L'apel et le lycée St Vincent de Paul
OK. We dropped Catrin off at school and scuttled down onto the boulevards to find the appeal centre, and found it with no difficulty - Hawkeye Gwilym spotted it straight away. The waiting was the worst bit - all sat lined up in a corridor. Both Gwilym and I had woken up early and we were on edge. The commissions gathered themselves together then went off into their separate rooms. We were moved to another corridor then after about 10 minutes we were called in.
The drill is that the commission get the files that same morning and they read them just before you go in. That way there can be no monkey business.
So the chairman introduced the commission - three teachers, one head (the chairman) and two parents. He said "We'll listen to what you've got to say, we'll ask you some questions, take your time and then when everyone's said all they need to say that'll be it." So I outlined our situation and also talked about the possibility of changing school to a more technically biased one. They spoke with Gwilym and he spoke very well and nicely with them. Then we left. We were told to ring after 3 to find out the decision.
On the way home (well - a major detour but) we visited the lycée St Vincent de Paul. This is a lycée which prepares kids for Bac pro, bac technique and various other qualifications to do with care of the elderly, management, accounting etc. They have a 3ème where you are oriented in a more technical and professional direction. They do three periods of work-experience, for example, and they do a lot of computing and stuff.
I was quite impressed with the place, especially the tutorial system, where you are assigned a tutor to help you with any difficulties you are having, etc. Not only that, the kids can take sandwiches ! Not only that, but the school day runs from 9h05 to 14h20, with 50 minutes for lunch. I thought 'This is like Wales again !' It even LOOKED nice, and the receptionist was a real card !
However it is full (there's only space for 30 kids in their 3ème) so if we decide to try for that we'll have to go on a waiting list.
Then home then to centre FAC.
I rang about 20 minutes ago and was told the decision of the commission.
"Passage en troisième."
So now we have to decide. Do we plug on with Jeanne d'Arc or do we aim to veer off into this more commercial / technical direction ?
The drill is that the commission get the files that same morning and they read them just before you go in. That way there can be no monkey business.
So the chairman introduced the commission - three teachers, one head (the chairman) and two parents. He said "We'll listen to what you've got to say, we'll ask you some questions, take your time and then when everyone's said all they need to say that'll be it." So I outlined our situation and also talked about the possibility of changing school to a more technically biased one. They spoke with Gwilym and he spoke very well and nicely with them. Then we left. We were told to ring after 3 to find out the decision.
On the way home (well - a major detour but) we visited the lycée St Vincent de Paul. This is a lycée which prepares kids for Bac pro, bac technique and various other qualifications to do with care of the elderly, management, accounting etc. They have a 3ème where you are oriented in a more technical and professional direction. They do three periods of work-experience, for example, and they do a lot of computing and stuff.
I was quite impressed with the place, especially the tutorial system, where you are assigned a tutor to help you with any difficulties you are having, etc. Not only that, the kids can take sandwiches ! Not only that, but the school day runs from 9h05 to 14h20, with 50 minutes for lunch. I thought 'This is like Wales again !' It even LOOKED nice, and the receptionist was a real card !
However it is full (there's only space for 30 kids in their 3ème) so if we decide to try for that we'll have to go on a waiting list.
Then home then to centre FAC.
I rang about 20 minutes ago and was told the decision of the commission.
"Passage en troisième."
So now we have to decide. Do we plug on with Jeanne d'Arc or do we aim to veer off into this more commercial / technical direction ?
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