Dual Curriculum: Bridging French Academic Excellence with BC’s Educational Landscape
Our school has built a unique cross-curriculum that allows all students to follow the two school programs – from France and British Columbia – playing on the complementarity of skills and content.
Teaching approaches and methods at our school also offer the best of both systems.
Cousteau School is the only school in British Columbia to teach two curriculums – France and BC – setting it apart from Francophone schools and French Immersion schools, where the BC curriculum is taught in French.
Teaching the French curriculum
The French National Ministry of Education certifies the compliance of teaching requirements, programs, educational objectives, and regulations of the French education system. This allows all our students to continue their schooling in France or in any other school of the network of the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE), which has 566 schools worldwide, without needing to take an entrance exam, and without interruption in their education path. Cousteau School also regularly welcomes students from other French schools abroad.
Our teachers are certified by the French National Education, and some of them also have international experience in French schools abroad.
Cousteau thus offers the excellence of the French school system, a system with high academic standards.
Teaching British Columbia curriculum
Our school is also certified by the BC Ministry of Education. Our school classes from Kindergarten level meet the criteria of group 2 independent schools of British Columbia. All of our teachers are certified by the province’s Teacher Regulation Branch.
Our Pre-Kindergarten classes meet the Vancouver Costal Health regulation, and our teachers and educators have Early Childhood Educators certifications.
The BC curriculum Core Competencies (Communication, Thinking, Personal and Social competencies) as well as the First Peoples Principles of Learning are fully integrated into our teaching.
The success of all our students, a stated objective
Throughout their schooling, students are offered a rigorous and challenging workload that is adapted when needed to assist students to meet their full potential. Our small class sizes – with an average of 15 students per class – allow for a detailed and individualized instruction style. The availability of a resource teacher for children with special needs allows us to provide a successful learning environment for every student. Our school prepares students for elite higher education programs. Our students gain autonomy, rigour, initiative, and sense of effort and project, all values that allow easy transition into higher education and work environment in the future.
General Organisation
Correlation between French and BC grades:
| French Grade | BC Grade | French Grouping | BC Grouping |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS | Preschool | Maternelle | Preschool |
| MS | |||
| GS | Kindergarten | Elementary | |
| CP | 1 | Elémentaire | |
| CE1 | 2 | ||
| CE2 | 3 | ||
| CM1 | 4 | ||
| CM2 | 5 | ||
| 6ème | 6 | Collège | |
| 5ème | 7 | ||
| 4ème | 8 | Secondary School | |
| 3ème | 9 |