English Public schools

@Sam19899

i am aswell, what did you guys end up doing? im thinking of billingual or public. however, my biggest fear is if they say no because she doesnt know basic hungarian. then she will have to stay home and thats illegal??? i cant afford international schools.. my husband moved here to study medicine and 20,000-30,000 a gear is not sustainable… we don’t have companies that are paying anything and we are not staying here on a short term assignment.. we’re staying here for 6 years..

The billingual school website says must know basic hungarian.. like ill get her a tutor and shes still young.. but what if they say no to enrollment then what?

@Nalhafez00

Hello and welcome !

Please note that this is an old thread. That member is no longer active on the forum. I would suggest that you open a new thread in the Hungary forum to seek advice from active members.

All the best

Bhavna

@Nalhafez00

Home schooling is possible in Hungary but I believe there will need to be yearly assessments by some authority, usually a school.

@fluffy2560

I went to a public Hungarian school in my neighborhood and they said no she cant attend because she doesn’t speak Hungarian and she is 10 years old.. i told them I’m here long term.. they suggested I go to international schools. i told them about my financial situation and the lady said sorry i have to go back to work now.

    @fluffy2560I went to a public Hungarian school in my neighborhood and they said no she cant attend because she doesn’t speak Hungarian and she is 10 years old.. i told them I’m here long term.. they suggested I go to international schools. i told them about my financial situation and the lady said sorry i have to go back to work now.         -@Nalhafez00

Not surprised.  They don't care about your financial situation.   They are only interested if you have money.   

I'm assuming you are in Budapest.

The cost could be more like 5M HUF a year (~4.5K EUR), not the amounts you are describing.  I got the amount from Great Grace International School - it's a Christian-biased school (if it makes any difference).  It's in district 2, not far from where I live.  You can get there on tram 56 (might be 61).   There's also the BIS (British International School).  That's about 7M HUF.  The International School of Budapest is about 5M HUF too.

If it's all too much, you'll have to home school her.   There's no other choice.  But I do recommend you get her some regular Hungarian lessons.  Maybe you can do the lessons together.  It's a lot cheaper to do that while paying for a Hungarian teacher.

In the 6 years you are here, you could do the home schooling and Hungarian lessons for 2 years, then maybe she'll have enough Hungarian to attend a public school.

We don't know everything about the education system here.  Our kids are bilingual Hungarian/English and we only have one lad left in senior school.  Two others are long out of UK university and one is just starting Hungarian university.

BTW, today, 2nd September, is the first day of school.  It's always the first day of September or next working day.

Yes, it is very expensive for a student to pay these school fees.

Might be too late for this year but you could enroll your child in some club or summer program where there are Hungarian children.

Meeting children outside the home would force her to lean quickly.Home schooling is a great idea but it is not going to help her learn Hungarian. She needs a couple of Hungarian friends to play with.

The good news is usually children learn a new language faster then older people learn.

My father was 7 when he came to the US and learned English in a mixed class of other immigrant children.

He learned quickly and did not even have a Polish accent.

    @Nalhafez00
Home schooling is possible in Hungary but I believe there will need to be yearly assessments by some authority, usually a school.
   

    -@fluffy2560

I wonder if the HU public school might let your girl attend a class with younger students until she can keep up with classes held in Hungarian?

Her self esteem might take a hit though.

Perhaps you can do as Mr Fluffy suggested, home school and find a place where you all can take HU lessons.

It may take a full school season or longer depending on how fast she catches on.

There may be a resource center where your husband is attending school to help with students with children? Maybe some would be willing to tutor children to supplement their incomes?

They should have online classes available as part of your home schooling.

40 years ago my HU husband had a crazed idea of sending our 8 year old son to Hungary to attend school. He would live with his grandparents and learn more then he could in the US.

In some ways it would of been a brilliant idea but it was still communist then in Hungary.

Sort of hard to justify sending our only child to a commie country to learn all by himself.

Then the idea of sending him to a private school in Germany crossed our minds, for a moment only.

I wonder why the uni your husband is going to did not tell you more info about children and the requirements of schooling here?

I know I had a American friend in Budapest for a brief time. She was about to leave HU with her family an done big reason was the cost of sending her 6 year old son to a private English speaking school in Budapest.

In the mean time before they left HU she had no choice but to pull him out of the American school because it was breaking up the family. Her husbands brothers were angry that the grandfather was shelling out money on the one grandchild who did not speak HU while he had other grandchildren who did and did not need any special school. The grandfather was paying for everything.Even their rent and food.

In the mean time she sent the boy to a Jewish school. She first had to prove they were Jewish but they did except him when the papers came from the US that proven he was Jewish.

He also did not speak Hebrew so that was yet again another issue.

If you are of any religious faith maybe they have a school here in Hungary that would be of a lower cost then the main stream private ones?

If you are getting a student loan for the uni, perhaps you can get a larger loan for a private school, at least for a semester?

Best wishes.

The trouble is International schools are effectively private schools, you could inquire if they are offr scholarships? I don't know if thats a thing iin Hungary?

I was privately eeducated in England and my school offered scholarships, sadly I never got one so my dear parents had to pay the full wack. £10,000 pa and that was back in 1985.

    The trouble is International schools are effectively private schools, you could inquire if they are offr scholarships? I don't know if thats a thing iin Hungary?I was privately educated in England and my school offered scholarships, sadly I never got one so my dear parents had to pay the full wack. £10,000 pa and that was back in 1985.         -@SimCityAT

I think the numbers quoted by the OP are completely out of whack for Hungary. 

Even £10K p.a. is pricey for day students.

Pricing is all public info - these schools have web sites and it's all there.   There are lots of BS extras like seat fees. It does add up but it's still nowhere near the OP prices quoted.

I do find it odd to turn up here and know nothing about basic facts of the in-country situation.

   
    The trouble is International schools are effectively private schools, you could inquire if they are offr scholarships? I don't know if thats a thing iin Hungary?I was privately educated in England and my school offered scholarships, sadly I never got one so my dear parents had to pay the full wack. £10,000 pa and that was back in 1985.         -@SimCityAT

I think the numbers quoted by the OP are completely out of whack for Hungary. 

Even £10K p.a. is pricey for day students.

Pricing is all public info - these schools have web sites and it's all there.   There are lots of BS extras like seat fees. It does add up but it's still nowhere near the OP prices quoted.

I do find it odd to turn up here and know nothing about basic facts of the in-country situation.
   

    -@fluffy2560 

I tend to agree? Who would come here not knowing what to expect?

My husband thinks out side the box.

He suggested finding out where all the refugee children go to school.

Of course you may need to know Ukrainian.

I tend to agree? Who would come here not knowing what to expect?
My husband thinks out side the box.
He suggested finding out where all the refugee children go to school.
Of course you may need to know Ukrainian.
   

    -@Marilyn Tassy

Wow, Ukrainian.  That's going to be difficult.  Maybe Russian too.  Plenty of Russian escapees too.  Not everyone there is a Putin lover.

The religious schools might be a way of doing it on the cheap but maybe comes with too much baggage or rules.

I went to a Church of England school.  It had the same standards as a regular school but also came with extra Bible work.

Bizarrely I was really good at RE (Relgious Education)  in school but it didn't turn me religious.  In fact it did the opposite. I did like the mythology of it just like I liked stories or Roman and Greek gods. 

    I tend to agree? Who would come here not knowing what to expect?My husband thinks out side the box.He suggested finding out where all the refugee children go to school.Of course you may need to know Ukrainian.        -@Marilyn Tassy

Wow, Ukrainian.  That's going to be difficult.  Maybe Russian too.  Plenty of Russian escapees too.  Not everyone there is a Putin lover.

The religious schools might be a way of doing it on the cheap but maybe comes with too much baggage or rules.

I went to a Church of England school.  It had the same standards as a regular school but also came with extra Bible work.

Bizarrely I was really good at RE (Relgious Education)  in school but it didn't turn me religious.  In fact it did the opposite. I did like the mythology of it just like I liked stories or Roman and Greek gods. 
   

    -@fluffy2560

I really was thinking after my husband mentioned it, where do all the refugee children go to school?

Perhaps they have a special format just for them and perhaps it is only for the Slavic speakers?

I know public Hungarian schools conduct their classes in the language of the land, Hungarian. They may or may not have a class in English but that is not required of them.

Know a American women who taught a class in English here in Hungary but she also had to learn some basic Hungarian. She was stationed out in the countryside and taught English here in grammer school level for 3 years in a row.

She is a native American, Indian women and not too chatty on her life.I believe she taught several classes in her work day for an hour each class.

We sent out son to a private school for 3 years. It was run by the Lutheran church. Sent him there because it was about half the price of any other private school. Still,could of made a nice car payment every month instead of paying for his schooling...

They were not too heavy on religion, once a week the children had to dress up as they did attend church programs once a week.

I had to take a quick course in their religion before they excepting him.

Best money at the time that we spent.He no longer got into verbal arguments with others and his grades were mostly all As. Small school perhaps only 40 students in all with 4 teachers.

The principle was a nice but stern man and he taught many of the classes himself and would not put up with anyone acting out.

I was sorry they do not have classes at the HS level, only grades 7 through 9.

I would highly recommend seeking out a religous school even if it is of another faith to your own.

We are not Lutheran in fact my husband is more of a Buddist. They give a good overall education and have rules that teach getting along with others. Plus they do not charge as much as other types of private schools, they also would influence your child, maybe not religiously but culturally.

Home schooling is the only way to keep outsiders from influences how your child acts.

If I could have a do over, I would of home schooled.