Private Bilingual School in San Francisco, California

French American International School, San Francisco:
Located in the heart of San Francisco between Gough and Franklin streets, the French American International School is a family of PK-12 institutions dedicated to the principles of international and cross-cultural education. We are the oldest and largest bilingual French/English school in California, the only truly international school west of the Mississippi, and the most widely respected, well-established and accredited world leader in global education in the United States. We offer consistently rigorous academic programs of study leading to both the International Baccalaureate and French Baccalaureate diplomas. Our highly talented students graduate as sophisticated, knowledgeable, globally-aware, multi-lingual critical thinkers and international citizens, and as such are accepted into national Ivy League universities and international universities around the world such as Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and many others.

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Our original mission statement, adopted 46 years ago by our far-sighted founders, emphasizes both academic rigor and diversity in all its many forms. We have never compromised on this educational vision or on our core values: academic excellence is delivered daily by an internationally-recruited corps of truly talented, highly specialized faculty numbering 126 full-time individuals representing 25 countries and 220 graduate degrees and diplomas. Our student body represents 56 nationalities and a myriad differing socio-economic, ethnic, religious, political and social backgrounds. Our goal is to celebrate, rather than to tolerate, the differences we all bring to the community, and we do this through a daily expression of pride and inclusion

French American International School is accredited by:

1. the French Ministry of Education (PK - 12).
2. the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS).
3. l'Agence pour l'Enseigement Français à l'Etranger (AEFE).
4. the Council of International Schools (CIS).
5. the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
6. the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO).

We are a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) and affiliated to the Mission Laïque Française.

We actively seek and support students from racially, culturally and socio-economically diverse families. Our family configurations are multifarious, too. We welcome single parents/guardians, gay and lesbian parents/guardians, divorced and separated parents/guardians, as well as adoptive and foster families. From the very beginning, our students rub shoulders with others who reflect an astonishing variety of attitudes, religions and political persuasions. We believe they learn more because of this, and gain a profound understanding of the richness of human experience.

At International, we believe that the best education occurs in a school made up of students, families, teachers and staff drawn from many different backgrounds and experiences. We honor the uniqueness of each individual and embrace diverse backgrounds, sexual orientations, values and points of view to build a strong, inclusive community, and to prepare students for lives in a society in which communicating across cultures and from a multiplicity of perspectives are of paramount importance. We believe that our strength and growth as individuals and as a school come in large measure from our ability to learn from and with one another, to respect our differences, and to find common ground. This commitment to a diverse school community has been re-emphasized in the most recent resolution by the Board of Trustees.

Prekindergarten Program; Lower School Program; Middle School Program; Upper School Program. We are a bilingual French/English school and offer consistently rigorous academic programs of study leading to both the International Baccalaureate and French Baccalaureate diplomas, both through our tried and true programs in linguistic immersion, and through our many exchange trips and overseas community service projects.

Each spring all 6th and all 7th graders spend a day volunteering at the SF Food Bank. In addition to spending a full day sorting (literally) tons of food at the Food Bank, students will participate in the Food Bank's Hunger 101 program, an educational activity during which each student takes on the identity of a hungry and/or homeless person in San Francisco by receiving a profile denoting age, family status, income, expenses, etc.) and learning about the hurdles faced (feeding self/family, buying food or getting it from soup kitchen, qualifying/applying for food stamps, housing limitations, etc.) by role-playing and acting out their challenges.