École Sainte Anne

A significant element in the planning of our holiday was our desire for Grace and William to attend a local school in France for a term.  We were aware of several other Camberwell Primary School (CPS) families who had successfully incorporated this element into 3-6 month holidays, and the idea appealed to us.  Two key decisions flowed from this. Firstly, we chose to stay in Uzès, partly because we were aware that the Hosking family from CPS had seemingly had no problems enrolling their children in the local catholic primary school in 2013 (and partly because it looked like a lovely place to spend 10 weeks).  Secondly, we chose an April to July timing, including an 8 week ‘spring-summer’ final term in France, replacing an 11 week autumn-winter second term in Melbourne.

Shortly after selecting Uzès as our preferred destination we learned that the Christofides family from CPS (Terry, Tania, Zoe and poppy) had already committed to spending the same time period there, had made contact with École Sainte Anne, and had received a seemingly positive response.

We wondered what the school principal would say when another family from Melbourne applied to send their children for the same term, but any concerns were very promptly allayed by Madam Martinez, who responded in less than an hour to our introductory email with the following message:

Prior to arriving in Uzès our only other contact was the school was to send in our enrolment forms (Grace’s shown below).

The final school term commenced on Monday 12 May, 10 days after we arrived in Uzès.  The Christofides family had arrived 4 weeks before us, and Zoe and Poppy had attended the final 2 weeks of school in the previous term. As such, they were able to give us some valuable insights:

1. Although primary schools in France were transitioning to 5 days per week operation, École Sainte Anne was still adhering to the ‘old’ French system, with Wednesday being a day off.  This appealed to us, as it gave Grace and William a mid-week break, and added a third day for us to do family day trips.  It also necessitated longer days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (8:30 to 16:30), which allowed Andrew, Elle and Xavier to undertake 8 hour excursions on these days.

2. The school had a long break in the middle of the day (12:00 to 13:30), to enable children to go home and have lunch with their parents, or to stay at school, eat at the canteen and enjoy a lengthy playtime.

3. The canteen food was not popular with Zoe and Poppy.

4. We needed to purchase some very specific basic stationary from the Carrefour supermarket.

On the Monday morning at 08:15, Grace, William, Andrew and Elle walked the 150m from our apartment to school, for their first day at École Sainte Anne (Xavier stayed behind with Kate).  The photo below shows them outside the school entrance, off a narrow laneway.

Both children were apprehensive, with Grace displaying nervous confidence and William quietly and cautiously following parental direction.  Grace quite quickly connected with some of the girls in her class prior to commencing lessons, while Madame Martinez led William up to his first floor classroom to meet his teacher Mr Guillaume.

Grace coped quite well from day 1, however William certainly struggled to enjoy his time at school, particularly in the first 2-3 weeks.  The main reasons he frequently referenced were the ‘horrible’ canteen food (‘they serve slop, slop and slop’), the difficulty fully understanding instructions or advice from Mr Guillaume, and the requirement for homework.  One offsetting positive, was that he befriended Raphael, who could speak some English (the school sent us the following reassuring text).

From day 2 until the end of the first week, Elle stayed home with Xavier, while Andrew walked the kids to school, comforting and encouraging William along the way.  By the second week, they had a pact, that the tears would stop around the corner from school, and by week 3 he would do his best not to look unhappy, and ultimately to try and put on a little smile.  During this time we seriously considered pulling him out of school, but we opted for tough love, and some incentives (e.g plenty of ipad time, option to come home for lunch on Thursdays), and he completed the full term.

During the term, the school had a Portes Ouvertes (Open Day) and we got to wander around and see the children’s classrooms, the dreaded cafeteria, the library and the chapel.

Below is a photo of Elle in the school office with the delightful office manager, who was very supportive of both of our efforts to speak French when arranging payments, and days off.

View from behind Grace’s desk, at the back of the classroom.

William in his classroom, at the end of the day.

A highlight of the school day, was pickup time at 16:30, where all of the parents and guardians waited for the doors to open so they could collect their children.

In the last week of the school term, they had a school mass at the Cathedral.  During the mass, parents in attendance were asked to come forward and read aloud some prayers that were written by students.  While Terry ducked away behind a pole, Elle, Andrew and Tanya went forward and gave their best shot at pronouncing the French prayers – somewhat aided by poor a poor sound system and acoustics.

After the prayers, Elle asked to take the microphone again and proceeded to thank the attendees (Mme Martinez, teachers and students) for allowing our family to be a part of the school community.  Andrew was very proud and impressed with her courage and effort.

A few days later the school year effectively concluded with La Spectacque, the end of year concert in the school grounds.  The theme was ‘Around the world in 80 days’, with each class given a country to showcase.  The odd thing was, the only countries showcased were European!  Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and some of the acts were very entertaining, starting off with our Gracie in the first act showcasing France.  After the boys came out and danced with baguettes, the girls performed the Can-Can.

Several acts later, William strided out onto the stage to perform two songs (unknown to us) that supposedly represented Portugal.

The photo below from the balcony shows the large crown in attendance.

Portugal boys Raphael and William.

Two gorgeous girls.

Elle and Angelique (Raphael’s Mum) at the post-event Paela dinner.

The day after La Spectacque, the children had their final day at school, and were able to bring presents, and/or games to play.  Grace and William decided to thank their classmates by making lolly bags, so after a trip to the mini-Carrefour, our kitchen table became an assembly line.

Grace with her teacher Mme Caillet.

William with his teacher Mr Guillaume.

William's report card.

We were very proud of both Grace and William.  Undertaking a school term in French, with a very different curriculum, different teaching methods (including significant homework), and without the benefit of strong friendships, was a great challenge for them both.  The fact that they both completed the term was a great credit to them both.  We were also very pleased to hear upon return to CPS, that both had noticeably elevated their competence with the French language.

William’s experience at École Sainte Anne (in his own words)
It was not the best school I have been too.  It was not as good as my school back in Camberwell.  But I made friends at École Sainte Anne.  Probably my best friend at École Saint Anne was Raphael he was my friend because he was very friendly and he spoke a bit of English.   I didn’t really like the cafeteria but I am glad that they let me go home on Thursday, for lunch because they didn’t let me do that at my old school in Camberwell. I also liked the fact that you stayed home on Wednesdays because they also didn’t let me do that at Camberwell.  So that’s why I liked École Sainte Anne.