Back to school advice in Belgium
- Marta
- Aug 29, 2022
- 5 min read
The first day of school is always difficult, no matter your child’s age. But if you are starting school for the first time in another country, with a different educational system than what you are used to, then it will be even more challenging.
The following article will give you some insights on what to expect and what to have on hand on the first day of school, in the French speaking community, no matter if you start nursery, primary or secondary school.
School supplies list
The end of August is a very stressful period, filled with preparations for school, because on September 1st, and this year, in 2022, on August 29th, the school starts and all parents need to buy the necessary school supplies for their children. Find out more about the Belgian school here.
Some schools give the list of necessary supplies before the school starts, or when the child is enrolled / accepted to the school. Other schools give the list on the first day of school.
The students will also receive now the documents containing the organization of the classes and the rules and regulations of the school, which have to be read and signed by the parents.
General organization
In the first day of school or the week preceding it, your child will find out who his / her colleagues are for the year.
In Belgium it is a well known practice to mix the students in classes every year, to promote social skills and to discourage bullying. Nursery and primary school classes also have a different teacher every year. Secondary school has a different teacher for each class, because the subjects taught are more specialized.
For us, coming from Romania, this was a totally different practice. In Romania the students who are enrolled in the first grade in a class will usually have the same colleagues and teacher for all 4 years, until they go to middle school. In middle school the students assigned to a class in 5th primary will remain the same until they graduate 8th primary and go to high school. And the same goes for the 4 years of high school.
Usually in the first week, the school will organize the parents - teacher meetings when the teacher will give all the necessary information about what the kids will learn, the personal teaching plan and objectives, what the children need for everyday activities, and so on.
Every student will receive in the first day of school a class journal where they will write every day the lessons learned and the homework to be done. Also, the journal is used for any communication parent-teacher. This is the preferred method of communication because the teachers will surely check the class journal every day but not necessarily their emails. Some teachers exclude the possibility to contact them by email.
Swimming and gym classes supplies
In the first week, the children will receive the schedule and school abonnement for the mandatory swimming lessons that all students must take every year.
Every student starting from 1st primary must go to swimming lessons that are given at an indoor pool, with specialized teachers. The transport is usually done by coach from the school to the pool and back and the price is included in the first invoice sent by the school (usually October).
The things needed for swimming lessons are the same for all classes and schools: swimming goggles, briefs and swimming helmet. Also the gym classes have their own special outfit. The colors depend from school to school, but mainly, the children should have a t-shirt, short and a pair of white sandals, specific for indoor sports classes.
Some schools will provide the parents with their own brands of clothing. This is a good thing especially with swimming lessons. The swimming helmet for each school must have a different color because at one pool there may be different classes of different schools at one time, and this way the children are easier to spot in the pool, from the crowd, and are not risking to be left behind.
Primary school supplies list
In primary school every teacher is free to choose their own teaching method and they have different teaching materials to use in their class.
Usually most of the notebooks and textbooks are bought by the school and their price is included in the invoice for the first quarter which is totally different compared to Romania, where every parent must buy the notebooks and textbooks themselves.
Each teacher organizes their subject as they see fit and will ask the students what materials they think are necessary for the proper organization of the lessons.
Here it is very common practice for the teacher to print on A4 sheets certain lessons that the student must deepen, lessons specially structured to be learned more easily by the student, depending on the teaching method of the teacher.
Thus, in the first week, students may receive these printed and stapled 'notebooks' from school, that parents must laminate (only the covers) to last the whole year without breaking. If you have never done this, you will see that it takes some skill, but after a few laminated notebooks you will become an expert.
The special transparent lamination paper can be found everywhere in stationery stores, online and even supermarkets.
You can also find it on Amazon Belgium here:
Starting 3rd primary the children must learn to use the explanatory dictionary of the French language (Le Robert Junior) and they have mandatory Dutch lessons to learn to speak fluently in Flemish (neerlandaise). They will also start using the Flemish - French dictionary (Le Robert & Van Dale Poche) before going to secondary school.
Secondary school supplies list
For secondary school (middle school & high school) at the end of the year or at registration, the school provides a document with a list of textbooks and supplies needed for the following year, with the possibility to buy them online from a partner site (colis-scholaire-frederix.be, servicemanuelsscolaires.be, les-papeteries.be, etc.) and to be delivered directly to the school, to be received on the first day of school. Of course there is also the possibility to buy everything on your own, at the same price, from the bookstores.
A very different thing compared to Romania is that instead of the notebooks we use in Romania to write the lessons, here, students use A4 binders, where they store sheets printed by teachers with homework and exercises done in class, tests and handouts.
Every teacher from every subject will have their own method and requests to organize the specific materials necessary for that subject, but they generally all use some sort of binders, separators for binders, plastic sleeves and A4 perforated notebooks with simple lines or squared paper to rip out pages easily and to add in the binders.
We prepared a free printable list of school supplies that can help you find quickly everything your child needs for the first day of school, because it can get very confusing very fast.
Download now the free List of School Supplies which are necessary for every student no matter if they start nursery, primary or secondary.
We prefer to buy all the children's supplies from Amazon because it is much faster, the price is the same as in the stores, or even lower, we already have a list created with everything we need, we just have to add them to the basket and we receive them at home without much effort or additional costs.
You should know that teachers will ask the parents to label every object and every piece of clothing with the name of the child.
We use a very slick and high quality sticker system from C’mon etiquette, France which is very affordable and delivered in 2-3 days max in Belgium. Check it out below:
Tips & Tricks for a stress free first day of school
If you didn’t receive the list of school supplies before the beginning of the year you should contact the school and ask for it, they will probably email it to you.
Choose a waterproof backpack because the weather in Belgium is very unpredictable and it can start raining at any time. This way the school supplies, notebooks and books will be protected and you will avoid a lot of problems.
For simplicity you could create an Amazon list with the necessary school supplies and just add them in the basket to order when you need to buy something. This trick can save you so much time and money, because you could also buy them when they are on sale.
Always try to buy the swimming cap provided by the school to be sure that your child will always be seen by the teachers and will not be left behind. Every swimming teacher is responsible for his/her own class.
Label all your child's belongings, including the shoes, to be sure that they will not be lost or misplaced too easily.
Help your child make his own backpack with the necessary school supplies, the day before the first day of school, and finish the day with a calming evening tea and a nice story about how wonderful the next day will be, so that the child will be emotionally, mentally and physically prepared for the next day.
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