École Louise Michel

Nature of Organisation

The organisation I am working with for Learning from Life in a French Primary School called École Louise Michel in Orléans, France. It includes a nursery and a primary school. It has 7 classes and 7 teachers including an art room. They go to the local secondary school for their gym.

To become a primary teacher in France you go through the education and teacher training centre called ESPE (School Superior of the Professor and the Education). ESPE are in charge of my stay here and organised my placement, accommodation and school.

The ESPE centres are situated in Bourgogne, Orléans and Saint Jean, Orléans. The heads of the ESPE programme are Nina Huss and Claudie Grenet.

 

Structure

In France you start school at age 6. This is different in Scotland as we start at age 5. The French also have nursery like us in Scotland, “école maternelle”, but they have three years of this starting at age 3 to age 5 (PS, MS and GS). This is cycle 1. The French have 5 stages in the primary school, “école élémentaire”, and called cycle 2 (Scottish early stages) and cycle 3 (Scottish upper stages). Cycles 2 goes as follows; CP – age 6-7, CE1 – age 7-8 and CE2 – age 8-9. Cycle 3 goes as follows; CM1 age 9-10, CM2 – age 10-11 and then cycle 3 carries on into their collége (secondary school). Children leave Primary school at age 11/12.

The primary school has a wide range of subjects, covering all educational needs. In cycle 2 these include:

• French
• English
• Mathematics
• Art
• Music
• Physical Education
• Teachings of morals (values, equality, knowledge and practices)
• “Questioning the world” (Exploring the world around us, science)

In cycle 3 these include:

• French
• English
• Mathematics
• Art
• Music
• Physical Education
• History
• Geography
• Science
• Technology

In cycle 2 they get 10 hours of French per week and 1.5 hours of English per week. In cycle 3 they get 8 hours of French per week and 1.5 hours of English per week.

Their day starts at 8:30am and ends at 3:45pm.

They have 2 breaks, one from 10:00am till 10:30am and one 2:30pm till 2:50pm. Their lunch is 2 hours long from 11:30am till 1:30pm.

 

Teachers and their Roles

Françoise Monclere – CP

Benjamine Duplouy – CP/CE1

Axelle Holef – CE1

Sylvie Lambert – Head teacher/CE2

Laura Bellout – CE2/CM1

Agnés Courgeon – CM1/CM2

Christine Aué – CM2