We left Paris very early in the morning, meeting at Gare du Nord at 6 a.m. and taking the Eurostar around 7:30. By 8 o’clock, we had already arrived in London. From the Youth Hostel, we set out on foot to explore some of the city’s more affluent neighbourhoods, wandering without any particular plan. Later, we visited the National Gallery, where we spent time admiring the paintings and moving through the different rooms.
In the evening, we picked up some chicken for dinner which, unfortunately, turned out to be rather disappointing — but it became a funny shared memory all the same. Overall, it was a simple but very enjoyable first day.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, October 14th, we started our day at the Imperial War Museum. As soon as we walked in, we felt that it was a place filled with powerful stories and memories. Each floor was dedicated to a different chapter of the 20th century: The first floor focused on the First World War, while the second was dedicated to the Second World War.
The most moving part of the museum was the section on the Holocaust. This area was deeply emotional, as we saw the consequences of the persecution and extermination of millions of Jews.
We finished our visit with the temporary exhibition “Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict”, which explored a part of history that is often forgotten: the abuse experienced by women and girls throughout numerous wars.
After this intense visit, we took a break for lunch before heading to the next stop on our list: the Tate Modern. We divided the class into groups to explore the galleries that interested us most.
However, we reunited for a collective “meditation” moment in an entirely orange room—as requested by Mr. Lee—which allowed us to pause, reflect, and enjoy the calm atmosphere before continuing our visit.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we visited Greenwich and the British Museum.
We began our day in Greenwich, a neighbourhood located on the south side of the Thames. Mr. Lee impressed everyone by winning a race up the hill to the Royal Observatory against Addison, and then helped his student stretch after he got a cramp. Once at the top, we enjoyed a beautiful view over Greenwich Park and the Canary Wharf district. We also had the chance to stand on either side of the Prime Meridian. Some of us tried to see if the time on our phones would change when we crossed the line — unfortunately, it didn’t!
Afterwards, we walked down to the wharf, which was very picturesque.
Finally, we headed to the British Museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone and several Nigerian sculptures that reminded us of Things Fall Apart.
Thursday
On the fourth day of the trip, we visited the National Portrait Gallery as well as Camden Market. However, what we were all truly looking forward to was the play Hamilton.
From the costumes and music to the actors and singers—not to mention the lighting, which created an incredible atmosphere—everything was impressive.
The costumes were breathtaking, and the moving stage really emphasized the grandeur of the show.
We were collectively amazed by the performers and even found ourselves wondering at times whether the songs were pre-recorded—they made it seem so effortless.
We must admit that we were a bit disappointed when the show came to an end.
It truly was a unique experience to see Hamilton live, and an even more special one considering that, for many of us, it was our first opportunity to see a live performance.
Friday
On Friday, we headed to South Kensington, we could choose to visit either the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, or the Science Museum.
We chose the Science Museum, and explored exhibitions explaining how our world works, including a fascinating section on food and agriculture. Our group learned about how to make informed choices about the ingredients we eat and how these choices can help us stay healthy. We also had the opportunity to discover how people lived in the past through the museum’s interactive displays.
At the Victoria and Albert Museum, we were able to explore the evolution of design across the centuries and discover a wide variety of artistic trends.
Unfortunately, we then had to return to the hostel to collect our luggage, as it was time to head back to France. Many of us were already feeling nostalgic. For most students, it was the best school trip they had ever experienced; for others, it was still among their favourite memories. We all hope that everyone has the chance to experience a trip as enriching and memorable as this one.
Hello all future 2nde students, and welcome to the American section! We can’t wait to meet you all in just a few months now.
Congratulations on passing the entrance tests!
In order to make sure that you are ready to start this intensive course in September, we strongly recommend that you continue to work on honing your language skills throughout the summer break so that you can get the most out of the syllabus and the classes. Please use books such as ‘Make It Yours!’ (978-2017149484) to do so.
Below is the list of books that you will study in 2nde throughout the year. Please get the specified editions.
Here are the books that you are required to read over the Summer vacation to be ready to start the BFI syllabus in September, regardless of who your teacher will be. Please make sure that you get the editions specified, and that you take notes whilst reading. Enjoy!
The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde ISBN : 978-1472585202
Intimate Apparel Lynn Nottage ISBN : 978-1848424371
Furthermore, according to the teacher you will have next year, you will study the following works either in Première or Terminale. In September, when you meet your new literature teacher, they will inform you. Meanwhile, you can still purchase the books. Please get the specified editions.
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood ISBN : 978-1784874872
The Painter of Signs R. K. Narayan ISBN: 978-0143039662
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe ISBN: 978-0435913502
For all Terminale students:
Here is the second half of your syllabus. Please get these specific editions.
Enjoy reading this summer!
The works below are two of our in-depth works. Please take notes whilst you read the works, write down any questions or queries you may have – these will fuel our class discussions. As for the poetry unit, you will discover these in class.
The Tempest William Shakespeare Oxford Student Edition ISBN : 978-0198325000
The Things they Carried Tim O’Brien ISBN : 978-0544309760
Pierre, Windy et Shahine ont remporté mardi dernier (8 avril) la finale régionale du concours organisé par les archives diplomatiques. Ce concours invite les élèves à se mettre dans la peau d’un diplomate lors d’une performance orale, en s’aidant d’une importante documentation archivistique. Nos élèves ont mis en scène une conversation de diplomates français à l’ouverture des accords de Paris en janvier 1969 pour négocier une paix au Vietnam.
Les finalistes de chaque édition régionale concourent devant un jury composé de diplomates, d’universitaires et d’enseignants. Les lauréats des 1ers prix seront prochainement reçus au Ministère des affaires étrangères au Quai d’Orsay pour rencontrer le ministre.
Un grand bravo à nos lauréats et à leur professeure, Madame Kohn, qui les a conduit jusqu’à cette finale !
Le 1er octobre, nous avons lancé la saison 2025 du Debating Club. Cela a été l’occasion de dévoiler le trophée ramené par l’équipe gagnante 2024 et de célébrer nos champions.
En effet, le 13 mai dernier, à la Mairie de Paris-Centre, nos élèves ont brillamment remporté le trophée 2024 du High School Tournament Final organisé par la French Debating Association (FDA).
Bénédicte, Chloé, Windy, Anaelle et Tzipi, sous la conduite de Mme Martin, ont remporté toutes les étapes éliminatoires précédentes face à d’autres lycées parisiens tout au long du tournoi. En finale, ils rencontraient le lycée Ravel, détenteur du titre.
Le trophée trônera désormais dans le hall du lycée.
24 intrepid students from Mr. Lee & Ms. Rousset’s Terminale group embarked on a 5 day trip to London. Here’s how it went, from the students’ perspective.
Class Photo
Tuesday
We started the day by visiting the British Museum. After a long walk guided by Manoah, we finally arrived at the museum. We visited the museum for two hours and we discovered multiple objects full of history from multiple regions in the world. We could see the differences between each era and region, it was really interesting. The sculptures from the Chinese regions were so detailed while the jewels from Europe were so minimalist.
Around 1 PM, we had free time to eat and discover the neighborhood. It was a sunny day so it was really pleasant.
We then went to the Tate museum where we discovered some more modern artworks. It was really different from the British museum which is more centered around ancient artworks while the Tate museum really focuses on the creativity and artists of nowadays. It was definitely different and interesting. It could go from immense artworks which went from the ceiling to the ground to really minimalistic ones. There was also a really good exhibition on black lives matter and afro-descendant populations especially in the Carribeans. Some were quite disturbing however, such as the panel with flashing lights or the short films displayed.
Afterwards, we grabbed something to eat and walked to Big Ben, where we took many pictures but we didn’t stay long because we needed to be at Shakespear’s globe at 7pm. It is an ancient open theater, fortunately we were seated and it didn’t rain, but it was still cold. We saw Shakespear’s comedy : As you like it. (Rosalind and her cousin escape into the forest and find Orlando, Rosalind’s love. Disguised as a boy shepherd, Rosalind has Orlando woo her under the guise of « curing » him of his love for Rosalind.) The director took a modern twist, with the choice of the actors and the funny costumes. They also sang contemporary songs such as Marry You by Bruno Mars, making the play feel like a musical, which many of us liked.
We headed back quite late to the youth hostel, everyone was tired but content!
Lisa, Nafissa, and Lili-Eve
Lovely London weather
Wednesday
It’s been two days since we arrived in the English capital and, as yesterday, the schedule was packed: we visited the National Gallery, Camden town, the Tower bridge and Greenwich. After two sunny days, London was showing us its true colors, and as we arrived at the National Gallery at 10 am, the grey sky was greeting us with the first drops of the day. We were supposed to visit the National Portrait Gallery but instead we visited the National Gallery but thanks to this lucky mistake, we had a great time. We were able to see many famous paintings such as Sunflowers by Van Gogh. The activity for this museum was to take pictures of paintings according to precise criteria, for example take a picture of a portrait that made us think of a character of our syllabus.
Next, we headed to Camden town, a colorful and cosmopolitan neighborhood with artistic buildings which had sculptures of many kinds on the walls. We spent three hours there during which we enjoyed the open market and many food choices that Camden had to offer.
The weather became more and more cloudy and as we arrived at the Tower bridge, the rain and the wind were so hard that our umbrellas were susceptible to fall into the Thames as we crossed it. Once on the other side, we decided to stop at Hay’s Galleria, an open mall not far from the bridge and waited for the rain to pass. Unfortunately, after 30 minutes of waiting, the rain was showing no signs of stopping anytime soon and we had to abandon our visit of Greenwich. We went back to the hostel where we played board games and waited for dinner.
Kyria
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery
Thursday
On the 4th day, which was Thursday, we had quite a busy day. First, after everyone got ready and ate their breakfast, we left for the Imperial War Museum. The job of getting us there was given to Jade and Clémence (it seems Ms. Rousset was the source of this decision). After walking to the station, we took the District line to Embarkment where we changed for the Bakerloo line which took us to Lambeth North. Finally, after just a small walk, we finally reached the museum.
The Imperial War Museum was great. It had many displays about the two world wars which were really well portrayed. The exhibition about the holocaust was especially terrifying and showed well the horror Jewish people had to go through during this period. A few people cried, most people were silent, but no one laughed. Furthermore, the museum also had two temporary exhibitions about spies and the war between Ireland and Great Britain. The former gave us good knowledge about famous secret agencies and spies, and the techniques they used. We even got to see an enigma machine – the one decrypted by Alan Turing. The latter gave us insight on the struggle of the Irish people to gain their independence, thus explaining Cillian Murphy’s death stare at Prince Harry.
The rest of the day was of less interest. After lunch, we were to meet in front of the National portrait gallery – to which some people arrived late. There were some pretty paintings and photographs. Harry was present for the opening of the Wind Rush exhibition. Then, we walked through Regent Street to get to Oxford Street. We all ran around for two hours to shop in places such as Hamleys or the Lego store. Then, we finally came back to the hostel to eat and, after playing wereworlf with M. Lee and rs. Rousset, we went to bed so we could be full of energy for the last day.
Dorian, Clémence, Jade, and Ilhan
Friday
On Friday, unfortunately our last day, we packed our suitcases and deposited them in the hostel whilst we went on for our final day. We then had the choice between 3 museums located in the same area: Victoria and Albert museum (fashion and sculptures), the National History Museum, and the Science museum. We were then given an hour to eat and to meet back before leaving back to the hostel to gather our luggage before heading to St Pancreas Station. We then went to grab a few snacks until it was time to finally say goodbye to London and take the Eurostar.
School trip to London for students in Terminale in the American Section. Here is what we did throughout the trip, as told by students.
DAY 1
We left school at 5.50am and headed to Calais where we took the ferry. We ate a typical English breakfast, some of us played cards or even walked around as we saw the coastline draw closer. We arrived in our hostel in London (3.15pm local time), we were dispatched in our rooms and we walked around the City, and saw Big Ben, the Parliament and Trafalgar Square and we also walked past Scotland Yard, Tower Bridge and London bridge. Once we arrived at Covent Garden, the teachers let us have a free time where we had dinner. We finally came back to the hostel after this first day for the first night of our trip. (Eugenie, Anita, Audrey, & Leelou)
Students in front of Tower Bridge
Day 2
Tuesday 18th October : Today we woke up before 9:20 am to have our first breakfast. Afterwards we took the bus, heading towards our first museum; the British Museum. We had a surprise activity – it consisted in taking “creative” pictures in front of designated artefacts. Of course, our group took the funniest pictures and we will win the prize.
Next up, the Imperial War Museum, where we also had some work to do, in DNL (History and Geography) this time. Going through the museum, we had to take a picture of one of the objects presented and answer to some questions. After this, we all met up in front of the museum and were guided to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, where we could explore the surrounding area in little groups and have dinner. Then bed-time.
(Mathis C., Kaïs)
St Paul’s Cathedral
Day 3
Wednesday, October 19th. In the morning, around 11 am, we went to the National History Museum. There were a lot of different sections in the museum: dinosaurs, mammals, marine invertebrates, birds, insects, reptiles, minerals and so much more. It was really mesmerizing how many species there are and how different/similar they can be.
Right after, we went to Camden town at 2pm and we had two hours to eat and visit the district. There were tons of markets and the vibe was really fun. Then, we went to Oxford Street where we had some free time. Most of us bought things for our families or stuff for ourselves. Finally we got to take a group picture in front of Buckingham Palace and went back to the hostel and had dinner.
(Sarah and Anaëlle)
Natural History Museum
Day 4
On Friday, we finished packing up then had breakfast a final time before getting on the bus and heading to Greenwich. There, we went to the National Maritime Museum : we got to discover several British ships as well as the history of maritime travel in Britain and all over the world. There were a lot of fun activities to do, such as morse code, a ship simulator and even coloring books! We then walked until we arrived in front of the Cutty Sark ship before going to eat. After that, we walked to Greenwich Park where we got a panoramic view of the city while getting soaked by the rain and taking group pictures! We got on the bus again around 3pm and rode all the way to Dover where we took the ferry and the bus again, to arrive at school a bit before 1am.
