I have asked my previous post 17:23 to be deleted because I did the quotes wrong, I hope they do delete it, otherwise it is confusing. This is what I wanted to post.

Kent Gardens in McLean is the French Immersion one.
And the curriculum will be way below the level of someone who already speaks French. We have friends whose children attend the school, and in 4th grade and 6th grade, they can't carry on a conversation in French. The same is not true of kids who go to WIS and Rochambeau.
I'd recommend those over the public immersion schools if you want a true bilingual French program

OP here. My son speaks French as good as a mother tongue, he plays in French and lives in French (as well as English)
So if he went to a public immersion school, it is likely that his level of French would gradually be worse or stay the same, rather than get better, because many/most of the kids are English-speaking and would not have so much French in his play and life in general. Do you think this is correct?

Thank you to all of you, I have got in touch with the schools you all mentioned and am following up with them. So much work!

No. FMS, Caterpillar, or Comminikids would be only one-year solutions.

Anonymous wrote:A previous poster mentioned French Maternal School in Georgetown - our son attended and we loved it. Very structured environment with excellent parent-teacher communication. I toured caterpillar and was not impressed - you need to tour the schools to get a sense of which is the best fit for your kids.

Has FMS added classes beyond K (grande section)? OP's kid would have to switch schools after just one year.

A previous poster mentioned French Maternal School in Georgetown - our son attended and we loved it. Very structured environment with excellent parent-teacher communication. I toured caterpillar and was not impressed - you need to tour the schools to get a sense of which is the best fit for your kids.

Try J. O. Wilson in NE DC. It's public. They are not immersion but they do have a French component that I have heard is really good.

Montgomery county MD immersion schools are also lottery.

Kent Gardens in McLean is the French Immersion one. You're not guaranteed admission to the bilingual aspect of the school if you move inbounds, only to the school itself.
And the curriculum will be way below the level of someone who already speaks French. We have friends whose children attend the school, and in 4th grade and 6th grade, they can't carry on a conversation in French. The same is not true of kids who go to WIS and Rochambeau.

I'd recommend those over the public immersion schools if you want a true bilingual French program, particularly if you already speak English at home.

Caterpillar is not public, although it is less expensive than most other comparable preschools. It is managed by a church and located in the church (that does a lot of social work with poor DC kids in other parts of the city), but it is not religious. As you probably already saw in their website, it's half day, but they recently opened the possibility of before care (starting 8am) and after care (until 4pm I think). It's a very small school -- only two classrooms, one in French and one in Spanish, with kids of different ages in each. So, if your kids' age will overlap, and you prefer not to have both of them in the same classroom, it would be a problem. One of the great things is precisely the fact that it's small -- at any one day, there are two teachers for about 7 students (because not all enrolled kids go 5 days a week). Because they are small, kids from ages 3-5 are together -- kind of a-la-Montessori. That said, there are not that many older kids (K level), I think.
In our particular case, we absolutely love it -- small classes and very individual attention, loving teachers, a very nurturing atmosphere, and a down-to-earth extremely friendly attitude from all the staff, which more than compensate, in our view, their modest facilities and ample but plain outdoor space. It might or might not work for you.
If you really prefer a not-mixed-age school, so that your kids are separate, check out French Maternal School. (I particularly didn't like it too much as I found it too rigid, but I think that you should form your own opinion if/when you visit it). I don't know how Communikids in Fall Church works.
All this said, if your commute is not a problem and you really want to keep your kids for many years in the same school as the one they start K for whatever reason, then Rochambeau and / or WIS are perhaps a better route to take. And as you probably know, Rochambeau is less expensive.

OP here. To 11:42, thank you so much for your comments.
I have a question about the Caterpillar School, is it public? And the website says that they have mixed ages in the classrooms, could you explain how this works? I have another son aged 2, and if I send him to school I would prefer if they are not in the same class. Are there only 2 classrooms, one French and one Spanish?
And is it a religious school?
Thank you for your time.

Anonymous wrote: I am unaware of *any* public school in the DC metro area where you can be guaranteed admission -- a French equivalent of Oyter-Adams. Is there any?

13:18 again. I meant : I am unaware of *any* public school in the DC metro area *that is bilingual in French and English* where you can be guaranteed admission -- a French equivalent of Oyter-Adams. Is there any?

It sounds like the OP is thinking that there are public bilingual French-English schools where you just need to move inbounds to be guaranteed admission. I guess the question is: would it be enough for the OP to move -- or even just plan to move -- close to Sligo Creek or Kent Garndes to be guaranteed admission into the French immersion? Or is there a lottery, so the OP may end up not being admitted to immersion?

For example, Oyster-Adams public school in DC is dual Spanish-English. You would just need to move inbounds to secure admission. For the other Spanish-English charters in DC, or for Stokes for French-English, nothing guarantees admission. Is it the same in Montgomery County / NoVA?

I am unaware of *any* public school in the DC metro area where you can be guaranteed admission -- a French equivalent of Oyter-Adams. Is there any?

Kent Gardens elementary in Mclean is French Immersion....

11:42 again. By the way, my child goes to Caterpillar and we absolutely love it.

In terms of private schools with a French component, you are right: Rochambeau and WIS go from K to 12. I am unaware of other K-12 private schools that offer French. If you are interested in either of them, you need to move quickly and talk to the admissions people now.

In terms of public schools in DC from K to 6, there is a charter school, Stokes (bilingual). It has a lottery and a long waitlist -- and if you didn't fill out an application the same day it became available (a couple of months ago), your chances are slim now. It's is probably harder to go to K than pre-K. (Also, while it is considered a great, loving school, a sizable number of students come from economically modest families, with a level of educational attainment that might or might not be lower than yours; some people might have an issue with that aspect).

In terms of public schools in the suburbs, there is Sligo Creek elementary school in Montgomery county (French-immersion bilingual). There is a similar French-immersion schools in NoVA, but I dont't know much about it -- I live in DC so I am unfamiliar with MD and VA public school options with French immersion; perhaps others want to comment. I think there will also be a lottery for any of these options -- just moving, or planning to move, to these places doesn't not give you 100% guaranteee, as far as I know.

While I know you prefer something that goes beyond K, you might want to consider a backup placeholder only for K for the first year of your stay here, while you get more adapted to the DC area, and if for some reason Rochambeau and WIS don't work out -- but note that it is perhaps harder to get into K in WIS than in Rochambeau, it is perhaps harder to get into K than pre-K in either, and while getting into first grade in Rochambeau might not be more difficult than getting into K, getting into 1st grade in WIS might be harder than getting into K; you should definitely ask both of them. In terms of preschools besides Rochambeau and WIS , there is you have French Maternal School in Georgetown, Caterpillar Preschool in Tenley Circle, and Communikids in Falls Church. They could be one-year solutions.

Hi,
I need a crash course on schools in DC and surroundings.
We will be moving from Belgium next summer, for my husband's job. Our oldest son will be 5 (starting Kindergarten in September 2012) and he is fluent in French because he has been going to a French-speaking school (we speak English at home). We would like him to keep his good level of French, so are looking at either 100% French (like Rochambeau, are there others?) or bilingual (like Washington International School) schools. What schools are there, either in DC or sorroundings? Are there any public bilingual schools? Do you need to live in a particular area to go to a particular public school? (can we enrol at a public school if we don't know yet where we are going to live?).
I deally we would like a school that do Kindergarten and at least 1st and 2nd Grade.
I heard that public shools can be very good and very bad, how can we discern (apart from asking in this forum)?
Any help appreciated.