Forest International School Paris

A small English-curriculum primary and lower-secondary school in Mareil-Marly on the western edge of Paris, founded in 2003 and built around the Forêt Domaniale de Marly with daily outdoor learning and very small classes.

The pitch is unusual for the Paris market. The forest is treated as an extension of the classroom, and children move between indoor lessons, an on-site swimming pool, and structured outdoor time across the year. The curriculum is the English National Curriculum delivered through the Pearson iPrimary and IPC frameworks, with class caps reported around 11 children.

Families who choose Forest tend to choose it deliberately. They describe confident, curious children, an accessible head, and a tight-knit community where new arrivals are welcomed quickly. The honest caveats are scale and continuity. The school stops at age 14, so the secondary plan needs to be sorted early, and the small cohort size means a single year group can feel quiet socially. Best for primary-age families who want nature-led education with a British academic spine and are comfortable planning the next step.

• Parents and reviewers consistently flag a personalised, nature-based primary experience: small classes, daily forest activities, an indoor pool, and a director described as personally accessible.
• The Good Schools Guide notes the school's reputation for taking children with light special needs or who have not fit elsewhere; that's framed as a strength of the personalised approach but is A real factor directly.
• Expat families repeatedly describe a smooth landing into French life: fast English acquisition for incoming children, a welcoming admissions team, integration within months.
• The pool of reviews is small and skews strongly positive; there is no detailed critical voice surfacing online.