Collège Middle School
SCHOOL LIFEThe Collège school day starts at 8.20 am. Depending on their time-table, students will finish around 5.25 pm. There is a break for lunch 12.30 pm but this may vary depending on individual timetables. School is closed on Wednesday afternoons.
Term Dates 2022 – 2023
Autumn break: 22nd October – 7th November
Christmas break: 17th December – 3rd January
Winter break: 18th February – 6th March
Spring break: 22nd April – 9th May
End of school year: 8th July
Click to download Official French National Education calendar
Note: Holidays start at the end of the school day. Classes resume on the morning of the day indicated.
In addition, there will be no school on the following days:
- Friday 11th November
- Monday 10th April
- Thursday 18th May
- Friday 19th May
- Monday 29th May
Carnet de Correspondance
This booklet serves as a link between the school and parents. It contains a list of the student’s teachers, subjects, the school rules and the timetable. It is used to announce timetable changes and all kinds of notices. It should be checked regularly. If parents wish to see a French teacher, or vice-versa, there are special pages for correspondence. If any disciplinary problem arises, this will be marked in the carnet. When a student has been late or absent, the appropriate form it contains needs to be filled in to explain the reason. In order to enter/exit the school, students need to have the carnet de correspondance in their bags at all times. Homework will be written in a separate diary.
At the start of the year, parents choose the amount of responsibility they take for their child in case of a timetable change. This is represented by the colour of the carnet. A carnet vert allows the student to leave the Collège grounds when there is no class eg. when a teacher is absent and has not been replaced. A carnet orange allows the student to leave the Collège grounds if his/her parents have signed an authorisation for a timetable change announced 48h in advance. A carnet rouge does not allow the student to leave the school grounds before the end of the school day at 5.25pm.
Vie scolaire (school office)
Vie scolaire deals with all aspects of school life apart from teaching. The Bureau de la Vie Scolaire is a team comprised of educators and pedagogical assistants: Conseillère Principale d’Education (CPE), Assistants d’Éducation (or surveillants) and Assistant Pédagogique. This office is responsible for all the times in the day when the students are not actually in class: during breaks, teacher absences, etc.
The school office, under the responsibility of the CPE, is responsible for absences, security, making sure school rules are respected in and out of class, and communication with families if need be. When being late or absent, students have to go to this office in the Atrium.
The school nurse’s office is located near the Vie Scolaire office. She is normally available three days a week. No medicine can be given by the staff unless arrangements have been made.
If your child is absent
If your child cannot attend school, you should inform the Vie Scolaire first thing by email or phone. When the child returns to school, the parent must complete a note of absence in the child’s ‘cahier de liaison’.
Permanence
This is also known as Study Periods. When a student has a study period between classes they can go to the Permanence rooms located near the Vie Scolaire office. Students can also go to the library, the CDI or to the Anglophone library if a teacher or volunteer is present.
Canteen
Students eat at the school canteen at lunchtime. This service is billed monthly by the Collège. Those who live close enough to the school, are allowed to eat at home. Packed lunches are not allowed and only students with a PAI (Projet d’accueil individualisé) will be allowed to bring their own lunch to school.
Lockers
In secondary, each student has a locker, which is secured by a padlock. Each locker is shared by two students.
Pastoral care
While the pastoral care of each young person falls under the responsibility of the French school, the Anglophone Section provides complimentary pastoral care in English. Ms Kendrick, deputy head and teacher, oversees the well-being of Anglophone students from our own cultural perspective. She may be contacted at any time through the Section office.
There is also a bicultural, bilingual professional psychologist and school counsellor in the collège once a week, who listens to students who wish to talk to her about any concerns they may have. Students can make an appointment with her through the collège secretaries or by going directly to the Infirmerie on a Tuesday.
Workshops are regularly held to make students aware of a variety of issues ranging from mindfulness to healthy personal boundaries.
Homework
The French Education system is based on academic excellence and intellectual discipline. All students must understand that they are expected to work hard both in school and at home. Homework is not an optional extra and all students will need to spend time going over what they have studied during the day and, depending on their age, doing a certain amount, sometimes a significant amount, of written work at home.
Homework is an integral part of the English curriculum for students within the Anglophone Section. We believe that it facilitates the development of good working practices which are independent of the classroom, enabling students to meet the demands of the curriculum and providing time outside of the classroom for students to reflect upon lessons and to learn from them.
Teachers set homework on a regular basis for all groups, usually allowing students seven days to complete the work. Time spent on homework will depend upon age and ability, but as a general guide to maximum and minimum expectations: 60 minutes for 6e, 60 minutes for 5e, 4e; 60-90 minutes for 3e.
Teachers ask students to record tasks and deadlines in their agendas, and ensure that these deadlines are met. An extension to a deadline can be arranged for a valid reason. If deadlines are missed, students can be subject to the following sanctions:
- The piece of work will incur a penalty of one mark per day, which will be deducted from the final mark.
- If, despite this, work does not arrive within 7 days of the agreed deadline, a zero will be given. A letter will be sent home to inform parents should this occur.
Students should be aware that in the case of absence it is their responsibility to ensure that they are up-to-date with classwork and homework.
ENT Pronote
In Collège and Lycée, each parent has access to Pronote, which is an online interface for communication between teachers and parents. Parents will receive a login and password at the start of the school year. On Pronote parents can find information about the school, students’ timetables, grades and results, and homework assignments.
School Reports / Report Cards
In the Anglophone Section, Collège school reports are prepared once a year, in June, but the marks for Section subjects are indicated on the collège’s semestrial reports.
Grading
Teachers in France mark, or grade, on a scale from 0 to 20. Pupils usually have frequent tests (interrogations) or more formal exams (contrôles).
At the end of each term, there is a full meeting (conseil de classe) when all the teachers from the class, the CPE (conseiller principal d’éducation) together with two elected representatives of the pupils and the parents’ representative, sit down with the Head of School or the Deputy Head to discuss every child in the class based on input gathered from the teaching and educational team. Following this parents will receive a bulletin or termly report.
Anglophone Section teachers are fully involved in this but, in addition, parents will receive an Anglophone report each year towards the month of June and they are welcome to come speak to Section teachers at Parent/Teacher meetings. Appointments with teachers may be arranged at any time throughout the school year by contacting the Section office.
Parent-teacher meetings
In September, there is a Secondary information meeting for parents with children in Collège and Lycée to present the programme in English and History-Geography for the year. A question-answer session follows the presentation.
Usually in March, parents are invited to meet their child’s teachers for five minute talks. This includes the Anglophone section’s teachers. The first semestrial report is normally handed over at this occasion.
Families can request an individual meeting with the Anglophone teachers at any time by calling the Section office. Parents may also be called to a meeting by a teacher.
Sport in School
Sport is an integral part of the French Curriculum and student’s grade in Sports counts towards their overall grade average. Cross-country running takes up a big part of the first term with a race for all students being held just before the October holidays. Children are graded according to their level of commitment to improve rather than on actual performance. A Cross-country sports club is available on Wednesday afternoons and children who are particularly successful can go on to compete at national level.
In France extracurricular sports and cultural activities are organised by local associations and clubs and students are encouraged to sign up for their favourite sports activities during the Fête des Associations Fontainebleau/Avon that takes place every year early in September. Football players are welcome to join the Fontainebleau INTER football team, comprising mainly anglophone players, who annually competes in the Albion cup, a football tournament for international schools and sections in Ile de France.
International Day
International day in the Collège normally takes place an afternoon in June. There are stalls and concerts and eat and treats galore. The more than 900 collège students of different nationalities and their families look forward to this day every year. Volunteer parents would be very welcome for representing their countries with a display of images and artefacts which portray their culture.
