35 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DG
Age: 3-18
Fees (£8,000 – £10,000, depending on programme chosen)
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres (lyceefrancais.org.uk)
Extremely well-known internationally and thought of as the ‘pearl’ of AEFE’s (the Agency for Teaching of French Education Abroad) overseas schools, the Lycee is situated in South Kensington on a large campus that houses almost three and a half thousand pupils. The primary school section offers a French programme, with reinforced teaching of English of 3 or 4 hours per week, depending on the class level of the student. Class sizes are much larger than in British fee-paying prep schools of around 30 pupils and there is less of a focus on the extracurricular. As in France, there is a big emphasis on handwriting and grammar in these early years of schooling and a strong emphasis on discipline, with children expected to become resilient in their learning.
The secondary school is made up of three sections; the Plurilingual Section, the International Section and the British Section. The International Section has a much stronger focus on the English language and culture, than the Plurilingual Section, and is intended for students with a very good level of English. It is also thought to be more stretching than the plurilingual programme. At 16, pupils sit the Brevet, the French version of GCSEs, and two thirds usually achieve the top mark. Then at sixth form students study for the French Baccalaureate and the International Baccalaureate. The British section is made up of 220 pupils who study for GCSE’s and A Levels with lessons taught in English. French, as to be expected, forms a compulsory part of the curriculum. Post exams students tend to go to either Russell Group universities or French universities (around a third). A few go to Oxbridge, universities in the US or Europe.
Fees in the Lycee are subsidised by the French government and therefore a lot more affordable than British public schools from approx. £8,000 in the primary schools to £17,000 in the senior schools, depending on programme chosen.
Attached to the Lycee are the three primary schools Marie d’Orliac, Ecole de Wix and Ecole d’Andre Malraux. Attendance guarantees priority for a senior school place at the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle. Fees remain the same as the South Kensington branch, however there is also the option of applying through the local authority borough and obtaining a non-fee-paying place, which is like winning the Southwest London schooling jackpot. While they are all housed in spacious buildings, expect the feel to be a lot more like a very well run state school than a London prep school.
