Was your child born or raised abroad? And now that you’re coming back to France, are you wondering how your child will do at school in France? Will they easily adapt to the school system? Will they quickly feel at home? Expat parents often ask themselves these questions. It can be destabilising to return to France between differences in pedagogy, complex emotions and questions on trajectory. 

Your bilingual school in Paris 16 knows all about this. Our pedagogical and intercultural expertise are at your service. In this article, we analyse the issues related to adaptation, the roles of parents, the school and the child, and specific solutions to implement for a successful transition.

Understanding the Child’s Experience: a Multifaceted Transition

Returning to France means more than just changing schools. For a child that grew up abroad, this transition affects their identity and academic, social and emotional lives.

Building a New Identity Can Be Unnerving

An expat child is often “between two worlds”. They have adapted to the cultural paradigms, educational habits and means of communication of the host country. Coming back to France can mean giving up their daily life, frame of reference, even their primary language. They can feel a sense of loss or misalignment: “I’m not really here, but not really there, either”.

This instability may manifest through:

• withdrawal
  
  
• loss of motivation
  
  
• behaviour issues (antagonism, isolation, aggression).
  
  

Adapting to School at Several Levels

The child must adapt to new educational requirements: rigorous writing standards, importance of rote memorisation, different ways of reasoning, a relationship to authority that may be more hierarchical. Even children who were enrolled in a French programme abroad can be unsettled by different practices, particularly in terms of pace, independence, and implicit expectations. The language barrier, particularly in writing, can obstruct their integration, even for an orally French-speaking child.

Social Reintegration Can Be Difficult

The child may feel “out of place”, particularly if they speak better English than their classmates or if they have different interests. This impression of being “different” or “misunderstood” can affect their self-esteem. This is why it is so important to provide a caring, open school environment adapted to their needs, where uniqueness is a source of wealth instead of an obstacle.

École Galilée’s expertise: 

The child’s age is a key factor in their ability to adapt. Between the ages of 6 and 10, their social and emotional skills are in the midst of intense development, so a major change may unbalance them. As teenagers, identity becomes a central issue. Coming back to France can increase the feeling of being different or losing their frame of reference, particularly if the teen identifies strongly with their host country. 

The Schools’ Role: Security, Support, Integration

The school, from your private nursery school in Paris to your private middle school, plays a key role in reintegration. It is a place of learning, socialisation and a daily landmark in the child’s new academic environment. The school must create a supportive and flexible structure that can adapt to the child’s individual nature in order to help them feel confident and stable.

Accommodating without Rushing: Observing, Caring, Adapting

Successful accommodation requires a phase of active observation of the student: their real level, relationship to the language, behaviour in class, social interactions. The teaching team needs to be able to adjust expectations, offer specific support if needed (written French, methodology, foreign language support) and build a relationship based on trust with the student and parents.

Encouraging Incremental Integration in an Appropriate Environment

Expat children often have a great linguistic and cultural wealth, as well as specific support needs. A bilingual, intercultural and personal environment will reduce gaps and give value to their skills. Schools with small class sizes can even offer incremental, flexible integration that respects each child’s pace.

Reading Between the Lines: Signs of Adaptation and Difficulty

The school must remain attentive to subtle signs: reduced participation, increased fatigue, isolation, excessive perfectionism or severe loss of interest.
A child may seem to be doing well while experiencing invisible overwhelm. A rich and constructive dialogue between the school and the family is essential in order to adapt at the first signs of difficulty.

École Galilée’s expertise: at École Galilée, we accommodate expat children through adapted pedagogy, individual attention and consistent dialogue with families. Our small class sizes, bilingual environment and personalised approach allow us to quickly identify each child’s needs and meet them without stigmatisation or unnecessary pressure.

The Parent’s Role: Anticipate, Support, Encourage

Returning to France is a major transition for both the child and their parents. Parents play a decisive role in whether the child successfully adapts to their new school environment. They must anticipate the issues at stake, create a supportive environment and be prepared to listen and mediate.

Advance Preparation to Avoid Drastic Shifts

Anticipating your return to France will limit the effects of the change. Speak with the child regularly about their expectations: new school, teaching language, different pace and methods. You should:

• tour potential schools with the child
  
  
• explain to them what will change (and what won’t)
  
  
• allow them to express their emotions and fears.
  
  

Including the child in some of the decisions (choosing activities or electives) helps give them back some control over their life, instead of forcing change on them.

Providing Emotional Stability

At home, the child needs a comforting environment, simple routines and emotional stability. The first weeks back can lead to fatigue, intense emotional reactions or a need to feel more held.

Providing a caring space where they can be heard without judgment allows the child to express what they don’t say at school and feel understood in their difficulty adjusting.

Support without Projection

As a parent, it can be tempting to compare school systems, anticipate failure or project expected success. But each child adapts at their own pace. A parent’s role is to support, not overinterpret. If there are differences in level, solutions can be implemented progressively: targeted support, tutoring, personalised attention. Patience and trust are often more efficient that a sense of urgency to “catch up” or “standardise”.

École Galilée’s expertise: we encourage active partnership between families and the teaching team. We create a coherent and supportive environment by involving parents in the educational and emotional monitoring of their child. Regular communication helps us align expectations, observations and adjustments to better help your expat child adapt to school. 

The Child’s Role: Taking Ownership of a New Way of Life

It is important to recognise the child’s active role in any transition. Although they didn’t make the decision to relocate, their experience, emotions and ability to adapt concern themselves, first and foremost. Helping them take ownership of their experience is a major key to successful adaptation of an expat child to the school environment.

Recognise Their Resources

A child who has lived abroad has often developed important skills: flexibility, curiosity, ability to adapt, linguistic wealth, etc. These advantages must be recognised when they return to France. This will build their self-confidence and help them make sense of what they experience.

Give Them Time, Let Them Doubt

Adapting doesn’t mean succeeding in everything right away. The child may alternate between enthusiasm and resistance, motivation and discouragement. This vacillation is normal. Provide a stable environment for these variations without pressure.

Recognise All Forms of Expression

Each child has their own way of expressing what they feel, be it speaking, writing, drawing or moving. The important thing is to not reduce everything to academic performance. Artistic, athletic and group activities encourage free expression and are excellent ways to find their niche.

École Galilée’s expertise: we consider each child to be their own person. Our educational practises encourage independence, expression and progressive responsibility, while respecting each child’s pace. Our goal: that each child take ownership of their own experience and create a space for themselves at their new school in a safe setting.

A Planned Return, A Successful Adaptation to School

Returning to France after living abroad and the expat child’s adaptation to school can’t be improvised, particularly when it pertains to the child’s education. Between differences in teaching, cultural changes and emotional upheaval, adaptation can be difficult, but it can also be an incredible opportunity for growth.

Our international school in Paris knows that each situation is unique. That’s why we focus on caring, individualised support and an intercultural mindset in our education. Because a properly supported child is a child that rebuilds their self-confidence and flourishes upon returning to France.  son retour en France.