Search Q&A
Moving to Brussels next year with 13 year old
My partner has accepted a job based in Zaventem and starts in October. Myself and my daughter are planning on following next year as we couldnt get her schooling arranged in time for this September. She will be 13 next year (born 2000). I was bought up in Antwerpen until I was 16 so I speak and write fluent Flemish. My partner is Dutch. Unfortunately my daughter doesn't speak Flemish but understands a fair bit. My question is whether anyone has sent their children to local Flemish schooling at this age and how did they get on?
Given your background, your daughter will have far less problems than someone of the same age with no exposure at all to Dutch.
There will surely be places at schools in Zaventem or Tervuren or Leuven for starting in October. In the first 2 weeks of school in September many children change schools, especially in the first year of secondary. I would phone the schools and try for a place. to me, it's a year lost and schools are arranged in 2 year cycles, so she would be arriving half way through the cycle.
