EIFA International School, formerly known as L'Ecole Internationale Franco-Anglaise, is an English-French international

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

nursery, junior and senior independent day school, located in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. EIFA is a school for children aged 24 months to 18 years old, from Early childhood to Key Stage 5. Its curriculum is accredited by the

Mission Laïque Française Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity * Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

and the

French National Ministry of Education French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and it is overseen by the

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Qu ...

. EIFA is inspected by

OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

and the French Inspecteur des Ecoles du Ministère de l’Education Nationale. EIFA prepares its pupils for the IGCSE, the French Brevet (DNB) and the International Baccalaurate® (IB) Exams. EIFA has two locations situated in Central London, catering for local and international families. There is one school building on

Portland Place Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the Third Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to BBC Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Institute of British A ...

, London and one on Duchess Street, London, all located in Marylebone.

History

EIFA opened its doors in January 2013 in a temporary building situated at 55

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...

, London. Its first pupil intake was 23 children from Nursery to Year 6. The school then moved in May 2013 into its current building at 36 Portland Place, London. By September 2013, the school grew to 130 pupils. In September 2015, EIFA expanded its offering to a Senior School from Year 7 to Year 11, then housed again in a temporary building at 126 Harley Street, London. The Senior School was then moved in April 2016 to its current premises in Duchess House. With the addition of the

IB Diploma The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

Programme, the Senior School goes up to Year 13. EIFA extended its offering to a

day nursery Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

in September 2016 and named it “Little EIFA”. The 36 Portland Place premises is home to Little EIFA.

Curriculum

Little EIFA is a

for children aged 21 months and above. It follows the

Early Years Foundation Stage The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for early years education in England. The term was defined in Section 39 of the British government's Childcare Act 2006.Childcare Act 200online The equivalents in Wales and Scotl ...

and like the rest of the school, Little EIFA is French-English

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

. All nursery staff, teachers and teaching assistants, are native French or English speakers. Children learn through play in a bilingual environment and quickly become fluent in both languages. From Nursery to Year 6, each class has two form teachers: a native qualified English teacher and a native French qualified teacher who work as a team. They teach the French national Curriculum which is enriched with elements from the National Curriculum for England. The combined two curricula provide a bilingual programme that marries academic rigour with cultural, artistic and humanitarian enrichment. The language of instruction is equally dispensed in both English and French. From Year 7 to Year 11 in Senior School, subjects are taught equally in French and English. In Year 10, pupils can take the French Brevet exams or sit the

IGCSE The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainm ...

exams in Year 11 under the

Cambridge Assessment University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment, and is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It provi ...

International Education body or

Edexcel Edexcel (also known since 2013 as Pearson Edexcel) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board ...

. Non-native French speaker pupils who are more proficient in French can also take the Diplôme d’Etude de la Langue Française exams ( DELF). The IB Diploma Programme is taught in Year 12 and Year 13, and pupils are able to obtain a bilingual IB diploma at the end of that two-year programme. The IB diploma is wildly accepted by over 2,000 universities around the world. The Brevet, IGCSE and IB diploma examinations are all externally assessed by their relevant national bodies. In its recent 2018 inspection, EIFA was awarded “Outstanding” by OFSTED for the Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare of its pupils and staff.

Demographics

In 2019, EIFA counted over 310 pupils who are spread between its three premises. EIFA’s pupils and staff come from 40 different countries and there are over 30 different languages spoken at the school.

References

Good Schools Guide
br /
2018 OFSTED Inspection Report

External links

Official website
www.eifaschool.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:EIFA - Ecole Internationale Franco-Anglaise Educational institutions established in 2013 Private co-educational schools in London Private schools in the City of Westminster International Baccalaureate schools in England International schools in England International schools in London 2013 establishments in England