FAQ
Getting to and from school: transportation
What to do about the problem of getting to school? Often, choosing the International Sections means that your children will have to come to school by public transportation. Details about public transportation to Sèvres and Chaville.
But maybe you think he/she is still too young.
Here are some options tried and tested by SIS parents:
- Cliquez pour afficher les horaires de la ligne ! Le 171 relie le Pont de Sèvres, le Collège de Sèvres puis Chaville
- We decided to send our children to Sèvres when the oldest was in CM1 (4th grade) and the youngest in CE2 (3rd grade). We were hesitant to start with because it meant that they had to take the metro to the Pont de Sèvres and then the bus. Everything went really well. The children get on the metro before rush hour and they always find somewhere to sit. At Pont de Sèvres they do not come in contact with the cars when going from the metro to the bus and the busses run frequently. Someone helps the children cross the road in front of the collège de Sèvres before school starts. Children taking the bus and the metro can coordinate and travel together. And the kids adore reading the free newspaper "Metro" every day. Father of Maxime, 6ème
- We live in Paris in the 7th near the Eiffel Tower. The decision to send our 11-year-old son to SIS (bus then train every morning and evening) was a hard one. Moreover, we are against portable phones at his age. It has been an extremely fruitful, maturing experience for him, not to mention an unexpected growing process for us. He has a phone card, carte navigo and 10€ pocket money. With that and responsibility, he has to solve any problems that he might encounter getting to and from school. There have been a few hiccups: leaving his wallet on the train (and recuperating it from lost and found and making it home...), missing his stop (on several occasions), and strikes just to mention a few. As parents, we have had to learn to allow him to be the independent boy that he is becoming; we cannot call him when we want to know his “status and whereabouts” or to modify plans made earlier. Father of Blaise, 6ème
- We live in Issy-les-Moulineaux and the trip to school by train gives our children the opportunity to meet up with other kids from the SIS in a context that is not purely academic. This allows them to talk with children who are not necessarily in their year. Not only that but we have found, following discussions with other parents in our situation (returning from New York), that children of this age really appreciate the independence this gives them. In fact, on days when I could have taken my daughter to the Collège by car, she preferred taking the train to be with the others. It would seem that taking public transportation is common practice in France where the Collège attended is not always just around the corner. In any case, most children these days have a telephone which is reassuring for both the parents and the children (at least this gadget has one positive aspect). The only constraint is to go over the journey thoroughly with your child at the beginning of the year. And maybe to be prepared for the unpredictable (taking the train with crutches and a heavy schoolbag is difficult, but happily a rare occurence!) Mother of Flora and Etienne (4è et 6è)
- We live in Ville d’Avray. The journey by bus is not difficult at all (even for a 10-year-old; do the trip one or two times together before school starts - they are proud to be grown-up!) Pick up the application form for a NAVIGO/ImagineR (transportation pass for school-age children) in a metro or train station. Fill it in and get the official stamp from the Collège. Then send it to the address indicated. The pass is then sent directly to your home. I sent mine off before the summer hoidays so I didn’t get caught in the rush just before school starts and my son had his pass the very first day. Your child must always carry the pass when taking public transportation, of course. The pass gives reductions on all kinds of things, and on week-ends and during school holidays it is valid on the whole Paris-region transportation network (train, bus, metro, tram). Mother of Tristan (4ème)
Dernière modification le 10-08-09 par
