At the start of the next school year, French-speaking families living in Lisbon, but on the other side of the bridge, in margem Sul, will have a new opportunity to send their children to school there. A French school will open in Seixal. Anne Gasser, a teacher, is behind this project.
It is no longer a secret for the many French families living in Lisbon. Schooling their children is sometimes a headache, so great is the demand. The waiting list of pupils who want to join the Collège-lycée Charles-Lepierre, for example, is as long as ever.
It is in this context that a new school will see the light of day at the beginning of next school year: the French Private School of Lisbon-Seixal (EPFLs). Anne Gasser, a teacher since 1992, will take over as its pedagogical director. Her partner Raoul Baeumlin will take care of the financial side. “As everyone knows, more and more French people are moving to the Lisbon metropolitan area, particularly on the other side of the Tagus, in
margem Sul, she explains. And it’s not always easy for parents to cross the bridge on April 25, because of the traffic, to pick up their children from school in Lisbon.
It was with this in mind that we decided to open our school in Seixal.” According to the town hall, nearly 200 French-speaking families are settled in the municipality. Some of them would encounter problems with the schooling of their children in a French system. It is this public that the EPFLs intends to attract. The private school will therefore open eight classes, with a maximum of 18 students in each. “These are the best
conditions to have a good pedagogical follow-up and to aim for excellence for the children”, assures Anne Gasser.
The annual registration will cost 5,100 euros for kindergarten and 5,500 euros for primary school (plus 400 euros registration fee). “For the canteen, the cost will be 130 euros, but it will be organic, the dishes will be homemade, prepared daily by our cook.”
The programmes, of course, are those of the French National Education system. However, the school offers a pedagogical partnership with the Legendre distance learning courses and the Hattemer Academy. Their materials will be used during the courses for French, mathematics and discovery of the world. “Their method is demanding and very popular in France, and there is a Hattemer school in Paris,” explains Anne Gasser. These are courses where you go back to the basics. With a very simple objective: at the end of primary school, children must know how to read, write, calculate and express themselves.”
A secondary school will also open the next school year, in September 2020. “The administrative procedures are long and we still needed a few approvals to open it this year,” says Anne Gasser.
This school project, matured over the last few years, is a big challenge for the teacher, who has gained experience in different countries. “I was expatriated first in Germany, at the French high school in Freiburg, then in Serbia, at a school in Belgrade. I returned to France for a few years to brush up on my skills, and then I had the opportunity to go back to teach at the Alexandre-Dumas International High School in Algiers. These
…have allowed me to observe other educational systems, and to learn a lot.”
Anne, her companion Raoul and their child Sacha, 9 years old, will soon move to Seixal. This new start was decided on a whim, or rather a crush. “One day we came across an M6 programme about Portugal, and like many other French people, we were immediately seduced. It made us dream. So we decided quite quickly to buy a house here,” she smiles.
The dream is about to come true. The little family is scheduled to move in at the beginning of the summer. And so the school will open in September.
Contact email: epfldeseixal[at]gmail.com
