PRIMARY SCHOOL

LES INSCRIPTIONS SONT OUVERTES POUR LA RENTRÉE 2025

The Bilingual Montessori Primary School of Saint-Cloud (92)

The transition to primary school begins at the age of 5, with a transition class known as CP2. The aim of this class is to help children move smoothly through this essential stage. In primary school, children are grouped into more age-homogeneous classes, generally organized as mixed-grade (two-year) groups. Small class sizes remain a priority, as they are essential to the successful implementation of the educational project.

Autonomy

KEY POINTS

Small class sizes (15 to 18 students maximum)
CP starting at age 5 over two years (CP2 followed by CP)
Organization into mixed-grade classes (CP2–CP, CE1–CE2, CM1–CM2)
A balance between individual work time, group lessons, and team projects
Teaching methods focused on reflection, autonomy, and the right to make mistakes
No written homework at home, thanks to highly effective in-class learning
Daily English instruction with native English-speaking teachers

A day at school

The school operates all day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and on Wednesday mornings. The final day of each term is free of classes to allow the teaching team to carry out a comprehensive review of the past term together.

Morning

8:30 a.m. : start of the school day

8:30-11:45 a.m. : Core academic learning

Lunch

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. : Lunch shared with both French-speaking and English-speaking teachers (lunch boxes brought by the children in the morning), followed by recess

Afternoon

1 p.m.-3:45 p.m.: Sports, artistic activities, and workshops

CP2 - CP

Core learning

The preparatory course (CP) spans two academic years (CP2 and CP). This structure allows children to acquire strong, lasting foundations that will enable them to progress through the subsequent stages of their schooling under the best possible conditions. The aim is not to rush through stages by “gaining” a year, but to give children the time they need to master the complex mechanisms of writing, reading, and numerical operations.

Writing and reading
From an early stage, children are guided to understand that written symbols are the transcription of spoken sounds, and that everything written carries meaning. These are the fundamental goals of writing and reading. Learning takes place without textbooks, using both collective and individual materials. Each child progresses at their own pace and level, discovering the pleasure of reading.

Mathematics
Through hands-on materials, children discover the decimal system and gain a concrete mastery of calculation techniques and numerical activities. The objective is not to train children to complete an exercise mechanically, but to help them understand what is being asked, develop a strategy leading to a solution, and build new knowledge based on what they already know.

CE1 - CE2

Against academic passivity : priority to thinking

Children learn how to learn, acquiring skills alongside knowledge. They develop the capacity for reflection and reasoning that will enable them to make choices.

Constantly stimulated, children are encouraged to rely on reasoning rather than rote memory:

in reading, they learn to extract information in order to construct meaning ;
in mathematics, they are invited to rephrase instructions before carrying them out ;
in history, they build a body of references beyond their everyday experience, which serves as a framework for understanding.

CM1 - CM2

Independent children, ready for middle school

The classroom is organized to promote children’s independence as much as possible. Outside of collective times, which generally take place at the start of the day, children move freely within the classroom, choose their work, and organize themselves to be as efficient as possible. In the afternoons, children work together on projects in small groups.

Reading and written expression are central to learning.

Because they have developed a taste for reading and the ability to defend their choices, children exchange reading recommendations during literary cafés held each term.

Likewise, having acquired rigor in thinking, precision of vocabulary, and the ability to research, analyze, and synthesize documents, children work together to produce a school newspaper.

Autonomy, reflection, and a love of learning: the school’s students are well equipped to meet the challenges of the transition to middle school.

Transition to Middle School

As in all independent private schools outside the state contract system, students may enter a public middle school (admission by application in the Hauts-de-Seine département). They may also enter private middle schools, with or without entrance examinations, whether secular or faith-based, French or international.

Throughout primary education, the school implements appropriate measures (active pedagogy, compliance with national curricula) to offer families the widest possible choice for their children’s future education.

At the request of parents, a meeting with the Head of School and the teacher is offered during the CM1 year or the first term of CM2, to help guide families toward the school best suited to their expectations and to their child’s personality.