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
