Solene Milin

Jeannine Manuel founded the Ecole Active Bilingue in 1954 with the mission to develop international understanding through bilingual education starting in the nursery years. Her premise was that “learning a foreign language is, by itself, important; it is also a means to better understand others, to be able to think like them—it provides access to the world.” An associated UNESCO school, École Jeannine Manuel is also contractually part of the French national education system. The high school prepares students for the French Baccalaureate, the French Baccalaureate with Option Internationale, or the International Baccalaureate. An official testing site for the SAT, École Jeannine Manuel is also accredited by the College Entrance Examination Board and the Cambridge University Local Examination Syndicate. Since its founding, École Jeannine Manuel has become the largest non-denominational independent school in France, with 2,900 students in Paris and Lille representing over sixty-five nationalities. The school’s academic excellence matches its diversity: École Jeannine Manuel is regularly ranked among the top five of all 121 Paris high schools (public and independent) for its overall academic performance. Today, all over the world, wherever they live, study or work, fifteen thousand alumni bear witness to the excellence of the education they received, as well as to a spirit of openness and flexibility forged at École Jeannine Manuel.