There are plenty of international schools in Paris — 48 English-language institutions alone, teaching 27,300 pupils, according to the International School Consultancy. They are popular with both expats and French families who want their children to have the advantage of a second language.
However, standards vary considerably, warns the Good Schools Guide International. The usual maxim applies: parents, do your homework. Signs of a good school, according to the guide, include fee-paying agreements with large multinational companies (such as discounted fees), strong governance (look for published meeting minutes) and inspection reports from a credible independent body.
International baccalaureate
Learn The International School of Paris is unusual in offering pupils the chance to follow the international baccalaureate curriculum for their entire school career, starting with the primary curriculum in nursery and culminating with the IB diploma. In 2017, 95 per cent of final-year students achieved their diploma, compared with around 80 per cent worldwide. The English-medium school has about 700 students, speaking 60 native tongues, and is centrally located in the city’s 16th arrondissement.
Pay* €31,600
Live A five-bedroom house with a swimming pool and parking for four cars is within walking distance of the primary school and three metro stops from the senior school.
Available through Knight Frank, €9.5m
American
Learn The Lycée International American Section is not your plain-vanilla US pick. But, while you get your head round the curriculum, know that this bilingual and bicultural school gets good results. The American Section is one of 14 parts of the Lycée International, located in the western suburb of St Germain-en-Laye. Its 700 students, aged three to 18, follow the French national curriculum and take some US-rooted classes. Final-year students gain an international version of the French baccalaureate — the pass rate here is 100 per cent — and can also take US advanced placement qualifications.
Pay €10,660
Live A 10-minute drive from the school is an eight-bedroom, 19th-century house with a separate guest cottage.
Available through Coldwell Banker Paris West Residential, €3.35m
British (national curriculum of England)
Learn The British School of Paris is located in a suburb about 17km west of central Paris and claims to be “the oldest and largest school in France which is based on the English national curriculum”; the GSGI finds it “outstanding”, if expensive. Established in 1954, the coeducational school has 780 pupils, aged three to 18, from more than 50 countries. Last year, 80 per cent of leavers went to their first-choice university, and achieved A*-C grades in 84.5 per cent of their A2 A-level papers.
Pay €28,796
Live A detached house in Croissy sur Seine has four bedrooms and 2,300 sq m of living space.
Available through Barnes International, €1.464m
Something different Sudbury School Paris is a French-English bilingual school with no timetables or curriculum. Instead, pupils “decide for themselves how to organise their own time”. Prospective students, aged three to 19, can apply throughout the year. Annual tuition peaks at €6,500.
*Fees typically increase as the child moves up the school. The figure given is the average annual cost of tuition for final year students, and does not include additional payments such as registration fees.
Photographs: Sergey Borisov/Alamy; Dreamstime
