French Schools in New York

French Schools in NYC

If you're a French speaker moving to New York and interested in enrolling your children in a bi-lingual or French dual language program, there are a number of public and private schools throughout the city that fit the bill. It's important to research school options before you decide where to live in the city, because your children's school choice will narrow down the list of neighborhoods you should consider. Many expats in New York would even advise new expat families to live in a furnished apartment while applying to schools so that you do not commit to a long-term rental or purchase before you know where you children will be attending school.

According to the French Consulate General in New York there are several schools that are fully accredited by the government of France that, "offer an education in line with the curriculum, pedagogical goals and organizational rules that apply in French public schools." There are several others with partial accreditation. These accreditations are noted in the descriptions below.

Private French Schools in New York

Lycee Francais New York

Lycee Francais New York (Pictured Above) is a bi-lingual French and English school that welcomes students from nursery though 12th grade. It's located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on East 75th Street off of York Avenue. Lycee Francais is fully accredited by the French government.

Location:

505 E 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

Telephone: +1 212-369-1400

Lyceum Kennedy International School

Lyceum Kennedy International School has two distinct schools. The original school, Lyceum Kennedy French American School, is a bi-lingual French and English School (nursery through 12th grade) with campuses in midtown Manhattan (2 locations in the East 40s) and one in the suburb of Ardsley (through grade 5). The second school is Lyceum Kennedy Japanese School located on East 43rd Street that has a nursery school and Japanese School for young children through Junior High Students on Saturdays. Lyceum Kennedy is partially accredited by the French government. For information on the Ardsley Campus, see the suburb section below.

Locations:

Manhattan 225 Campus (Lower School)
225 E 43rd Street
New York, New York 10017

Telephone: +1-212-681-1877

Manhattan 815 Campus (Upper School)
815 Second Avenue
New York, New York 10017

Telephone: +1-212-661-1916

Ardsley Campus (Lower School)
1 Cross Road
Ardsley, New York 10502

Telephone: +1-914-479-0722

The Ecole

The Ecole is a small, French-English, bi-lingual school located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan on East 22nd street. It welcomes students from nursery through 8th grade. Tuition for the 2019 school year is $30,500. Nursery and pre-K students attend full day (8:30 - 3:15). The Ecole is fully accredited by the French government.

Nursery to 1st Grade
206 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010

Telephone: +1 646-582-9941

Grades 2 to 8
111 East 22nd Street
New York, New York 10010

Telephone: +1-646-410-2238

Smith Street Arts et Lettres & Smith Street Maternelle

Smith Street Arts et Lettres (K-8th, the expansion of Smith Street Maternelle) is an independent, arts-based French-American school in Brooklyn that opened in September 2021. The French/English bilingual curriculum emphasizes a Reggio-Emilia inspired, holistic approach to education with artistic expression as the foundation of a child’s social emotional development.

Smith Street Maternelle provides a unique French immersion pre-school program grounded in the fundamentals of progressive education and experiential learning. As such, our environment and curriculum are dynamic, age-appropriate, and deeply connected to the children's lives and experiences. Our teachers are experts in nurturing a child's social, emotional, intellectual, and linguistic development. We hope to engender a lifelong love of learning, drive to explore, and ability to relate to and empathize with other people.

607 Henry Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231

Telephone: +1 718-852-8257 (Arts et Lettres)
Telephone: +1 347-457–5099 (Maternelle)

Tessa International School

Tessa International School is a bilingual school in Hoboken, New Jersey (Hoboken is a small city just across the Hudson River from Manhattan), offering Spanish, Mandarin or French programs to students ages 2 through elementary. Incorporating best practices from around the world, students are challenged through the teaching and learning every day. Tessa follows the International Baccalaureate approach, in conjunction with official Spanish, Mandarin and French curricula, and provides a strong educational foundation for children aged 2 through elementary. The school aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, caring and respectful children of the world.

720 Monroe Street
Hoboken, New Jersey 07030

Telephone: +1 201-755-5585

La Petite Ecole

La Petite Ecole has half and full-day nursery school programs for children from 2.5 to 4 years and classes for pre-nursery aged children (toddler through 18 months).

Locations:

Upper West Side
159 West 82nd Street, #1
New York, New York 10024

Washington Square
7 West 10th Street
New York, New York 10011

Telephone: +1-646-504-9694

L'Atelier

L'Atelier is a French école maternelle for children from nursery through pre-K. Children attend Mondays through Fridays from 9 am - 12 am and the tuition (2019) is $20,500 for early September through mid-June.

Location:

271 W. 73rd Street
New York, New York 10023

Telephone: +1 646-351-6240

United Nations International School

The United Nations International School welcomes students from pre-K through high school. UNIS has students from over 125 countries. The main campus is located right next to the British International School on East 23rd and the FDR drive. A second campus in Jamaica Estates, Queens welcomes students from K through 8th. UNIS modern language program stresses the importance of multilingualism and students begin studying French or Spanish in Kindergarten -- adding a 2nd language in middle school. UNIS is partially accredited by the French government.

Locations:

Manhattan Campus
24-50 FDR Drive
New York, New York 10010-4046

Telephone: +1-212-684-7400

Queens Campus
173-53 Croydon Road
Jamaica Estates, New York 11432

Telephone: +1-718-658-6166

International School of Brooklyn (ISB)

International School of Brooklyn offers pre-K through 8th grade French and Spanish language immersion IB programs. ISB is partially accredited by the French government.

Location:

192 Luquer Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231

Telephone: +1-718-369-3023

New York City Public Schools with Dual Language Programs

There are a number of other public schools with dual language programs (DLP) for French speakers in the New York City public school system. Many of them are elementary and middle schools and all are located in Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, read this article: French Dual Language Programs In Nyc Public Schools.

New York French American Charter School

New York French American Charter School (NYFACS) was founded in 2010 and the first bi-lingual Franco-American public school in the United States. The school was founded to address the needs of the Little Senegal community in Harlem. NYFACS admits pre-K through 7th grade students through a random, lottery-based admission process mandated by the State of New York.

Location:

311 West 120th Street
New York, New York 10027

Telephone: +1 646-982-2049

Upper West Side

P.S. 84 The Lillian Weber School

P.S. 84 The Lillian Weber School of The Arts offers a K-5 dual language program for French (they alos offer a Spanish program). P.S. 84 is located on 92nd Street near Central Park.

Location:

32 West 92nd Street
New York, New York 10025

Telephone: +1-212-799-2534

Lafayette Academy (Middle School)

Lafayette Academy offers a dual language program for 6-8 graders and is located on West 93th Street between Columbus Avenue and Broadway.

Location:

154 West 93rd Street
Manhattan New York 10025

Brooklyn

P.S. 20 The Clinton Hill School

Brooklyn's Clinton Hill School offers a French dual language program for K-5th graders. Although enrollment is open to non-French speaking kindergartners, prioritization is given to Francophones who are English-language learners. There is one class per grade.

Location:

225 Adelphi Street
Brooklyn, New York 11205

Telephone:+1-718-834-6744

P.S. 58 The Carroll School

The Carroll School's Dual Language Program is a K-5 program that is open to Anglophone and Francophone students. English-speaking students need to enroll in Kindergarten to be eligible for 1-5 grades. Children fluent in French may be added in grades 1-5 is spaces are available.

P.S. 110 The Monitor School

The Monitor School's Dual Language Program has an enrollment policy in which the entry point for the program is Kindergarten. English and French speaking children are allowed to enroll, but enrollment after Kindergarten for new students is only open to children fluent in French and only if space is available.

Location:

124 Monitor Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Telephone: +1 718-383-7600

P.S. 133 William A. Butler School

PS 133's Dual Language French Program was introduced in 2011 after French-speaking parents expressed an interest in their children learning in their native language and some English-speaking parents wanted their children to learn French. PS 133 also started a Dual Language Spanish program. The French program runs from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Applications open early in the calendar year for the next school year. 50% of the students are Anglophone and 50% are Francophone. For information about the program, visit PS 133's French DLP page to find the name and contact info of the program's parent coordinator.

Location:

610 Baltic Street
Brooklyn, New York 11217

Telephone: +1-718-398-5320

P.S. 3 The Bedford Village School

PS 3 Bedford Village School, which is located in Bed-Stuy, started it's Dual Language French Program in 2014. It's hard to find information on the program, but this article talks about the program's introduction.

Location:

50 Jefferson Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11216

Telephone: +1 718-622-2960

M.S. 51 William Alexander Middle School

William Alexander Middle School 51 is a gifted and talented middle school located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It offers a French Dual Language Program.

Location:

350 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11215

Telephone: +1-718-369-7603

The Boerum Hill School for International Studies (District 15)

The Boerum Hill School for International Studies, 6th - 12th grade public school in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, offers a French Dual Language Program and International Baccalaureate (IB) program. This school has seen a big increase in enrollment in recent years. The school is part of the D15 Diversity Plan that allots 52% of seats to students from low-income families. For more on the D15 Diversity Program, How a Brooklyn school district is integrating—with the help of urban planners. The high school is open to any NYC students.

Location:

284 Baltic Street
Brooklyn New York 11201

French Schools in the Suburban New York City Area

French-American School of New York (Mamaroneck & Larchmont, New York)

Larchmont and neighboring Mamaroneck, New York are beautiful suburbs that are about a 45-50 minute train commutes from Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan. Larchmont is home to many French-speaking families. The French-American School of New York (FASNY) is nursery through 12th grade school and is fully accredited by the French government. FASNY offers bilingual immersion, International Baccalaureate (IB) and French baccalaureate programs.

Locations:

Manor Campus (Nursery-Grade 3)
111 Larchmont Avenue
Larchmont, New York 10538

Telephone: +1-914-250-0469

Village Campus (Grades 4-8)
145 New Street
Mamaroneck, New York 10543

Telephone: +1-914-250-0451

Harbor Campus (Grades 9-12)
320 East Boston Post Road
Mamaroneck, New York 10543

Telephone: +1-914-250-0477

Saints John and Paul School (Larchmont, New York)

Saints John and Paul School is a pre-K through 8th grade Catholic school in Larchmont, New York that offers a "French fluency program for bilingual children." For more information about Saints John and Paul School's French program, click here.

Lyceum Kennedy International School (Ardsley, New York Campus)

Lyceum Kennedy International School has two distinct schools. The original school, Lyceum Kennedy French American School, is a bi-lingual French and English School (nursery through 12th grade) with campuses in midtown Manhattan (2 locations in the East 40s) and one in the suburb of Ardsley (through grade 5). Lyceum Kennedy is partially accredited by the French government. For information on the Manhattan campuses, see above.

Location:

Ardsley Campus (Lower School)
1 Cross Road
Ardsley, New York 10502

Telephone: +1-914-479-0722

French American School (Princeton, New Jersey)

French American School is a preschool through 8th grade bilingual school that is located in beautiful Princeton, New Jersey. The French American School is fully accredited by the French government.

Location:

75 Mapleton Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08540

Telephone: +1-609-430-3001

The French American Academy (New Jersey)

The French American Academy has two campuses in Jersey City, New Jersey (popular area to live across Hudson River, very close to Manhattan) and New Milford, New Jersey (in Bergen County, 30-50 minutes outside the city, depending upon traffic). If you are considering this school and new to the the New York area, it might be helpful to understand that parents would typically not live in Manhattan and send K-8th aged students to the Jersey City school without accompanying them or establishing a parent carpool. If you live in Jersey City, the commute to Manhattan is 20-30 minutes depending upon what PATH station you are heading to. Additionally, if you are interested in the New Milford campus, you would want to live in New Milford or another nearby suburb (20-30 minute drive maximum, check google maps at high traffic times). There are many nice towns in that area. New Milford is a 70 minute train ride from midtown Manhattan. The French American Academy is partially accredited by the French government.

Locations:

Jersey City Campus
Pre-K2 through 8th grade
209 Third Street
Jersey City, New Jersey 07302

Telephone: +1-201-338-8320, press 2

New Milford Campus
Pre-K2 through 5th grade
1092 Carnation Drive
New Milford, New Jersey 07646

Telephone: +1-201-338-8320, press 1