Europipole: an (incredible) international school south of Aix in Cabriès
Amended December 21, 2009 – See below
Finding a good school for your children while moving about worldwide is not easy. Often, as an international parent, you’re looking for a school that’s open to other languages and cultures in its curriculum. You often think of looking for an ‘international’ or bilingual school.
The Aix region is blessed with a few of these schools at the Pre-K, and Primary levels. See my post here for a general look at bilingual or international school options and a map of these schools.
I have amended my post below, as I found the general level of instruction at Europipole to be disappointing, not because the school management is not truly passionate about education, but because of a lack of structure in the school’s management.
I discovered a great pre-K and Primary school with a German/ French and an English/French track: Europipole. The school calls itself a ‘ bilingual ‘ school as opposed to an international one because it stresses it seeks to give children perfect language litteracy in the two languages chosen. The goal, in my view, as someone who is both a native French and English speaker, deserves praise, given many international schools are in fact focused on English as the true common language of instruction. But is it realistic? In any case, in 2008, the level in English in the primary was a limited “beginner Plus”, notably because there were not enough native speakers.
The school is run by a passionate couple who both teach as well as run the school. The school is their second one in the region, after IRIS, a German-French pre-K center in Aix launched in 2000. IRIS is becoming a bilingual English-French pre-K center in september 2008 due to strong demand for this language as opposed to German.
There is a real family atmosphere at Europipole thanks to the couple’s passion for bilinguilism and thanks to the small size of the school. Maybe a little too informal and ‘playful’ for some parents, as recesses tend to drag on longer than they should. In 2008, it has a little under 100 children, with classes being very small – a maximum of 15 students. They use the facilities of a ‘ centre de loisirs ‘ a sort of municipal holiday and after school facility, with a beautiful natural courtyard surrounded by a beautiful forest and sports facilities including tennis courts. The children have access to these facilities during their sports activities.
The choice to use a municipal facility makes tuition at the school much more reasonable than what is usually expected of private ‘international’ schools. In fact tuition is about 3 000 euros a year. The school has the lunch box system.
English and German are taught by level (from beginner to proficient) by native speaking certified teachers.
- The preK levels have two full days in English or German, depending on their chosen track, and the other two days in French.
- The primary level kids have 1,5 hour in English or German and the remainder in French to follow the French curriculum.
– > Again, general post on international schools in Aix and Manosque (one hour north of Aix).
Filed under Education and Child Development, Moving to France | Comments (11)11 Responses to “Europipole: an (incredible) international school south of Aix in Cabriès”
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There is also now http://www.epim-mis.com/ in luynes just south of aix which is bilingual french – english with again true bilingue focus with 50% of the teaching in french, 50% in english. I think its a great school -small classes and very professional staff.
Yes, I’d left out EPIM, you’re right. Tuition is similar to tuition at CIPEC and IBS, ie between 8 000 and 10 000 euros a year.
Caroline,
Just to let you know on pricing. IBS tuition begins for the younger kids at 6 900 euros not 10 000. The fee schedule can be found on their website at http://www.ibsofprovence.com.
Hello everyone,
We are considering moving to Provence and have started looking at possible school choices for our 3 children aged 8, 6 and 3. As we have lived abroad our children have done their schooling within the International school systems.We are a bilingual family English/French. The most important decision for us right now is finding the right school to fit our kids.
We understand that the school Europipole has second language options but it only proposes 1h30m per day for this. So it is really a French school offering daily a bilingual class option of 2 languages ? It does not correspond to what we have experienced as an International curriculum where the children work through both languages.
We plan on contacting the CIPEC school and are very interested in learning more about the school EPIM that Clare one of your readers has mentioned.
Thanks
Irene
Yes, you are right Irene, that Europipole is not an International school in the true sense. It calls itself a bilingual school in fact. So your children will get more French than English there. One thing I must say now to be honest is that the academic level, as concerns the French program, has disapointed me. As concerns the English classes, i’ve been quite happy with the teachers in pre K and in the Primary Avanced English level. For the Pre K levels, I think they’re great, with their wonderful warm attitude towards children and half of the time taught in either English or French. Afterwards, it’s more of a matter of looking at your priorities, between top academic achievement, family atmosphere, and cost versus other options like CIPEC and later IBS.
We were really disappointed with EPIM in Marseilles.
The level in English wa quite low because most of the children were French.The directors of the school don’t have any teaching background and are really ” money oriented”.There were a lot of changes with the teachers who were not happy.
The new school in manosque is fantastic.
All the best
Eva
Our 2 daughters are at EPIM Aix and the team there is great. EPIM is a family oriented school with small classes and a great staff. Our children were even able to catch up in some areas where other schools did not succeed. In English and French of course.We will re-enrol for the next academic year
Hi everyone, yes there have been a lot of changes with the teachers at EPIM and it has been difficult for the children to adapt. Also they have not yet put up outside play things or shown any indication that cultural trips or sport will be offered, which is disappointing given the fees. At the maternelle level there is an amazing ratio, only 6-7 kids to one teacher, but i am not sure how long this will continue. I have heard that CIPEC is like a factory and does not focus on the child, just results. I have also heard that Europipole is very disorganised and can be unprofessional. It seems to me that there is not one international or bilingual school near Aix that is well organised with a good academic standard. For this reason I am seriously considering going back to London as the private schools offer amazing extra curricular activities AND an academic education. THis is a shame.
[...] Europipole:Nursery to Primary levels. See our post here. Tuition is the most reasonable, at 3 000 euros a year. Centre de Loisirs Municipal Parc Club de [...]
My son has followed the international section of the State Education system, that is, Collège Mignet in Aix and Lycée G.Duby in Luynes and I personally am very satisfied with the level and standard.
True they don’t have the sports and cultural facilities of a private school in England for example, but there is a great sense of networking and solidarity. The level is, I’m told by other parents and teachers, higher than the private schools CIPEC and IBS. The latter’s advantage on the state system is that they have mostly English curriculum.
However the number of students from the State international system that get into foreign universities (US, GB, Canada etc.) is apparently very high.
The Lycée G. Duby has the students do the GSCE exams, but not A levels. They also can take the Cambridge Certificate exams.
I hear that the Manosque school is much better organised in maintaining a fully English system.
I agree that Epim is really money oriented. The English level was really poor and the director was quite arrogant. We are now in Manosque. What a difference! Our children are happier and more relaxed.The staff there is much more organised.