Paris gets set to welcome more students
Brexit is on the way and London-based companies are preparing to relocate their employees to other European cities, including Paris. How do schools anticipate this influx and what measures are being implemented? Martina Meinhold, founder and managing director of Management Mobility Consulting offers some advice.
8 October 2018
– the must read for HR, global managers and relocation professionals.
School: the primary concern of expatriate employees
Before agreeing to work in another country, families are mainly concerned about their children's schooling. Thus, offering a job in a city with an international or bilingual school is essential for the employer.This is the case for Paris, first French city in terms of school supply: international schools, bilingual schools, Montessori schools, French schools with an international section - there are options for all needs, and at prices fitting the budget of each family. In the context of Brexit, the French capital also stands out from other European cities by its higher school capacity.
Parisian schools, ready to welcome new students
For the past few months, schools in Paris have been in the starting blocks to accommodate a growing flow of students. Existing schools are planning to open new classes or build additional sites.Here are some concrete examples of transformations carried out by Parisian schools:- Active bilingual Jeannine Manuel school is able to accommodate 350 new students per year
- The International School of Paris has grown from 700 to 900 students per year
- The Open-Sky Bilingual School is setting up the opening of several additional classes over a period of three years
- Suger School now offers a bilingual primary school.
Related articles from the Autumn issue of Relocate magazine
- Student wellbeing moves to the top of the agenda
- Decoding the 2018 school exam results
- Bilingual education – a competitive advantage
And the EIB school is growing rapidly: "Over the past two years, we have clearly noticed two rising trends in our schools regarding the demand for education in Paris," says Jean-Xavier Moreau, EIB Director General, a pioneer in term of bilingual education in France, with over sixty years of experience and six schools in Paris. "First, there is a growing demand from expatriates for our International Baccalaureate curriculum at the EIB Victor Hugo School, with a 10% boom of enrolments. Secondly, there is a growing interest in a new 50-50 active education, combining both French academic excellence and the Anglo-Saxon state of mind, oriented towards the well-being of students.”
Bilingual schools: a popular demand
Regardless of the Brexit effect, bilingual institutions are likely to be more popular in the years to come."The demand for 50-50 curricula, making the most of both French and Anglo-Saxon educations, is also very strong among the new generations of French parents" explains Jean-Xavier Moreau. "That's why we launched a new kind of school next to Paris last year. This brand new bicultural primary school follows the official curricula of the French Ministry of Education, with the same ratio of French and English-speaking classes, taught by native speakers in each language. Our goal is to offer the students the opportunity to pursue their studies either in the French or in the English-speaking education system.” After a year, the school educates over a hundred students of more than twenty different nationalities, with a mix of French and foreign families and plan to open junior high grades next September.In conclusion, these new options in bilingual and international education represent a great opportunity for Paris, only a few hours from London. International mobility has become a major challenge with the objective of integrating employees and their families into their new country.Do not hesitate to contact Management Mobility Consulting for any help you might need in finding a school or in relocating in France.This article appeared in the autumn 2018 issue of Relocate magazine.For related news and features, visit our education or International Assignments sections.Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.
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