Ecole Jacques Prevert reviews

[Mega75]

Thinking of a French primary school in London for your child? We thought it might be helpful to share our experiences.

Our three children have been going to the Ecole Francaise Jacques Prevert , the older two have successfully moved on to the French Lycee in London Kensington and our youngest one is still at Jacques Prevert.

We believe that Jacques Prevert is a little gem in the London market of international independent schools! It was rated "Outstanding" by Ofsted in 2011 and 2018, in all categories. It's a relatively small school with only 2 classes per year group, and about 20-24 pupils per class, which provides a caring friendly environment, in which children flourish.

It's a French school located in Central / West London (postcode W6 7BE), in a lovely residential area. They teach the French curriculum, but a large proportion of pupils there are bi-national, with many different international backgrounds. The school has recently overhauled its English department and the English curriculum, which is taught on top of the French one, is ambitious, with some pupils successfully applying to leading 11+ independent schools when they leave Jacques Prevert.

The school's fees are the very competitive compared to most independent international schools in London, at c. £2000/term - really good value for money for parents interested in an international education for their children, I think?

Finally, parents are very involved at the school and run pro-bono a very large choice of extra-curricular activities, from judo, handball, rugby, football to Zumba, chess, computing, cooking etc.

[mika7612]

Thank you for the honest review. I’ve just submitted enrolment for my son. Hopefully we get a spot. How about extra curricular acitivities for the children? and is it half day wednesday like the french system?

[Mega75]

Good luck @mila7612, I hope you get a spot, it's a wonderful little school. Which year group did you apply for?
Yes - on Wednesday, they only half-a-day and finish at 1pm but there are lots of optional after-school clubs available in the afternoon.

There is a wealth of extra-curricular activities available: it depends on the year group, but during school times, they do circus activities, rock-climbing, art projects, photography projects, ice-skating in the winter, theatre outings, museum outings, some of the older year groups are going to the Holland Park opera this year etc.

There is also a "Morning Club" and "Etudes Dirigees", run by the school, before and after the standard school hours.

Finally, there are about 20 after-school clubs available, run at cost by volunteer parents, anything from chess, judo, karate, zumba, football, handball, choir, cooking, ballet etc.

Any other questions, pls ask! Good luck

[mika7612]

I applied for CP. we are currently in Paris and moving this summer. Here we have to travel quite a bit for his extra curricular activities and the timing is a bit off. 5-6 pm. But if i can get the activities within the school
will be great. About the canteen only
wednesday we need to provide them
with meals right? I hope
to get a place; or i have to also try to apply
lycee charles de gaulle in june.
Thank you for you help!

[Hanna27]

Hi everyone,
I just added my 4 years old to their waiting list for next year, it seems a wonderful school! I am just not sure because we are Italian and she has just become confident in English... do you think she would struggle with French? She does not speak it at all. I am also worried that if there are mainly francophone children they will probably tend to speak French and not English between them and she might feel an outsider. Are there just francophone children or even children that do not speak French? I think the French education is one of the best in the world but I don't want to put her in a difficult position

[Hanna27]

@Mega75 @mika7612
I am sorry I am new here, not sure where I need to tag you to allow you to view my post.
Thank you anyway for this review and comments, very helpful!

[Mega75]

Hello, quite a few of the Maternelles Moyenne Section (which is the first ‘entry level’ at 4 years old) don’t speak French. As long as your child speaks English, she should be fine and find some other kids with whom she can communicate in English at the beginning. Best wishes

[Hanna27]

She does, she should be fine then. Thank you very much for your help!