I really don't want her to waste another year just to do the exams for IGCSE.


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## Bevdeforges

Given the timing involved it may or may not be possible to enroll her for the exams this year. Given the upheaval of a big move like this, it may not be such a bad thing if she has a "gap year" a little bit early to get settled in to France and to revise for the exams when they are given in the next school year. If she were going into the French school system, it's actually rather common for newly arrived foreigners to be put back a year due to the language and having to learn the system here in France. Might take a bit of the pressure off her (and you). (Moving a long distance and to a new country with a new language is one of the biggest stress inducers there is.)


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