Cyprus-Forum.com

by **orchid24** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:58 am

Hi everyone. I have just registered to this forum, and I am new here. But, I have an important question, and I hope you all to be able to help me out. I am enrolling my son into pre-school next year, and it is now I have to decide where to enrol him for - public school, private one etc... I have oriented myself towards the French private school Arthur Rimbaud - the one that is going to move into a new building very shortly as many of you might have heared already. My problem - I need opinions of people who have had first hand experience of a child of him/her who has studied there... or may be some of you have friends whose children have studies there, or have heared some reviews abiout the level of education in this school.... Any help will be greatly appreciated! From their website and several conversations on the phone, everything seems just perfect... but... I have not actually seen anyone whose children study there, or have studied before...

by **orchid24** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:01 pm

Hi again... I see some people have read my post but noone has replied... I just wanted to add that according to their site students who study with them from preschool to 18-years old obtain the diploma Bac which is the French high school leaving certificate allowing them to study at no cost in French public universities, but these that chose to also follow the Cypriot program can also study paralelly the Greek program, so that they also obtain the Greek Cypriot public school leaving certificate and they can after that study at a public Greek or Cypriot university. they also say students come our of this school with fluent Greek and French, and with very good English and Spanish language knowledge. I understood some kids of ambassadors study there, which should mean that the environment is good there... Only French teachers, with exception of their Greek lessons teachers who are local of course. They are moving to a new building now, at Stasinou avenue in the center of Nicosia.... Anyone else who gains some info about the school, please let me know... I will be adding some more info if I get to know it, so that other people can benefit from this as well. The school is recognised for sure by the French Ministry of Education and by the Association of the International French schools located outside France (www.aefe.fr)... It is part of some 240 schools located in more than 130 countries around the world that follow the French ciriculum and currently give education to some 250 000 students...

by **Sotos** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:22 pm

Are you Francophone? I assume that this school is created to serve the Francophone community in Cyprus. I also assume that those ambassadors you talked about come from Francophone countries. The school seems good in general but I don't see why somebody who is not francophone will consider it. If you don't want your kids to study at a Greek school then you can send them to an English school. There are many more options for university eduction in English. In the UK, USA, and many other countries that have English language universities.

by **orchid24** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:38 am

Hi, and thank you for your opinion. I am Francophone, but... well, I speak English, French, Greek and Bulgarian... Have been brought up in a French and English bilingual school in Bulgaria... So here come the three languages... I came to Cyprus when I was 18 to study in an English language BA degree, and after that I have learned Greek to fluency.... So... me and languages - we are basically one... I do realise the benefot of languages knowledge, so I would like my son to study languages from an earlyage.. I believe the French school is the only one that brings children up to their 18 with 4 fluent languages - French, English, Greek, Spanish.... Plus, teh French school is not a for-profit organization, it just charges fees and tuitions in order to support the costs to support the school... But the scholl is actually what a regular public scholl in France would be like... with the excpetion they study manners and social behaviour, and more emphasis is placed on languages.... that's all... I do not say its great... but it does sound better than the public scholls for sure, and I believe it is a more distinct choice than all the English schools... I may be wrong..... From my research so far, I did liek everything I understood about this school, however, I am really keen on meeting or at least discussing with people with first hand experience about this school.... PArents of hildren who study there I mean...

by **libra77** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:14 pm

Orchid 24,

You will not regret sending your son to Ecole Francaise Arthur Rimbaud. It is a great school, and more than just a school, it's like a home from home for the children as it's a small school and has a family atmosphere. The children are all happy there and due to its size, the school avoids many of the problems of bigger schols, such as bullying and cliques.There are children of many different nationalities and backgrounds and this diversity is celebrated and appreciated. My own children have been at the school for over ten years so I speak from a personal point of view.
Academically the school is of a high standard, and most children there speak two or three, even four languages. The teachers are very good and the headmistress is very warm and approachable.
If you have any specific questions, please ask me. I'd be glad to answer them.
By the way the move in September is not confirmed yet, we are having a meeting next week to discuss the situation and parents are going to vote on what they feel would be best for the school.
Best regards and hope to meet you at EFAR in September.

by **pisces21** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:21 pm

I agree, the french school is great. I have two kids there, they are very happy. it is a small school where all the families know each other and the children too. This allows them to mingle with children of other ages like a big family. The academic standards are good, the prices low, the kids are polite, happy and well rounded. Go for it!

by **SunnySan** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:27 pm

Does anybody knows when the school will move to lakatamia?
Well I heard it was in Lakatamia, but it seems that it could be at Stasinou Ave.

Any official news or somebody who knows about it?
thanks
EFAR by the way is a great school, and i hope to send my little ones soon.

by **kougelhopf** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:56 am

Since September 2012, the French-Cypriot School has moved to Aglangia, in the premises of the closed Higher Technical Institute. It welcomes French, Cypriot and all nationalities of pupils and students, from the age of 18 months until 18 years.
At your disposal for any additional information.

by **Zorette26** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:08 pm

Hi !
Although this post is quite old, I feel like answering.
French living in Cyprus for the last 10 years, I wanted my kids, born here, to be bilingual in Greek, so registered them in the first place in Cypriot schools.
With the opening of the new Franco-Cypriot school, I decided to make the move and registered them in that school from September.
Reviews from an insider :
- My son (in 4th grade this year) used not to like school. He was actually also suffering from bullying in his school, but mainly was rejecting any kind of effort. Now, although he complains from the increase in studying hours, he took, in 3 months, the habit of daily homework, effort and regular working. He is never complaining again for going to school. He even declares spontaneously that kids there are more clever than in its old school.

- He couldn't read and write in French, so had a specific follow up by the team of teachers and headmistress. He had hours taken from other subjects (greek for example) and spent those hours in one to one or one to 2 classes. End of October, he could read and he joined back the rest of the class. He still has a tailor-made program (when his friends have a dictation of 5 lines to prepare, he has now 10 words. He started with 5 words). All this in order for the teacher to evaluate the progress, not the level. As a result, he is very much motivated, coming back home with "0 mistake" and eager to learn more.

- My daughter (in 6th grade this year) was at a very good level in the Cypriot system. She was overwhelmed the first months, and still struggles to catch up. She had not only to start with written French, but also to experience this change of schedule occurring when entering the 6Th grade in the French system. She was getting As all the time in maths. She now hardly get Cs... She was considered as excellent in English, she now struggles to reach B or C, which is logical considering that the program she now follow is no less than the program followed in English schools ! And in Greek she continues with the program of her old Cypriot school, no less.
All in one, the kids will be trilingual, and the demand in term of level is the same in the 3 languages as it would be in the 3 systems in each language !
She is still struggling as well in History and Geography, as she discovered this year how to work in autonomy (which she was not prepared for in the Cypriot system) and also a totally new program, more European and world orientated rather than Greek/Cypriot.
- And now the one which might interest you better, the little one, 5, who entered the grande section in kindergarten. She is following the bilingual course straight away, like the elder ones will experience later. So she has a teacher who says "Bonjour" half of the time, and a teacher who says "yassou" the other half. Not to forget of course the "hello" one !
I can't describe in few lines the greatness of the teaching there. My mum had always told me it was worth to go to kindergarten in the French system, but I now realise why ! She has a total change of attitude since this year. She always liked to go to school, but now claims to go also on Saturdays and Sundays, in tears. She brings us all kind of songs, in all languages, many new words, an impressive art collection, inspired from most renewed artists, and developed very well the use of her body. She is doing so fast in learning new skills that we even sometimes wonder if she will need the next year program ! (she knows already alphabets in 3 languages, can read easy words, can count... and it is only November !) The teachers have a blog, that us parents can consult together with our kid (and I believe you can check it as well [url][http://www.efcn.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=43&Itemid=77&lang=fr], and it is just great ! Even if I couldn't speak a word of French, I wouldn't be lost with her, as I always felt lost when my kids were bringing over their Greek songs from school. Again, night and day with the Cypriot experience I had with my 2 elder kids.

More general feelings about the school. It is important to me to insist on the fact that this school is secular. Not that I was bothered by the tuition of religious matters in the Cypriot school, they had always be very respectful to us, but now all matters have equal importance. I never hear again my son coming back telling me he would take a gun and go to kill Turkish (that he was always saying, being 5 to 8...), or I never had to correct any racist words, as I had to earlier, when my daughter just calmly declared to me that she didn't like "café".
They actually don't say anything about nothing, they critic friends if they are naughty or misbehave, but not because of any kind of origins or color. And that is just GREAT. (don't worry, I don't suffer from angelism and have my opinions about all these subjects also

)

So yes, thumbs up to the new Franco-Cypriot school. I believe it has excellent program, which doesn't have to blush versus English schools, an excellent team of teachers and direction, not to forget the secretary or the guard, always willing to help and knowing each kid.