This article was written in collaboration with the private bilingual primary schools iféa.
Choosing the right primary schools after the kindergarten class for our children is not necessarily an easy task. Public school, private school, private school with an alternative project, bilingual school... all this can quickly become a headache. What are the expectations for the first year of primary school (CP) and what are the different choices of CP available to you? Here are a few things to help you understand.
To begin with, it is worth recalling the reference framework of the kindergarten, a springboard to elementary school.
Education has been compulsory from the age of 3 since 2019 (and no longer 6). This shift was taken by the French Ministry of Education to support the fact that learning between the ages of 3 and 6 is essential to help children develop and progressively acquire a pupil's posture. In kindergarten, children in cycle 1 prepare for the fundamental lessons of primary schools, discover numbers and work on mastering language. They also learn the rules of collective life over the three years that overlap with the petite section (PS), the moyenne section (MS) and the grande section (GS).
The teaching is organised around five learning areas:
mobilise language in all its dimensions (oral and written)
act, express themselves, understand through physical activity
act, express themselves, understand through artistic activities
build the first tools to structure one's thinking
explore the world
You will find the details of the programmes here as well as the expectations for the fin de grande section (fin of cycle 1).
In concrete terms, what are the differentiating factors that my child will encounter when moving from nursery school to elementary school?
Two experienced school teachers will help you to see things more clearly. Céline Guilhot is a CP teacher at theprivate bilingual primary schools iféa - Emilie du Châtelet in Clichy (92) and Laetitia Almaraz is in charge of CE2 and CM2 in the same school. Laetitia has also had a lot of experience in kindergarten in the public sector.
What differences do you see between Kindergarten and the first grade?
Between kindergarten and elementary school, children move in traditional school formats from an organisation in workshops and activity clusters to a new, more figée organisation. First grade classrooms (room organization, materials) thus lose flexibility compared to kindergarten classes. However, more and more schools, and in particular those putting active approaches at the heart of their project, are giving a large place to the cooperation and flexibility that GS pupils are used to. These approaches thus promote cooperation, differentiation and autonomy. Learning through play is also highly valued in GS and retained in this type of primary schools.
The differences between the GS and the CP also concern rhythms: for example, break times are shorter.
What about bilingual schools offering immersion in GS to CP?
It is generally the same continuity that prevails around the idea of cultural immersion from the earliest age, particularly in schools that advocate active methods. It all depends on the school's pedagogical project, of course, but bilingual teaching flourishes naturally in schools where everything is redesigned around the child as an actor in his or her learning. The practice of the English language continues for the children of GS bilingual through playful methods in CP which allow to arouse the curiosity and desire of each child. Supervised by English-speaking teachers who favour a playful learning of English as a tool for communication and work, the pupils are encouraged to progress in a variety of activities which encourage exchanges. In elementary school, depending on the bilingual school, they may be required to take history or science classes in English, for example, to enrich their language skills and discover the culture of the English-speaking world.
What do you expect from a pupil entering the first grade at the iféa primary schools?
We give specific examples here to help you see things more clearly, but the full range of expectations can be found in the officiels of the National Education system.
We expect the pupils arriving from GS to have worked well on the graphic gesture. The children must practice untying their fingers, wrist, elbow and shoulder (by painting, pinching with modelling clay etc). It is important to pay special attention to the clamp to ensure that the writing tool is held securely.
Of course, the child will also be expected to have acquired language skills to prepare for reading and writing (phonological awareness, alphabetic principle and syllabic awareness). They must recognise letters of the alphabet in cursive and script. For mathematics, the construction of numbers is at the heart of the learning process in kindergarten. In kindergarten, the child must be comfortable with the notion of quantity. Thus, in cycle 1, they will have worked on ordinality and cardinality. They will be able to over-count, count and of course decompose numbers. Through numerous games and manipulations, the pupil is led to stabilise this construction, which is the basis for the fundamental learning that follows throughout cycle 2. The same applies to calculation strategies, where, from nursery school onwards, the child is confronted with problem situations so that he or she can investigate and begin to reason. The groundwork for problems involving the four operations is thus laid for the rest of the schooling process.
In order to finish, and this is an essential mission of kindergarten, the child must gain the posture of a pupil, respect the rules of living together, and build his or her bearings in order to be himself or herself while interacting within a group. This is a fundamental skill to be acquired in kindergarten: to decentralise oneself and feel part of a whole.
In which type of school can you register your child after kindergarten atécole M ?
The primary schools, which caters for children aged between 6 and 11, is generally subdivided into class levels (CP, CE1, CE2, etc.), although the organisation may vary according to the number of pupils (two-level class) or the school project. In some public schools outside the contractual framework, such as Montessori schools or schools with alternative projects, the class levels are abolished in favour of "environments" organised by age group (e.g. 6-11 years old).
As a parent, you can choose between :
public schools (depending on home address)
public schools under contract (on file)
public schools without contract (on file)
home schooling when certain conditions are met
Depending on the school's project, this may include, for example, a bilingual character (usually with language immersion), a type of pedagogy that takes into account the globality of the pupil, his or her needs and development, such as Montessori, Freinet or Steiner pedagogies, a project that mixes elements of different active pedagogies (with a link between individual and cooperative learning) or one that is based on education through research or projects.
The range of options is very varied for families, who can find information on the schools' websites to help them find their way around and get an idea of what is on offer. Of course, we invite you to visit the schools and talk to the management before making your choice. Enrolment often starts as early as October of the previous year! The appeal of these teaching methods is growing among parents who are increasingly concerned about their child's development at school and respect for natural rhythms.