Lycée Français d’Irlande

The LFI offers a unique education. From primary school on, the pupils are immersed in a multicultural and bilingual environment. Innovative and creative teaching programmes allow the children to be educated in favourable learning conditions.

LFI follows the teaching programmes of the French Department for National Education, while taking into account the local environment and the pupils themselves. Mastery of the French language, the teaching language, and its expansion are at the heart of the syllabus. Workshops for small groups in the primary school and junior cycle allow the pupils for whom it is not their mother tongue to make rapid progress. In the same way, the modern languages policy emphasises English, the language of our host country. Every pupil from the youngest up follows an individual progression.

In 5e (First Year), the pupils join the Eurocampus, run jointly with our partner St. Kilian’s.  French, German, Irish and other pupils take classes together. At the end of 3e (Third Year), the children sit two exams, the French Diplôme National de Brevet (DNB) and the Irish Junior Certificate. In this way LFI as a school develops European citizenship every day and offers its pupils a real road to success.

In the classes of senior cycle, the pupils can continue an international programme with the European Section or the International Section (Option Internationale du Baccalauréat, OIB section américaine).

“La petite école française”, The Little French School, first opened it doors in 1967 under the auspices of the then French Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency M. Roger Robert du Gardier.  The school was located in Clarinda Park, Dun Laoghaire in one of the premises, at the time, of the Alliance Française.

In 1970 the school officially became L’Ecole Franco Irlandaise, the French Irish School. 1971 saw the primary school move to Foxrock.

By 1986 the school had a total of 110 pupils on its roll. These five classes were housed in prefabs in the grounds of St Patrick’s Girls National School, Hollypark.

The secondary school remained in Dun Laoghaire under the direction of the then headmaster, Mr Bertrand Cocq, and Michelle Maillet, who recalls: “It was strange but pleasant to work in rooms with high ceilings, a fireplace and without the usual noise made by pupils playing the yard; we didn’t have one!  At break time, pupils and teachers gathered in the kitchen at basement level.”

In 1987 the foundations were laid for the new building in Foxrock and the secondary pupils left Dun Laoghaire for Foxrock for the start of a new chapter in the life of the school.

As the years passed, our numbers grew and by 1998 more space was needed. We had a total of 210 students in four kindergarten classes, five primary classes and four secondary classes.

Back to prefabs for the pupils while a new extension to the Foxrock campus was begun. HE Henri Benoît de Coignac laid the key stone and we saw the first pupils through the new doors in September 1999. That same year, the Ecole Franco Irlandaise became Lycée Français d’Irlande – but the story doesn’t stop there.  With growing pupil numbers, space was still a problem.

September 2002 saw the classes of 3eme, 2nde, 1ere and Terminale move to the St Kilian’s Deutsche Schule campus in Clonskeagh and prefabs featured once again in the life of the school. This was also the year that the school was officially recognised as an exam centre for the Baccalaureate. The 6eme, 5eme and 4eme pupils stayed in Foxrock until their move to Clonskeagh in September 2003.

The pages turned and a new chapter began in September 2005 – the integration of the collège pupils with the junior cycle of the German School. Our pupils began a programme in which 50% of their classes were in English with their German counterparts. Our goal was realised in June 2008 when the 3eme students for the first time sat the Junior Certificate exam  as well their Brevet. It is said that the only constant in life is change and in this instance, change for the better.

The integration programme saw the creation of the Eurocampus – a joint venture with St Kilian’s German School. The Eurocampus building was opened on the site of St. Kilian’s in October 2008.

The Eurocampus is a unique educational opportunity for our children as well as an opportunity to develop intercultural relations, mixing with children of many nationalities and cultural backgrounds.

The Lycée Français d’Irlande is a European school. Our bilingual educational project from infant classes to senior cycle now attracts pupils of numerous nationalities.

The school’s educational project promotes exchanges with our Irish and German partners.

Our school offers French and Irish children, as well as those from numerous other countries, a curriculum facilitating access to further education in France and in Ireland, but also elsewhere in Europe for those who wish.