Collége Sévigné

A long-established private secular school in the 5th arrondissement, founded in 1880, running a bilingual French-English track from kindergarten through high school with a BFI American international section and IGCSE in the senior years.

Sévigné is a French school first and an international school second, and that is the point. It sits under contract with the French state, follows the national curriculum, and ranks in the upper tier of Paris private collèges, with 100 percent brevet pass rates. The bilingual primary delivers half-day French and half-day English from middle kindergarten up, which produces genuinely bilingual children rather than children with strong school English.

Families returning from expatriation use Sévigné as a soft landing back into the French system. The American international section and the BFI route give a credible international exit through Cambridge and the College Board. The caveats are the building, which is old and constrained on facilities, and an academic culture that suits motivated students more than children needing intensive support. Families wanting a sports campus or a glossy international plant should look elsewhere.

• Parents and students describe a long-standing private school in the 5th arrondissement with strong academic results: 100% brevet pass rate with all candidates earning a mention.
• Positive reviews emphasise attentive teachers, a humanistic ethos and a good atmosphere among students. Several parents recommend the school for its rigour combined with what they describe as a humane approach.
• Critical reviews are forceful and recurring. Parents describe excessive academic demands and a school culture that, in their view, does not transparently address mental-health issues. One review on a French school-rating site states the school does not inform parents of "depression, anorexia and other psychological disorder rates" because it tries to ignore them.
• One parent review references school harassment by a teacher with the direction's silence, and a separate, unrelated court case involves a former after-school activity leader on trial in Paris on harassment and assault charges.
• The bilingual French-English programme runs from middle section onwards with a 50-50 split, and is cited as a draw for international families preparing for relocation.