1. TRAVEL: We collect our students in our minibus from: St. Malo Ferry Terminal, Dinard Airport, Rennes Airport, and the railway station at either Dinan or Dol de Bretagne.
For full details on how to get to us, including links to ferry companies and airlines, please see our Travel Information page.
When you have made your arrangements, please complete the separate TRAVEL FORM and return it to us.
2. ACADEMIC: In Question 2 of the Students’ Questionnaire, please specify the examination (AS, A2, IB or Cambridge Pre-U) which you will be sitting after attending our course. We want to make sure that we allow for this in the tuition we give. All tuition materials will be provided, but if you wish to bring any of your own past work or materials, you are welcome to do so; for example your own grammar books and dictionaries, with which you are familiar, might be useful. Please bring a pad of A4 lined writing paper (as this is difficult to find in France) and please bring your own pens! Although our tuition does not set out to cover the literature syllabus (different boards set different books), we may be able to arrange impromptu seminars to discuss set books and set authors and our individual sessions may well include discussions of literature. We suggest you bring your set texts.
3. REPORTS: Our aim is to assist you and complement the work you have done at school, so we send copies of our academic reports to your regular French teachers so they can see how hard you have worked and how much you have learnt.
4. DIET: In the evenings we are likely to eat a range of foods including shellfish. Please let us know if you have any special dietary requirements or specific allergies which we should know about.
5. MEDICAL: Please remember to collect your EHIC Card from the NHS which will allow you to reclaim any medical expenses which you might incur while you are in France. General travel insurance, which we recommend you take, sometimes provides additional medical cover. Please let us know if there are any specific ailments from which you suffer (e.g.s asthma, epilepsy, diabetes) or if you are receiving any special medication for any physical or psychiatric condition – this information will obviously be treated as totally confidential.
6. SAVOIR-VIVRE: We aim to create a good social and academic atmosphere but Le Grand Osier is not school, it is our home. We treat our students as young adults – rather than as old children – so we expect them to behave in a civilised, considerate and mature manner. You will be expected to keep your rooms tidy and to help with the washing-up and daily chores.
7. ALCOHOL: We offer beer or cider with lunch and wine with the evening meal. We do not allow students to bring any alcoholic drinks into Le Grand Osier for their private consumption!
8. DRUG ABUSE and possession of both soft and hard drugs are illegal in France and not permitted at Le Grand Osier. Failure to comply with this will result in your immediate departure from Le Grand Osier without refund of your course fees.
9. FRENCH CONVERSATION RULE – While you are at Le Grand Osier you will be expected to talk to us, our children, any guests we may have and your fellow students exclusively in French.
10. TELEPHONEand COMPUTERS: It will be far more difficult for you to immerse yourself in an exclusively French-speaking environment if you regularly spend your free time texting or chatting to friends and family in English, or watching films in English. You will therefore be expected to leave your mobile phone in your bedroom during lessons, times spent together as a group (eg breaks and excursions) and at mealtimes. Laptops and tablets may only be brought and used by special arrangement prior to the course.
11. CLOTHING: Le Grand Osier is situated in the country. Please bring appropriate clothing for both town and country. Please bring a pair of slippers or indoor shoes with you.
12. POCKET MONEY: You will probably get a better rate of exchange from a bank in England than from the Bureau de Change on the ferry or at the airport. Everything you need will be provided so we do not advise you to bring large sums of money.