Demand from expats in London has led to a fourth French school searching for space to set up a campus in the capital.
École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel has narrowed its focus to a number of locations including Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill, King’s Cross and Hammersmith.
Although the official number of French people living in the capital is 120,000 there are thought to be more than 350,000. There has been a shortage of places for pupils at French schools in London for many years and a steady rise in the number moving here has seen demand soar.
Some experts have put the rise down to French people fleeing new tax rules under president François Hollande. But officials deny that there is an influx of “tax exiles”. The original French school in London, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, has since opened new outposts to meet demand.
In 2011, the Collège Français Bilingue de Londres opened in Kentish Town and a third is planned in Brent, near Wembley, to open by 2015. École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel was founded by a woman who joined the Free French in London during the war. She set the school up to teach the importance of French people learning English.
The private school in Paris was founded in 1954 and is still known for its bilingual curriculum. Roger Sharpley, senior partner at the property agent conducting the search, D E & J Levy, said: “With London being the equivalent of a top five French city it’s quite appropriate that one of its leading schools should seek a home on these shores.”
