My family will be moving to Belgium (from California) early next year. I have a 2 year old and 4 year old and am looking for a good international school taught in English. I checked the internet and found several: International Montessori Schools, BEPS, St. Johns and International School of Brussels. They all look good on paper, but does anyone have any feedback on the quality of these schools?
I also would like my kids to pick up the local language so bonus if the school teaches a second language.
We will be in Belgium for 2 yrs. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also, is it difficult to get in, i.e. waitlists, etc?..

We have been living here for three years and our daughters (2 and 5) attend the Intl. Montessori in Wezembeek Opem. We love them so much our oldest has moved on to the Primary in Tervuren and our youngest just started at the one in Wezembeek. They learn primarily in English and French is taught as well in a natural setting. I can't even expree how happy we are with this school.

Good Luck

I forgot to mention that I am from California as well. We love it here by the way.

Dear Booandbee,

Thank you so much for your input. I actually e-mailed the school to obtain more information... How much of the French language have your children picked up by attending this school? I am leaning towards International Montessori and ISB, however, I received a lot of feedback that immersing the children in local schools/language would be highly beneficial to them. I'm also wondering how difficult it will be for "me" to meet friends if my children are attending local schools (as I don't speak the language).

So glad to hear you are enjoying Belgium. We are all very excited about our move.

I checked out ISB as well and I decided against it because while it may be a good school for much older kids it really was just babysitting for the younger ones. Montessori treats them like real little people. They don't get any exposure to French at ISB and I always felt the younger the better (Frenchwise). I guess it all has to do with your philosophy. I really didn't want them to be fingerpainting and sandbox play all day. In the Montessori system they work with the whole child building upon their strengths and giving them confidence where there are weaknesses. They do reall work in all aspects of life and enjoy it. The same can be said about the French system, but the difference with the French system is of course they are definately getting a lot more French. So in that area I agree that is a fabulous plus. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have done that. But then again I wouldn't have made all the wonderful friends that I have and the fact that I see them all the time reinforces those friendships and makes for spontaneous get togethers. In regards to my children speaking French, no they don't speak it well but from what the French teacher says they understand it well and that that is normal even in bilingual households. My girls attend a lot of extracurricular courses in French so they get it there.

Hi!
Just wanted to let you know that we enrolled our 6 year old daughter into a local Flemish school, and she spoke no Dutch at the time. We have been in Belgium 6 months and she is now speaking Dutch pretty fluently. She loves school and is so proud of herself in having learnt a new language. We discussed it with her school back in South Africa before we left and the teachers felt that it was an opportunity of a lifetime for a child to immerse themselves in another language and culture, even if she was to return to an English school if we were to leave Belgium. My husband and I speak no Dutch and we have made friends through expat clubs, work etc. I must admit that I have made no friends through the school though.
Just a thought!
All the best for your move over here.

Hi everyone, this is my first post on Expatica and similar to the last question, schools in Belgium in the Malmedy/Spa region for a dyslexic will be 14 year old boy and a non dyslexic 7 year old boy. I have only found schools in Brussels which would be 2 hours travelling from where we are thinking of locating. The other option would be for the older one to weekly board - has anyone any knowledge of English speaking boarding schools - I`ve heard bad reports about the British school in Brussels.
Local schools seem not an option for the older boy, particularly due to learning difficulties but what about the 7 year old? Many thanks Hot chef

Hi!
Schooling causes such difficult decisions! In my opinion your 7 year old will do just fine in a local school. My 6 year old (in the first grade) has picked up the language in 6 months (she has also had private language lessons of 80 hours) and the actual school has helped her a lot. She started school here in Belgium only speaking English and was fine. Kids play together whatever the circumstances. She was very lost in class for a while but has caught up and is on par with everybody else. Good luck with your move!

Thanks for the advise on the local school, where are you living in Belgium?

Hi konajo

I hope my post ins/t too late! I have a 18month old year old and a 4 year old. We have been here for over 3 years so I had a chance to look at alot of schools. In the end I choose AC Montesorri in Waterloo also one in Lasne). It is a bilingual school (French/ English) each class has two full-time teachers one who only speaks french and one who only speaks english so it is a great environment to learn a second language. My son loves it (we also tried a local school previously). The class is small with only 14 students so it is a great teacher/student ratio.

If you have any interest I would be happy to put you in touch with the director.


Hope you have a great move!