Preschool | Nursery, Pre K, K

Our Preschool Program combines bilingual teaching, child development and project based learning in an age-appropriate, pluricultural, creative, and family-inclusive atmosphere.

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Bilingual, and Pluricultural, from Nursery School

The Lycée bilingual Threes Program in Nursery is open to children at any level of French. Getting an early start at the Lycée brings tremendous benefits for young minds, with an extra year of exposure to bilingual learning and culture in a playful, caring and creative environment.

Veronica McGivney Park, Director of the Preschool

We know that early immersion is the most effective way to help students attain comfort and mastery in language and culture. Children in early immersion programs build language and cognitive skills. Children who start early in our program reap more benefits of being bilingual.

With the addition of Pre-K and Kindergarten, our bilingual preschool provides children with the complete Cycle 1 of the French preschool system, a foundation for learning and thriving in their years ahead at the Lycée and beyond. Our programs balance play and structured activities, using real-world projects to engage children in the community around them. A focus on expression, language and communication in French and in English helps students to develop self-awareness and social skills.

Every classroom in our safe and secure building, which includes a rooftop playground, is staffed by two childhood-development experts: one native-English speaking and one native-French speaking. Children spend 50% of their time in preschool in French and 50% of their time in English and move seamlessly and authentically between these two core languages throughout the school day.

Vannina Boussouf, Assistant Head of School, Director of Primary (Preschool-Elementary)

A fundamental aspect of the preschool program is Social Emotional Learning, helping students to understand themselves, their emotions and those of the people around them. Being able to acknowledge and accept their feelings helps children to learn better, to be creative and be happy.

Arts, music, movement, library-time, and physical education all take on a bilingual dimension, with activities in both French and in English integrated into every school day.

Parents and guardians will not just hear from their sons and daughters about how much fun they had and what they learned, but are invited to be active participants -- through parent time every morning to a range of special events, picnics, theme parties, and book-reading activities.

Immersive Language Acquisition

Students (and families!) do not have to speak French or English to be part the Lycée's 3s, pre-K and Kindergarten programs, as young minds pick up a second and even third language quite naturally. Preschool classes at the Lycée offer differentiated instruction, and students without formal French in their background are fully integrated into class with French-speaking students to help speed language-acquisition and socialization.

Our teachers are aware that in their first years of learning a new language, children will not understand everything they hear. They use body language, visual cues, manipulatives, exaggerated facial expressions, and expressive intonation to communicate meaning.

As the year progresses, children naturally use more of the French language. To draw them into using the language, teachers often use songs, useful phrases, rhymes and group collaboration with students. They also carefully structure the day with familiar routines.

To further strengthen the French, after-school care and activities are offered in French. In addition, the Lycée's Summer Camp is a full-immersion French-language camp for children 4 years+. Families find our camp to be an excellent way to introduce children to French and to the Lycée itself!

Celebrating and embracing diversity

Emotional development is a foundation of our work in diversity at the Lycée. We also celebrate and embrace the diversity of backgrounds and experiences in our pluricultural school community. As just one example of our approach, every year during our Day of Understanding at the winter holiday season, we engage the children in a dialogue centered on themes of diversity. Our students are able to share their family’s religious and cultural traditions through the prism of enlightenment, warmth, and joy.