NEWS: LSSG Primary Schools Meeting and New English Section School Update
Last week I attended another well-organised, informative and useful evening by the Luxembourgish Schools Support Group (LSSG). This group whose aim is to demystify the Luxembourgish school system for English speakers have been providing support for over a decade now. They produce comprehensive packs for both the Primary and Secondary schools (available as downloads from our Education section) and bi-annual meetings for both sectors. This year it was the Primary Schools turn with special guests to talk about Pre-school education (from age 3 years) up until preparation for Secondary School. Speakers included a School Inspector and the head of the project to set up a new English Section school in 2016.
The new state school in Differdange will follow a European School curriculum and will have an English and French section only. It will include a Primary School (from age 6) and a Secondary School (from age 11). Children will be mainly taught in their section language and in addition all children will learn Luxembourgish and another language from a choice of English, French, German or Portuguese. The school hours will be from 8am until 4pm with a half-day on Fridays. One of the questions asked was regarding the teaching staff who will be native speakers. For more information about the ethos of European Schools visit www.eursc.eu.
The school will open with just two classes at 1st year Primary level (P1-30 children) and four classes at 1st year Secondary level (S1-100 children). Class sizes will be expanded and a new class will be added each year until all years from Primary to Secondary (EB) level are covered. For these limited places, applications will start in the new school year and parents will need to include a letter of motivation (why your child should attend this school) and every child will be interviewed to ensure a good mix. The Ministry of Education intends to hold further information evenings later in the year.
We will keep you posted on our Passage news pages about further information on this, and other educational opportunities in Luxembourg.
