French or English or Polish schools in Poznan (for age 9 and 11)

Hello to everyone,

My wife is going to be attending medical school in Poznan starting in August or September of 2011. We have 2 daughters age 9 and 11 coming with us . So if anyone can help with reccomendations or info about schools in Poznan it would be greatly helpful. As my wife is a student and I don't make great money we probally don't have the option of private schools that cost a lot of money. My daughters go to a french school now here in Canada so are fluent in both french and english. We will be in Poznan for at least 4 years, so would like to make a good chocie of schools for them. Any suggestiions?

And Thank you my new Polish freinds :)

Matthew

Alas, your options are rather limited. Both international schools here are expensive and are of shockingly low quality, while the Polish education system is likely to be a rather big shock for them as the culture is completely and totally different.

My only suggestion would be to try and get them into one of the so-called social schools - but there aren't many of them and they're very popular.

I'm sorry to say that it's likely to be a huge struggle for you if you can't afford to put them into private English speaking schools. While the 9 year old might cope (and even then, I have my doubts) - the 11 year old is definitely going to struggle in the Polish middle (secondary) school as they simply won't make any allowances for her in the public schooling system.

Homeschooling is also much more difficult in Poland than elsewhere - there are many checks made and an approved programme must be followed.

If I can be of any help at all, give me a shout.

I've been thinking about this some more, and I simply cannot see how you can make this work on any practical level. However, if you're determined to go ahead with this, then -

1. You'll need to spend a year "integrating" them into Polish society. That means intensive Polish classes (4-5 hours a day) combined with many extracurricular activities where they integrate with Polish children. You could get a Polish teacher full time for around 2500-3000PLN a month for someone capable enough to bring them up to standard. This also will place huge stress upon your children - Polish schools simply will not accept "me no speak Polski".

2. They'll also have to spend considerable time adjusting to the Polish system of learning facts - which is totally different to the British model of applying knowledge. This is going to be ridiculously stressful for them.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Poland really isn't very well set up for non-Polish children attending State schools. The class sizes, the programme - Poland very much follows the "classical" system of education.

As for the two private schools - you'll be looking at somewhere in the region of 15k PLN a year each for them.

I found out the hard way when I spent a year in Pl, at about that age in 1997, it was tough.


I can't believe my parent subjected me through this):

Thanks for the reply :) And don't worry about being too "negative"... I am happy you are honest with the opinions. I do have a question, how much are private schools? I mean what are the most expensive and what are the cheapest private schools? Thank you again for all your help!!!

PS. Also I have 4 years teaching experience (2 at a top private school in Istanbul and 2 more at a language school back in the United States). I have a a BA in English Language and Literature. I know in Istanbul, Turkey somtimes they gave tuition discounts to children of teachers. Do you think this could be possible in Poznan also? And one more question... do you know the names of any French or English private schools? Thank you again sooo much for your help and your responses. You guys are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew

They're both around the 15k PLN mark a year. These are the English speaking schools.

You can find cheaper Polish schools - but it would seem unlikely that these schools will accept non-Polish speaking individuals due to the heavy reliance on results to "sell" their schools. I've had a chat this evening with a few people about your situation, and everyone has said the same thing - it's the international schools or homeschooling.


Absolutely no, unless you were already working at one of them.


The only two in Poznan are isop.pl and szkolapol-ang.pl

Both of them have fees around the 15k mark a year.

Try to find szkoła dwujęzyczna (podstawówka). There are many dwujęzyczne licea (double-language high schools, which has each subject in foreign language), there are also sometimes dwujęzyczne gimnazja (double language secondary school). But I'm not sure about double language elementary schools ;/

Here I googled for you some private schools (you can contact them and ask for fees):

pbis.edu.pl
isop.pl

Here you have a directory with elementarty schools in Poznan and near villages (all schools not only English):

katalog.onet.pl/1658,58755,poznan-szkoly-podstawowe,r.html

I don't *think* any of them exist here - if they do, they're going to be so popular that I really cannot imagine him getting a place for his children. Even then, double language is still going to present the problem of (most likely) poor English language instruction - I know only the II LO (High school, age 16+) has in any way decent education - but that school has huge problems with student happiness.

I'd say that either way, he's looking at a 40k PLN/year investment to educate his child to a satisfactory level.

Actually there is a German bilingual public gimnazjum in Poznań.


Yeah, it might be a problem... what native speaker would agree to work for teacher's wage? :|

There is?


Exactly, especially as you can earn far more in a private school. Even one of the international schools has an Indian guy teaching English - needless to say, it's not what I would call a "native speaker".

It's not so much an issue for Polish children, but for foreigners, the educational opportunities here are really lacking.

I sound like such a pessimist, but I just cannot imagine putting children (who have already got used to the liberal Canadian approach) into the Polish system for more than a year.

viilo.poznan.pl

But I'm not sure if bilingual in this case means teaching German on wider extent or providing subjects in this language. Probably it's the first case.

It seems that some subjects are taught double, but others are taught only in Polish.

I just cannot imagine how these children can cope in public schooling - and from talking to a few people, many school directors may be unwilling to admit such children in the first place.

There is a shortage of quality native teachers at English speaking schools in Poland.


If you were based in Warsaw you would have more options, although the city is far more expensive than Poznan. Try contacting the Canadian Consulate/Embassy on ul Piekna Warsaw. They have the experience of dealing with people in your situation and they may be able to help with solid advice.

(edit)

Yes, agreed. The problem is that most native teachers don't actually have the papers that gives them the right to teach in an accredited institution. As I recall, one of the big problems is the requirement for teachers to have an MA - which is contrary to the English speaking world's practice of a BA plus some sort of post-BA qualification.

I'm also not so sure that they're paying that well either - I know at least one of the international schools here is paying people according to the Polish public school salary scheme.


Aren't they just likely to tell him to put his children into private school or homeschool them?

I can't imagine there are many foreigners moving to Poland in his situation.

If I recall correctly, there was a thread on here about the "British school of Warsaw" opening up in Poznan.


Well from what I read his idea is, teachers job for children education in a private school. You know the school options in "Poznan" better than me Delph.

Thank you guys soooo much for the info and the links :) Yeah not the most ideal situation, but we will find a way to make it work . We are all very excited to come to Poland and experience everything and meet lots of wonderful people like yourselves. I have lived over-seas in different countries quite a bot, so adjusting to me isn't the biggest issue. My daughters have also started taking polish lessosn, so maybe the idea of intensive language lesosns for a year would work. Regardless, i am optomistic and excited for our experience in Poland. Hopefully our paths cross one day. Thank you again guys and sorry for my late reply!!!!!

Just wanted to say thank you again guys for your opinions, honesty and help. I know sometimes these questiosn are boring, so i really appreciate you guys spending time and sending me a message. I hope all the best for your future and like I said previously, I hope we run into each other some day!! Cheers

Matthew

One thing that I need to warn you about in the strongest possible terms.

You can expect that the public schools will do *nothing* to make it work - at best, they'll ignore the children and give them the lowest pass grade by default. They will not do anything to accomodate the children - unless you are incredibly fortunate to find a teacher that will give up his/her spare time. But that's very unlikely at the minute - due to the "unpaid" time that teachers have to do at the minute, you'll struggle to find a teacher who will do anything over and above that.

Even the concept of a classroom assistant is pretty much unknown here in the public system.

Matthew,
Did you find a solution to this? We have lived in Poznan for 4 years now and love it. Schooling for international kids is a bit of a problem. I know of people with their children at the International School of Poznan and the Poznan British International School, and it seems that parents either love them or hate them, and they are pricey especially when you add on all the 'extras'. I would call and talk extensively with them about their programs. There is also a Christian based school here, which is taught in Polish but does have international children in it, and has a program to help integrate them, but I am not sure to what age this school goes up to. We were lucky in that our oldest was only 3 when we arrived. Our two children go to a private Polish school and have assimilated well into it and they seem to have a good program. Their school starts at age 3 and goes through to Class VI (which I believe at the moment is age 12 at the begining of the school year). Every class (including the 3 year olds) have 1 hour of English a day and they have a 'Native' speaker come in once a week to interact with the kids, so the school did not have a probem with our kids starting and not knowing any Polish, as they could converse with them in basic English. The private Polish school is cheaper than the international ones and they run from 7:30 to 5pm everyday. The lessons finish around 2 or 3pm every day so you may find that the school can arrange some one on one Polish practice for your kids in the afterschool program. I have a friend who brought her 7 or 8 year old over here and she settled into a polish school OK.

Let me know if you have any further questions and I can ask around - I know of a few international 9 year old girls that live here (and I am sure they would be able to help find some older one too) to introduce your girls to when they first get here for some English speaking friends.

Caroline

Curley,

I'm online looking for similar info. So glad to see we are not the only family working out the details of this move.
My son is 12, I will be the med student and private school funds are not a real option. We are seriously considering the home-school option (?) but that still leaves the question of how to manage socialization/boredom. Let me know if you and your wife would like to get together to discuss solutions.

The problem with the home-school option is that there are a lot of requirements upon the parents - it's not so laid back as it is in most English-speaking countries. You might actually find it very difficult to do - because the local education authorities decide what the requirements are (all in Polish, of course). There a lot of things to comply with - and without a background in Polish, you might really struggle to meet them.

I'm willing to sit down with you and any other parents interested to go over things. I'm in Poznan, so I know more or less what's going on here educationally. Actually - managing the socialisation/boredom part is the least of your worries. Alas - I think it's going to be exceptionally difficult with a 12 year old if you don't have the option of putting him/her into an English speaking school.

However - it's worth pointing out that you could probably get a full time teacher to teach at your home for around $250 a week.

I'm really sorry that I don't have any sensible solutions - the biggest problem is that at the age of 12, he's not going to pick up Polish incredibly quickly :(

So if you're Indian or Black u're not a native speaker i guess this is your assumption delphiandomine. Let's see where have i heard this before??? hmmmmm more like looking down upon a group of people who are not caucasian treating them as the usual suspects. How many Countries are in the Commonwealth by the way i guess u have no idea. How many of them require children to speak english as a first language you have no idea, coz what you know about the commonwealth i'm sure it's only through google. In most english speaking commonwealth countries all school subjects (except other languages)are conducted in English and you have to pass english "cambridge" as the main language before being accepted by a University. Many middle to upper class families in these countries prefer their children to use english as a first language from the time they can speak and the other languages as second. This has been happening from the time our British ancestors colonised their countries. My Secondary School English Teacher back in 1987 in Southport was born and educated in India. We never had a problem with her infact she was in charge of the higher classes at our school.

No, I'm making the assumption that the vast majority of Indians simply do not have a suitable accent for teaching with.

Even the educated Indian classes tend to speak with heavy accents - for example - ...

Not all, of course (I know one Indian guy who speaks flawlessly) - but many, many of them do. They also tend to use Indian-English words, like "lakh" freely.


Doesn't mean they're fit to teach schoolchildren in Europe. I know someone from Nigeria who writes beautifully - I mean, his writing is by far the best I've ever seen in English. Yet his speaking? It's diabolical - people who don't know him simply don't understand him.

Its all about the accent and whilst they may speak English, they have an awful accent which is not English, which is the key word here.

You don't think that there is quite a bit of a difference between teaching English literature and teaching EFL?

Why do i get the feeling that you're still aiming at teachers who come from the so called poor countries are you saying the british education system they have in their countries(former british colonies) is worse than what we have in Britain?. If my former English Teacher was allowed to teach at our school back in '87 then she was definitely qualified and she can count me and my mates as part of her successful teaching career.


Awful is rather too brash on this issue. While i might agree that some people from other parts of the world speak english in different accents some infact do speak clear english (like my former secondary school teacher) which is easy to understand. If we are gonna talk about accents we can go on about this ladies and gentlemen. How many people from Scotland Glasgow area, Liverpool the Scousers in Croxteth and Huyton , The Geordies the list is endless can cross the channel into mainland europe to teach English and be understood by Polish People. I had a glaswegian colleague who had one of them east glasgow accents even though i could understand him i felt sorry for his students later on they started complaining about his accent being too difficult they started dropping out of his lessons. I also had middle aged company managers who could never get around the american twang some simply found it too difficult and started requesting for teachers who didn't have accents. Another example on Piers Morgan Tonight was when he was speaking to Kid Rock the Rocker From Sterling Heights Michigan, Piers was Talking about Vanity Fair (the magazine) he said it in his East-Anglian accent with a short vowel "a" and Kid Rock had to say to him "what magazine?" meaning he couldn't understand Piers' accent. Like i said on accents we can go on and on it'll never get us anywhere....

Not what he said. The fact is the market for English teachers in Poland is for native speakers from a country where Engish is used in all walks of life by the great majority of the population and not from countries where English is colonial leftover and where most people speak other languages at home.

A strong Indian accent can be difficult for non-Indian native speakers to understand and is absolutely not a model to be spread (unless the people paying for the teacher specifically want that kind of English). As one person put it, English has prestige in India but spoken Indian English has little international prestige.

I'm sure many people in India are wonderful teachers for some subjects in some places. But hardly any of them are appropriate as ASL teachers in Poland.

OK - regarding Homeschooling.. This is what we were informed by the company lawyers when we came here, (but it may have changed now..) - As we are not here as Permanent Residents, all we have to do is provide evidence that our kids are in an education program if we are asked to prove it (which in 4 years we have been here we have not been asked, nor have I come accross any other international that has been asked for proof, but that may just be that we have been lucky) - You will need to register in a homeschool program from your 'home country' - From what I hear England is not easy to do this (requires close monitoring by the British Ed Board), America is very easy!! Other countries I don't know. We came here from America (even though I am British) and before we came I verified with the local school ed board where our house is in America, what homeschool program they recommend and would recognise so that when we moved back the kids will be able to just 'slot' back into with no issues.

There are a lot of 'clubs' here to enroll your children in for other things, soccer, tennis, gymnastics, swimming all of which I have known English speaking kids going to for competition level with English speaking coaches here in Poznan (plus there are many other activities).

We ended up deciding to enroll our kids into the polish private school as we knew we were going to be here for a few years and wanted them to be able to 'play' with other kids in the playgrounds etc., and also I didn't think I could provide all the school activities and education trips not speaking Polish myself that they would get from school.

Hi dear, I am planning to move to Jaslo in the summer and I have a 13 years old girl that speak only english and Spanish. I am looking for a English School in Rzeszów or any other town near Jaslo. For your comments it seems like mission impossible ... but we want to give it a try :)

ANy suggestions!!! in other words please HELP!!!

Regards,
Tania

I 'm from Iraq , I have Ph.D scholarship with English course to Poland , So I looking for English course in Poznan , So if any one can help me , contact me on this e-mail : aafadhal2012@gmail

many thanks

takachclan

Caroline, Can you give me a little insight about PBIS and ISOP. I just moved to poznan and my kids at in Grade-3 and Grade-6

Thanks... Samba

Merged: English schools in Poznan

We will be moving to Poznan for 2 years from Canada.Are there any English medium schools for 6 and 8 year old as our children dont speak Polish at all.Or maybe any sites in English or Polish with school opinions.Any help will be appreciated.Thanks in advance.