Secondary school choices in Poland

Hi. I'm new to the forum (I just introduced myself in the "introductions" section). My family will be spending ten months in Wroclaw, beginning this September. I have a thousand questions about Polish life, and your forum has already helped answer many of them--so, first off, thank you very much. Or, rather, "Dziękuję bardzo." (Slowly, arduously, I am working to learn this formidable language, which is beautiful but which seems to include sounds I've never, even accidentally, made before!)

My question for today has to do with my fifteen-year-old daughter, who is just finishing the ninth grade here in the US. Can someone advise me about her schooling options for the fall? The British International School sounds good, but it costs 45,000 PLN per year. What other choices do I have? Can I send her to a Polish public school--and, if so, would this be a disaster because she doesn't speak much Polish (yet) at all? Are there other schools, taught mainly in English? I don't want to home-school her (teach her at home), because I want her to be out in the community and making friends and learning new perspectives.

Thanks a lot--dziękuję bardzo--for whatever advice you all can offer.

Uncanny

I'm afraid (or rather sure) that your daughter won't be able to learn Polish in 3 months (unless she's a real genius when it comes to foreign languages), so a public schools isn't an option.

45,000 PLN for a year seems much, but maybe you can afford it.
Do you want her school to be counted as 10th grade in the US (then some school recognized by the US schooling authorities is necessary, I guess) or just don't want her to sit at home and watch TV all the time (so she'll go to the 10th grade when you go back to the US)?

Dear Krzysztof,

Thanks for your comments. You're right--maybe we *can* afford the 45,000, if we cut back on luxuries. So much for our daily vodka binges...

I want my daughter to use next year as the equivalent of 10th grade, so that she won't fall behind back home.

Are there any other English-language secondary schools in Wroclaw besides the BISC?

Hello uncanny. You may check these links:

english-schools.org/poland/british-international-school-wroclaw.html
fem.org.pl/main.php?lang=en&siteid=WIS&site=about
ekola.edu.pl/ise/index2.php

45K a year is a madness...


Yes and yes...


Sometimes in both public and private schools there are bilingual groups (klasy dwujęzyczne) where parts of classes are in a foreign language, usually in English... so maybe she could attend English part and instead of Polish part have individual classes and as Polish private schools cost more or less like 5K a year then even with these individual classes that should cost much less than 45K but... still even in these bilingual groups programms are not much different than normal in Poland, so I don't know If that makes much sense for her to learn details about Polish medieval kings and so on when you are going to spend here only a year... so there's no easy solutions... also kids start school when there are 7 and the system is 6-3-3 (Primary school, gimnazjum[junior high school], high school) so in 10th grade she should go to the first grade of high school but with a year older kids.

I'm not sure, but maybe the American embassy in Poland (or even your local schooling authorities in Montana) has a list of schools with curriculum equivalent to the American one? Have you asked them?

Not a chance. Maybe the embassy.

Maybe her school in the U.S. would let her do long distance education so that she won't fall behind in her credits and then she could attend a class or two in English at the local school (in Poland) as electives.

p.s. there are online schools in the U.S. or schools that have online classes for students who can't attend on campus, so you wouldn't have to do the teaching yourself.

Thank you all--these are great suggestions. I'll look into them today.

Uncanny

In fact mybe You can send her to a public school - there are two in Wroclaw with one having English as a 'first' language for sure. Its the number 14 (XIV) and number 5 (V). The first one is a very high-quality high school where teaching is in in English apart from some subjects (like Polish obviously). My fiancee went to a German-language high school in Wroclaw and they had German kids appearing for a semester or two - so perhaps its doable. The other one has an International Baccalaureat instead of a normal Polish one, but I am not entirely sure they teach in English. lo14.wroc.pl is there (XIV) website. Perhaps that would cut the costs - plus Uou can be sure that even if not all classes are in English she would have no trouble fitting in with English-speaking peers.

She should skip to A polish university and just attend the english program there. It costs 41,000 PLN anyways;)