52-52 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HP
Fees: £23,970 per year
Age: 3-18
This is a relatively new bilingual school and takes children from 3-18 years. The school is the sister school to its namesake, a Parisian institution which is the top ranked secondary school in France, the L’ecole Jeannine Manuel in Paris. L’ecole Jeannine Manuel opened in September 2017 and offers a choice of the international French Baccalaureate and the IB. It is different from other French and international schools as they use the French curriculum in French and Maths and then the best of all systems for the remaining subjects. It is based in three town houses on Bedford Square, a short walk from Russell Square and British Museum.
Parents who choose Jeannine Manuel, tend to do so for the superior language skills that the children develop. Not only do pupils come out bilingual but they will have an excellent grasp of at least one other language, as well. Year 4 pupils learn Mandarin which they can then change for Latin in Year 7. In Year 8 they select a further language, which is either Spanish or German. While, unsurprisingly, the school is excellent at offering additional language support, they do not have a specialist SEN department but say they can make provisions for neurodiverse children. Nevertheless, this may not be the best school for a dyslexic child anyway with the multiple language learning. This is also not a school packed to the brim with extracurricular activities, neither does it have the impressive facilities that you would see at some of the top offerings in the English system. With an already packed timetable of language lessons, the head says there just isn’t time. However, that is not to say that the school doesn’t offer some lunch time and after school clubs, and music, art, drama and sport are part of the weekly timetable, with nearby facilities used such as Coram’s Fields and local gyms.
Teaching wise, the primary section of the school adheres to the French national curriculum but with an English language and literature programme. Children switch from French to English everyday up to year 4/CE2, and from then on, daily. In the secondary section, the teaching is bilingual for everyone except those on the international track. Classes are small, an average of around 17 pupils at the primary level.
Admissions is down to whether the family will be a good fit and non-French speakers are welcome at any point, up until Year 7. A few leave in each year group, every year, due to the international nature of the student body, and there is more movement at the end of Year 11 when some pupils select different sixth forms. Of the 25 or so that stay, approx. 50 percent go on to Russell Group universities, and some carry on higher education in France, Canada and the US. In 2024, students achieved an excellent IB score of 39.3.
One final note, as there is no subsidisation from the French government so fees are much higher here (£23,970 per year in 2024, pre VAT) than in other French schools in London.
