Saint-Denis International School

St Denis, established in 1858, is a private school with a Catholic ethos, under contract to the French State, situated in the town of Loches approximately half an hour south of Tours in the UNESCO recognized Loire Valley. The school is well placed for accessing Tours Val de Loire airport, which has direct flights to a numerous destinations across Europe including London Stansted.

We follow the French National Program leading to the French Baccalaureate for students in both General and Technical streams. Native and fluent English speaking students can join our International Section (O.I.B). The O.I.B. involves studying English Literature in depth and taking History-Geography entirely in English and accounts for 25% of the final Baccalaureate result.

St Denis also has an extensive European Section for intermediate English level learners who study part of the History-Geography curriculum in English, and the remainder in French. As a longstanding TOEIC, TOEFL and Cambridge Assessment International Education Centre we also offer a range of English language qualifications to our students to give them the best possible start possible after school.

St Denis benefits from a wide cultural mix of both students and staff since we actively recruit from around the world. Students are attracted by our established and officially approved (Label FLE) French as a foreign language teaching department which allows them to integrate smoothly into French school life.

Academic excellence is as important as developing personnel skills. We strongly encourage our students to become autonomous learners and to participate in school life through giving them positions of responsibility in a variety of extra-curricular pursuits such as in our Board of St Denis Students, as one of our Student Captains, organizing our annual International Festival of Arts and Science, participating in regular exchange trips and attending Model European Parliament sessions around the continent.

Following in the steps of the Catholic tradition, Saint Denis strives to be a caring community that educates the whole individual whilst preparing students for life beyond school. Our staff seek to complement the irreplaceable primary role of parents in education by encouraging our students to become autonomous learners.

Saint Denis is situated in the Loire Valley, a UNESCO worldwide heritage site, full of history and famous castles visited by people from around the world. Pupils benefit from a calm and safe living environment in the medieval town of Loches, which possesses a variety of restaurants, shops, cafés and much more. Rich countryside, forests, cycle paths, streams and trails surround our school. Regular bus lines connect Loches to the vibrant student city of Tours, nicknamed “Little Paris”, for its cosmopolitan and artistic culture. Paris is just one hour from Tours on the high-speed rail connection. The Tours airport provides easy connection to London, Dublin, Porto, Marrakesh, Marseilles, etc.

During the week, students stay at one of our two boarding houses with staff present at all hours. During the weekends and school holidays, international students benefit from living with a French family that is closely connected to our school and community. Whether students are staying for a few weeks or a whole year, they have the option to stay with host families.