News

Le Bilingue – April 2023

We are very proud to present the first edition of our student newspaper, Le Bilingue, fresh off the press! Huge congratulations to our brilliant team of journalists, photographers and designers for putting together such a fantastic paper.

Year 13 obtain outstanding Speciality Subject scores

Huge congratulations to our Year 13 French OIB students for their outstanding Speciality Subject results! They obtain an average of 17.32 across all subjects – and a special mention for Maths where half of our students scored full marks.

The average scores across Speciality Subjects are as follows:

History, Geography and Geopolitical Science: 18.33
Humanities, Literature and Philosophy: 16.67
Mathematics: 17.25
Physics & Chemistry: 18.67
Economics: 16.40

Charity Gala 2023

Congratulations to our students for their incredible artistic performances at our 2023 Charity Gala!

Parlez-vous français ?

Que se passe-t-il au sein du département de français de notre école ? Concours, écrits, ou encore énigmes littéraires… découvrez les dernières actualités sur leur site web !

If you love Maths – We love You!

Our Baccalauréat Français International (BFI) is a French baccalaureate with a twist.

École Jeannine Manuel is the only UK school offering the American Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus BC curriculum in substitution for the mathématiques expertes option of the French bac with an increased coefficient of 20 (instead of 2 for mathématiques expertes).

Most importantly, top-ranked universities recognise AP Calculus BC as a world-class course whose successful completion shows an exceptional aptitude for maths. This is true in the US, of course, but also in the UK and even in France. Cambridge University’s website, for example, notes that “for Cambridge courses that ask for Mathematics and Further Mathematics A Level, Calculus BC is strongly preferred.”

Although French recognition might seem surprising, AP Calculus BC constitutes an excellent preparation for CPGE (MPSI, MP2I, and PCSI). Indeed, Henri IV and Louis-Le-Grand prépas teachers recently produced a 184-page document to help students prepare for the most demanding prépas « dans une optique assez proche du calculus anglo-saxon » (p.2).

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Please note that AP Calculus BC involves two 45-minute periods of weekly instruction – taught in English – in Year 12 and three periods in Year 13. This course, exciting and rewarding for maths lovers, is a superb preparation for the most demanding university courses in mathematics, engineering, computer science and economics, and a useful transition from French to English-language mathematics. It involves, however, a rigorous and challenging curriculum, significantly beyond the level expected of spécialité mathématiques and mathématiques expertes.

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Background: École Jeannine Manuel in London offers both a French bac track (BFI only) and an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) track in sixth form. In 2022, 100% of French-track students earned mention Très Bien or Bien (average 16.4) and 100% of IBDP students were awarded full bilingual diplomas (average 39,4). Furthermore, 11% of students benefit from bursaries covering an average of two thirds of their school fees and we aim to grow this to 20% over the next five years. Visit our dedicated admissions page to find out how to apply.

Guest speakers in Upper School

Over the past few weeks, we have been lucky to have had several guest speakers come into school to deliver insightful talks to our students.

Bertrand Quesada, Co-Founder and CEO at Teads came to give a talk on entrepreneurship to our Y11 and Y12 students. The main pieces of business advice he gave were: to start as early as possible in one’s career, when personal obligations are less restrictive and not to worry too much about the business idea, as what really counts is finding the right people to work with.

Jennifer May Lee MD, Respiratory Consultant and Chief Medical Officer at RecoverX delivered a talk on vaping to our Y11, Y12 and Y13 students. She spoke from a medical point of view about addiction and the harmful effects of nicotine. She also spoke from a marketing perspective, explaining the advertising strategies used to make e-cigarettes appeal to young people. The key message: vaping is not a solution to quitting smoking.

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Students of Ecole Jeannine Manuel awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag!

Huge congratulations to our students who have earned the internationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag for our school this year, as a recognition of their work in making our school more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness around school!

Eco-Schools is an international education programme that prompts young people to explore sustainability and climate change and take action. Our Eco-Committee started their work by assessing how eco-friendly our school was, and then planning activities to increase our green credentials, including through in-school communication campaigns, a bio-diversity analysis project and the installation of a beehive at school. Science Teacher Sabine Marcel, who supported students with this project, said “this award rewards our students’ hard work and commitment to the environment and they are looking forward to taking this project even further this new academic year.” We look forward to sharing more eco-news with you this year!

Exceptional IGCSE results

Congratulations to our students who have, once again, achieved exceptional results on their IGCSEs, and a huge thank you to their teachers who guided them through these exams!

IB 2022 Results

Congratulations to our IB students who have achieved exceptional results on their exams this year again!

French Baccalaureate OIB 2022 Results

Congratulations to our students for these brilliant results which open the doors to the most prestigious universities worldwide! And thank you to their teachers for being so deeply engaged at their side!

A special note to celebrate 16% of our students rewarded with “félicitations du jury” and the 63% who chose the maths concentration: half achieved 20/20!

All Ecole Jeannine Manuel French track students sit the international option of the French baccalaureate (OIB), the most demanding French leaving examination, awarded to only 1% of all baccalaureate candidates worldwide. Top universities know this: the University of Oxford gives the OIB a 1.5 points premium over the French Bac in its most demanding A*A*A* courses and UCAS recognises the OIB as equivalent to 4 A-Levels instead of 3 A-Levels for the French Bac.