The Stewart Bilingual School teaches both:

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• The National Curriculum of England - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum and

• The Education Nationale French program - http://eduscol.education.fr/

 

Our pedagogical coordinators are responsible for building bridges between the two curricula and ensuring that teaching plans are logical and appropriate.

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Our bilingual curriculum can be viewed at school upon request.​ Please click here to access answers to frequently asked questions on our curriculum. 

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Dual British and French Curriculum

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The Stewart Bilingual School teaches its pupils a balance of both the British National curriculum and the official programme of the French Education Nationale, from the first year of pre-school and throughout the end of the primary cycle. We have created a bespoke curriculum that combines the most valuable and challenging areas of each curriculum to provide a unique education to our pupils that reflects the needs and values of our school community. 

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Each class has two qualified and experienced teachers, one English one French, as well as a teaching assistant. The lesson  is taught in the morning in one language and in the other language in the afternoon, ensuring an equal number of hours per curriculum.

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Over the past 40 years since we opened our first bilingual school, our pedagogical team has developed a clear and efficient teaching plan for each year group, drawing bridges between the curricula in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics where appropriate and making full use of the cross-curricular nature of subjects such as science, history, geography and arts. The result is an exceptionally rich, lively and stimulating dual curriculum in which children learn with enthusiasm and inquisitiveness.

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​We set high academic expectations in both curricula so that our children are well prepared to integrate the school of their choice after they leave us: children are prepared to go onto an English, French, Bilingual or International school of their choice. We also provide an education that combines different approaches to effective teaching and learning so children will be prepared to learn within different schools in the future. To this end, we work hard to ensure that our pupils make accelerated progress during their time at our school and develop a thorough grasp of fundamental skills, including reading, writing and numeracy as well as oral expression.

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Our personalised teaching program delivered by our experienced, inspiring and dedicated staff combined with small class sizes enables us to realise each child’s full academic potential in a caring and supportive environment.

 

Beyond the taught curriculum, La Petite Ecole Bilingue runs a varied programme of extra-curricular activities during the school day including outdoor skills, trips, speakers, arts, music, drama and other extra-curricular projects to enrich the educational experience of its pupils. We take full advantage of our location in North Kensington to organize regular day trips to London’s art galleries, theatres, concerts, parks, museums and historic locations.

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Reading, writing..

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We teach our pupils how to read in English in Reception year (Moyenne Section) using small groups "phonics" sessions. The main objectives of this year are for the children to understand the mechanisms of the blending technique, and to know how to decipher and write simple words and also to start to learn the "tricky words". By the end of Year 1, pupils will have learned how to read and write according to the English Curriculum progression.

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The discovery of French phonèmes and graphèmes starts later in Grande Section (Year 1) to be completed in CP (Year 2) with a more systematic teaching of reading with the syllabic method via the Méthode Bosher reading scheme. 

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We believe reading is a crucial ingredient to academic success. Our aim is not only to teach children the skills to read fluently and confidently in both languages but also to foster a genuine love of reading, encouraging our pupils to become enthusiastic and critical readers and thinkers. All children will take books home to read each evening and we have weekly reading sessions in our school library to introduce the children to a wide range of influential authors and texts which we then discuss in class. We take children out to the theatre and invite actors to perform at our premises. Children are given poems in English and French to memorise and recite in class. Similarly, we provide pupils with opportunities to write texts, both creative and non-fictional, from a young age so that writing becomes a natural gesture for them. External speakers are invited to the school to talk about why writing is so important to their profession.

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Mathematics

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In mathematics we use proven learning techniques inspired by both the English and the French traditions of teaching, including memorization, which we believe is fundamental to cement notions so that they become part of the child’s active memory. We strive to provide children with opportunities to apply numeracy skills across the curriculum.

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Latin

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To draw a bridge between the French and English cultures and languages Latin is introduced in Year 5. In addition to learning the language and its influence on live languages, children study various aspects of Roman culture through examining original texts, researching topics and discussions on contemporary views of subjects such as democracy, slavery and civilization.

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History, Geography and Science

 

Our teaching team works creatively to teach History, Geography and Science within both curricula and their work in the classroom is enriched by a variety of field trips to parks and ecology centers, museum visits and speakers.  

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Topics taught in History include The Norman Conquest, The Medieval Church, the Black Death and Peasants' Revolt, the Hundred Years' War, Henry VIII and the Reformation, The Victorians and life during World War Two.

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Topics taught in Geography include the Tropical Rainforest, Weather and Climate, The Mountain Environment, Rivers and Flooding, Coasts, Tourism, Waste and Recycling, Living with Volcanoes and Earthquakes, Kenya, Settlement, Atlas skills, Ordnance Survey, Map Reading and Locational Knowledge.

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