If you are interested in doing one of our courses and would like to bring your partner and children, no problem. Our classes are flexible to allow, for example, one partner to study French, the other to do cooking classes and the children to be catered for, with or without classes.
If you would like your children to attend a course, we will advise how many hours of classes would be suitable for your child, given the child’s age and your particular circumstances. Alternatively, there are some games, videos and toys for children at the villa, a horse-riding centre nearby and a heated indoor pool in the city centre.
Children under 14 have to be under adult supervision at all times. If both parents are taking courses, then you will need a supervisor/baby-sitter. We can arrange one for you, and while they generally speak English, this is not always the case, so please let us know well in advance if you need a bilingual sitter. They are usually older high school or tertiary education students and hence availibility is restricted to their holidays.
Sitters normally arrive around 8.30am on Monday morning, thereby giving both parents and children time to meet and get to know each other. It’s helpful for the sitter to be shown your room and where to find toys and books that you have brought with you. It’s also a good time to discuss the week’s program so that the sitter can plan her schedule around your children’s needs. The supervision/baby-sitting service is a transaction between you and the sitter and therefore you make payment directly to her.
Children under 12 years of age are taught in 30-minute modules with a maximum of 2 hours a day. These classes are usually held at 9.15am during the adults’ French class. We charge 65 euros per hour for these classes.
Children between 12 and 17 years old are advised to take 2 to 3 hours private classes per day. In our experience, teenagers tend to lose interest if the classes are any longer.
Children of 4 years or younger are accommodated free of charge, with a bed in their parents’ room. For children from 5 to 12 years of age (inclusive) the price of accommodation is half the adult accommodation rate if the room is shared with a parent.
…to help small children fit into an adult setting and make life easier for everyone:
An American family had been living in France for two years and they came to stay with us for 2 weeks. Their children, a boy and a girl aged 7 and 9, took French classes of a half-hour in the morning and a half-hour in the evening. The classes were bespoke, catering to each child’s particular needs. One parent took the General French course (19 hours) while the other parent took the Intensive Course (25 hours). The parents swapped roles for the second week. We organised a supervisor/baby-sitter to take care of the children while both parents were in class in the morning from 9.15am to 12.15pm and also on Monday and Thursday afternoons from 5pm to 7pm.
Ecole des Trois Ponts, Villa Beaulieu.
645 rue Marechal Foch
42153 Riorges, Grand Roanne, France
Tel.: +33 (0)4 77 71 53 00 | From UK: 0871 717 4226