The Lycée International in Saint-Germain-en-Laye puzzles families because it fits no familiar category. It is a state school, yet most families pay fees there. Places are not allocated by address, yet it is not a private school free to choose its students. Its organisation into international sections explains all of this.
Public or private?
Public. The Lycée International is a French state school run by the Ministry of Education, combining a primary school, a collège (lower secondary, ages 11 to 15) and a lycée (upper secondary, ages 15 to 18). Students follow the French national curriculum, and the French part of their education is free, as in any state school.
Every student, however, belongs to one of fourteen international sections: German, American, British, Chinese, Danish, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish. The section teaches, in its own language, language and literature and part of history and geography. At lycée level this leads to the BFI (baccalauréat français international); in collège, the history-geography oral of the brevet, the exam at the end of lower secondary, is taken in the section's language.
What a section costs
Section teaching has a cost the French state does not fully cover. The American Section, for instance, is a not-for-profit association under French law whose board sets its fees each year. Amounts vary from one section to another: ask the section you are interested in. The American Section's published schedule gives an idea of the order of magnitude.
American Section, fees for 2026-2027, from its published schedule.
Annual fees paid by the family: €5,100 from Pre-K to Grade 5 (CM2), €5,260 from Grade 6 to Grade 9 (sixième to troisième), €6,750 from Grade 10 to Grade 12 (seconde to terminale), with a reduction from the third child. When an employer pays, the rate is roughly double: €10,090, €10,390 and €13,320.
On application: €225 up to Grade 5, €250 from Grade 6. On acceptance: €2,000, made up of a one-time €1,000 registration fee and a €1,000 advance on tuition.
These amounts remain far below those of private international schools in the area, where upper-secondary tuition exceeds €35,000 a year, at the American School of Paris, the International School of Paris or the British School of Paris.
How admission works
Admission does not depend on where you live: living in Saint-Germain gives no priority. Every enrolment first requires admission to a section, which is the first place to contact. Admission is formally granted by the local education authority, on the proposal of the head of the primary school or the lycée, once the student's ability to follow the section's teaching has been checked.
That check is based on a file and an exam that mainly tests the section's language. In primary school the test is oral or written depending on age; in collège and lycée, there is a written test and an oral. Sections recruit children of foreign families living in France, children of dual nationality, and French children who have lived in a country where the language is spoken or who have a sufficient level in it. The American Section, for instance, expects native or near-native English and tests in English at most levels.
A child who does not yet speak French can be admitted if they meet their section's criteria: the school runs a Français spécial class, a one-year adaptation programme after which students join regular classes taught in French.
What awaits the student
Maths, sciences and most subjects are taught in French, at the pace of the national curriculum, with the section's hours on top. The workload is heavy, and a student coming from an English-speaking system often discovers the French way of writing up maths; I go into this in Maths tutoring for the Lycée International de Saint-Germain. To compare with the area's other major bilingual school, see Jeannine Manuel or Saint-Germain.
At Carmine, we help families choose a section and prepare the file and the tests; our School admissions page describes this support. For maths, I teach Lycée International students in private lessons, in French or English.