Overview

Information meeting for Maternelle and Primary

To help parents decide whether the British Section is the right environment for their child, we will be running an online information meeting for all prospective maternelle and primary parents. To register for this meeting (and find the presentation from this year's meeting) please click here. You will then receive an invitation to join the meeting by email approximately 3 days before the meeting. 

Catchment area

There is no specifically defined catchment area for the British Section although we do recommend that families live within a 12-15 km radius of the host school (or a maximum of one hour's travel when using public transportation). At maternelle (Nursery, Reception and Year 1), primary (Year 2 to Year 6) and collège (Year 7 to Year 10) level, children living to the east of the River Seine will generally be allocated places in the host schools in Le Pecq, and those to the west of the River Seine, the host schools in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. See our location map for more information. The British Section is hosted by day-schools and does not, therefore, offer boarding facilities.

Applying

Parents are encouraged to apply within the application deadline dates in January of the year of entry to secure your interest in a place for your child at the British Section. Once your non-refundable application fee has been received, you will be sent a link to an application form to complete online. When complete, we will inform you if we will be inviting your child to sit our entrance assessments which take place: in January for Seconde (Year 11) and in March for all other levels, of the year of entry.

Overseas applicants

The admissions procedure for overseas applicants is the same as that for local applicants, although entrance assessments can be arranged online. In addition, it may be possible for overseas candidates to sit our entrance assessments outside of the usual testing period, depending on the availability of places.

Entrance Assessments

The bilingual / bicultural curriculum (double-enseignement) requires commitment to both the British Section and the French education system. It is a challenging educational pathway that demands considerable academic ability and intellectual flexibility as well as motivation, engagement and resilience. Given these demands, as well as the fact that the demand for places far exceeds our capacity to accommodate all candidates, entrance is selective.

Each pupil is assessed individually; pupils are accepted on the basis that we are confident that the British Section is the right environment for them to reach their full potential, and that they will contribute to, and benefit from, the ethos and opportunities available.

Notification of acceptance

We aim to tell you either just prior to, or just after, the Spring holidays whether we are recommending your child(ren) for a place. Once the candidates have been tested, they are placed on the British Section lists in order of merit and our recommendations are then forwarded to the French administration. Parents should be aware that there may at this stage be a delay as the French Administration has to process not only our applications, but also all applications from the other 13 national Sections.

N.B. In cases where we feel that appropriate on-going language support is not in place, we may request that parents submit a detailed language plan indicating how they will support their child’s English before offering/confirming a place in the British Section.

Sometimes opportunities for enrolment become available during the summer because of unexpected departures.

Internal Transitions

At the end of CM2, as British Section pupils prepare for the move into secondary education, they are allocated to one of our three collège sites in 6ème: Collège Les Hauts-Grillets, Collège Pierre et Marie Curie or Collège International. More information about transition points in the British Section can be found here.

Other enquiries

We hope that this summary will be useful to you. For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or contact our Admissions Officer, Gillian Storey:

Email: admissions@britishsection.fr
Tel: + 33 6 29 73 19 86

Please note that the British Section will be closed for the following holidays, on Saturdays and French bank holidays: