Ecole de Battersea/Ecole des Petits (Fulham) - anyone there? Post Reply

[SabineMum]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone whose child/ren go/es to either of the school be willing to share their experience. How difficult was it to get in? How far in advance did you register? If your child is now 6+ and was at L'Ecole des Petits, was s/he then moved on to L'Ecole de Battersea or dorect into the French Lycée? Would you recommend these schools? Have they got you where you wanted?

Many thanks!

[SabineMum]

Reviving this unpopular post (!) as I'm finding it absolutely impossible to get an exchange going with the admin of these schools - they won't answer questions on the phone, which they supposedly do by email... except they domt reply to emails. I'm wondering if any had experience of getting into the Écoles de Battersea at primaire stage (6+) and how long in advance they registered? Did you follow the CNED programme beforehand - or perhaps you came from a French school? Many thanks

[lalectrice]

Their admissions dept/person is APPALLING at replying to emails or being available on the phone. I had to badger and badger them to find out whether my child had a place. Turned out that, despite registering at 3 months old, we are on the waiting list, though finding out where on the list proved impossible. Sorry, not much help, but thought I'd at least reply to your post!

[supergirl]

Absolutely agree with your experiences. Had the same.
We registered our rldest when she was a month old and our youngest at 3 weeks old. From what i could get from the registrar is that in our rldest intake (2yrs ago) 100% of the spaces available have been taken up by siblings.
We had a space in fulham but i refuse to cross the river every morning and afternoon.
In the end i gave up because a) i was getting more and more frustrated at their opacity of the admissions and b) i had decided that i prefer the english system.

Good luck.

[SabineMum]

Thank you both for your feedback! This is very helpful. I think I have come to the same conclusion was Supergirl re French vs English, but the school seemed sweet. They clearly must be massively oversubscribed with siblings if they don't feel the need to get back to people. They of course very happily - and very efficiently - took my deposit!

[bbroxash]

Hello - I thought I'd chime a positive note on the school! We registered our daughter when she was around 2 - and she was offered a place in EdP Fulham for GS, so she remained on the waiting list altogether 2 yrs (PS and MS) which she did at Ecole du Parc. We got minimal contact from the school over those 2 yrs except the e-mail informing us she didn't get in... phoning was always the best way to speak to them; pls note the very prescriptive opening hours from their answer phone message... We really like the school and our daughter loves it and thrives there. The admin may 'laisse a desirer' though I'm assured they read everything and experience tells me they do respond when they have an answer. I'd say the school is incredibly overscubscribed for a number of reasons: ofsted report, tiny lovely classes (daughter is 1 of 11), caring good teachers, charming school building, ridiculously interesting curriculum esp for maternelle years, EN/FR bilingual, homologue with the French Lycee. Access to Battersea for Fulham families is not automatic and she is on waiting list there for CP; but we are guaranteed a CP place in a primary school of the Lycee. We do cross the river twice a day which is a 'pain' but through NV found another family who thinks the school is worth it and share drops offs/pick ups. We wouldn't want it any other way