Our Story

We live in France and moved here because we felt the system of education was better than that in the UK, where we'd seen a decrease in respect and lowering of standards.  My brother is a maths teacher and recently emigrated to New Zealand because he wanted to teach and not spend all his time on disciplining his class in what was supposedly one of the best schools in the area where he used to live!

What we found in France was a system that was superb in its discipline and approach to academic subjects, but miserable in the way in which it virtually ignored all creative subjects and taught children that they were failures unless they achieved perfect grades.

As a result, my children who are all "best" in the class academically, feel that they have not worked hard enough, that their work is not up to standard and that school life is really tough and not the fun, enjoyable discovery that it should be.

An example:  my daughter recently came home with a school report 15 out of 20 (75%) which in the UK would have been considered an honours grade.  She felt a failure, she'd been told she should do better and this is ridiculous considering she's English and only been learning French for 3 years!!!

Another example:  the same daughter brought home a beautiful painting when she'd just started school - it was stunning and naturally well balanced.  After 3 years in the same school, where they learn that they only way to draw is by colouring mandellas perfectly within the lines, here is her painting produced in the same way.  The painting is perfectly formed and beautifully coloured, but the balance has been lost and the magical appeal of the first painting is gone.

I want her to regain this creativity and start believing in herself again!

What We Did

I just watched an incredible and inspiring video on education, given by Ken Robinson and this has made me realise that things need to change in France.

I decided to establish a school in Annecy (bi-lingual French/English) that encourages self-esteem, that develops creativity, that encourages a sense of wonderment in discovering new ideas and subjects, that is free of judgement and so encourages all students to try and acheive their best, free of the fear that if they make a mistake they'll be deemed a failure.  Sadly, this is one I didn't manage.  I tried over several months, but was met with so many barriers and unhelpful people that I took this as a sign that it was not the right solution for us.

A few months later, we had the opportunity to move to Spain, to Andalucia, where a lot of English speakers already live.  I discovered a wonderful school there called the Mayfair Academy that seems perfect and have registered our girls to start this September.

Ironically, there is now a new schools project just starting in Annecy but with only a maternelle section (Ages 3-6), this is no good for us!  Onto Spain and learning a third language!