Lycee Francais de New York

From its founding in 1935 to the opening of our York Wing extension in 2015 and the beyond, the Lycee Francais de New York has always embraced excellence, innovation and openness with our students, our raison d'etre. Their learning, growth and fulfillment are at the center of everything we do as an educational community.

Committed to bilingual French and American education of the highest standard, our mission is to prepare students of many origins to be thinkers, innovators and leaders, at home in the world. We inspire and encourage each student to excel and seek academic and personal challenge, to discover interests and fulfill talents, to embrace diversity and build community, to uphold integrity and contribute to making a difference.

The Lycee Francais de New York is steadfast in its purpose: to prepare our students today to be the thinkers, innovators and leaders of tomorrow. Our school has always drawn on the strength of our French and American underpinnings to create a unique bilingual, pluricultural learning experience here in New York City. We are forging ahead in providing the most relevant and inspiring education for our students in an interconnected, changing world. Following a process of rigorous self-assessment, we are proud to present a shared vision for the Lycee Francais which sustains excellence and enables our students to fulfill their potential throughout their lives.

Our community of parents, faculty, staff, students and Trustees developed this plan together, building on our school’s core educational mission and objectives. This strategy affirms a path on which the Lycee Francais de New York has already embarked and which identifies what we need to do to remain the best school we can in the years to come.

Learning a language is a most rewarding intellectual adventure for young minds. Becoming truly bilingual, especially in our culturally immersive environment, opens students up to other cultures in a genuine way. They gain a deeper understanding of the values, beliefs and customs of other cultures and an ability to move seamlessly between them. We cannot think of a more valuable preparation for life in our globally connected century.

At the Lycee Francais de New York, bilingualism is an inherent part of everyday life for our students. They gain full native fluency in both language and culture, as they move fluidly between our two core languages and cultures in an international environment each day. In the classroom, on the playground, in the field and on the stage, they engage with native-French and native-English speaking teachers, coaches, leaders and staff, and each other. All of our students are (or become!) bilingual in English and French, and a full 30% speak at least three languages or more. This deep exposure to language and culture offers extraordinary, research-based benefits for students throughout their lives.

We like to say that Lycee students are at home in the world, and that starts with the warm, vibrant international community that surrounds them every day, from their classmates, teachers and staff to our families. Our inclusive learning community is one we work so hard to nurture for the benefit of our students, who are truly our raison d’etre.

Our curriculum combines aspects of our two core academic traditions of France and the United States to create a stimulating bilingual learning environment that focuses on student learning, development and well-being and unleashes the creative potential of every student. Innovation in project-based learning, STEAM, language learning, the arts and cultural instruction are designed to enhance and deepen our rigorous curriculum. At the Secondary level (grades 6-12), intense preparation for the French Baccalaureate joins both in-class and extracurricular intellectual explorations to prepare students for our complex 21st-century world.

The Lycee attracts education leaders from across the globe, with an emphasis on French-educated teachers, language instructors from their home countries, and open-minded U.S. instructors looking to challenge students — and themselves — in our unique cross-cultural setting.

Our instructors get to know our students as inquisitive and developing young children and adults. Activities like our dialogue hours in the Secondary School, akin to office hours at the college level, means that doors are always open to keep the spirited conversation going.

While we don’t know what the future holds, we do know that adept, adaptable individuals with a facility in technology will succeed in it. Our program integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) across curriculums and at all grade levels.

The Lycee is committed to smartly enmeshing STEAM with dedicated personnel in our Makerspace and Media Lab, and through the activities of our science program and Cultural Center. Our students can count on professionals to help them pursue their passions and foster creativity and collaboration.