Ecole Francaise Jacques Prevert/French lycee review?

[JoyceJiang]

Anybody knows whether there are kids from non-French speaking families in this school? We visited the school and quite like it. Our daughter is currently in an English/French bilingual nursery. As we don't speak French, her main language is English. She knows quite a few French words and understand basic French instructions. However, she does not communicate in French often. Anybody knows the experiences of kids from non-french speaking families in Ecole Francaise Jacques Prevert or French lycee primary schools? Thanks.

Did you decide to go to Jacques Prevert? We got a place for nursery in September 2025. Our son is currently doing a half day in a different bilingual nursery and just looking to hear others experiences

I went to a French school without having spoken it at home and it was tough. The French are generally not understanding or accomodating of those with French as an additional language unfortunately (this is to put it mildly). I personally wouldn't recommend it.

It works if you put effort into supporting your dc. Many parents have this false idea that they send their kids to a school in a different language or bilingual school and they will magically become fluent and master the language. But in reality those kids struggle (that dont have support at home). It is possible to get support via French au pairs, hiring French speakers to help with homework and speaking/playing with your dc in French (while making sure your dc only speak French with them).

From personal experience I found the opposite. I became bilingual quickly (within a few months). I did however find that the French attitude towards the English was horrific: constant bullying at school from staff and teachers. Picking on my accent, telling me that I (and all English) are stupid. This is what I mean by the French not being accommodating.

Was the French school in a French speaking country? That makes all the difference. It is different if you are in a French Bilingual school in an English speaking country, where all the children/staff understand and speak English. The reason is because there is no need to speak the language, so many children get away with speaking English and being understood. When you are in an environment the only way to be understood is speaking the language, you quickly learn. If the school is a entirely French school in an English speaking country, again that is more likely to become fluent because you are spending all your time learning in French and not switching back and fourth to French/English. I have children in a bilingual school, where it is taught 50/50 and they are all fluent, but I have made sure to put effort in outside of school. The ones that have not, the children do not speak as fluently or more then just the basics. But of course they understand all French, but they have been allowed to respond in English too often.

It was in England. Still, it wasn't bilingual, it was French only. We learnt quickly. That doesn't change the attitude: I wouldn't put my child through that.

Yes, I have heard some not great things about the attitude. But, we have been lucky mostly. Our first experience when my eldest joined the school was not great. But that was the only teacher, and she moved to the fully French side thankfully, so we did not experience her again. And many of the children are mixed nationalities, so that probably helps.

I went to the South Kensington Lycee in the 1970s. I started age 4. I spoke no French beforehand, and we spoke little French at home (neither of my parents are French, dm did A level). The teachers didn't speak a lot of English to me and the handful of other non-francophone kids (maybe 5 of us in a class of 25 ish), but by Christmas I could get by, and I was fluent by the end of the year, albeit with the vocab of a 5 year old. I was there until the end of 7eme and left to do my secondary ed in English. More than 40 years later I can still speak French at the drop of a hat.

I don't know if French teaching styles are the archaic Teacher Dominated Learning, and hours of conjugating verbs of the 1970s, but I hated it. I did my last 4 terms of primary I a local state primary to get me in line with my birth cohort, and the English school was so lovely in comparison, although the Lycee did have the massive advantage of being across the road from the Natural History Museum.

Did you do anything to make sure you did not forget the French? That is my worry for my dc....keeping up the French when they finish the school and enter a British secondary.