Lycee International Francais de Sao Paulo

In Brief

The Lycee is the only serious option for French families or those wanting a French Baccalaureate pathway in Sao Paulo. If you are not tied to the French system, fees are competitive but the bilingual model requires genuine commitment to French from day one.

Founded in 1964, the Lycee International Francais de Sao Paulo is the city's accredited AEFE school - the French government's official overseas education network, which operates more than 500 schools in 138 countries. That affiliation matters: it means the curriculum, qualifications, and staffing standards are set and inspected by the French Ministry of Education, and a diploma earned here is recognised on exactly the same terms as one earned in Paris or Lyon. The Vila Mariana campus is well located in the south of the city, close to Paulista and the main metro lines.

The language of instruction is French throughout, with Portuguese taught as a second language from Maternelle. Children without French at entry typically need an intensive bridge period - the school is used to managing this for families on corporate relocation, but it is not a bilingual school in the sense that English and Portuguese are equal partners. Families who have used it describe the academic culture as rigorous and the community as tight-knit, particularly among the French expatriate population in Sao Paulo.

Fees are among the most accessible for an international school in Sao Paulo at BRL 56,381-BRL 65,559 per year, rising gently from Maternelle to Terminale. The Baccalaureat exam fee of BRL 1,538 is charged separately in the final year. The AEFE schools do not publish extensive parent review data in English, which makes it harder to assess the day-to-day experience from outside the French community - the best source of information is families currently enrolled.