Founded in 2009…
L’Ecole was founded in 2009 by Marie-Claire Ribeill, in her house, as an after-school program, to help local Francophone children keep their language.
In 2011, Marie-Claire (by now Honorary Consul of France for North Carolina) decided to create a nonprofit to get a FLAM grant. A group of parents and other francophone stakeholders joined the newly formed board. The 5 year grant allowed L’école to find a building, more teachers, and open a half-day preschool program, in 2012, where students were fully immersed in the French language.
In 2017 L’Ecole moved to a new building thanks to the generous donation of an anonymous local benefactor. It opened full time in 2020, and added an Elementary school section, in 2021. It’s been quite a ride!
Thanks to the recurring generous donation of the benefactor, L’ecole hosts all the French organizations of the region, which includes the Consular Agency ([email protected]), the Alliance Française of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill (www.afraleigh.org), the French-American Chamber of Commerce of North Carolina (www.FACCCarolinas.com) which together have become La Maison de France.
An Award FLAM Program
L’Ecole is the only French language school in the Carolinas to have been awarded the FLAM grant by the French Government. FLAM enables organizations to allow French children (bi-nationals included), whose parents are established in non-francophone foreign countries and who attend local schools, to have the opportunity to continue practicing the French language, and to stay in contact with the French culture through specific afterschool programs.
L’école is still part of the FLAM network of schools teaching French as a mother tongue around the world and got a new grant in 2020.
In 2018 and 2019 L’école was the recipient of the STAFE grant to support projects showing off the French culture and language.
L’école prides itself as being the heart and soul of the French community of the Triangle.
For more information, visit FLAM Associations official website (http://www.associations-flam.fr/)