Secondary admissions
Please read this guidance carefully before applying for a place. It explains priorities and other important issues which you need to know before applying.
Tests for entry to Secondary classes - These take place in April/May each year for external candidates. A further testing session is normally available in late August for those arriving in the region during the summer .
External candidates need to contact Mme Sandrine Cretenoud, secretary to the Proviseur, by email, phone on 04 50 40 00 00, or by letter at the following address: Lycée International, Avenue des Sports, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France.
General Points
The Programme’s principal aim is to provide tuition in English, History-Geography (and the option of Mathematics) at mother tongue level for first language and good second language speakers of English, working in the context of, and in co-operation with, the French educational system within the Cité Scolaire Internationale, Ferney-Voltaire.
This tuition generally occupies six to eight hours in the secondary timetable each week. All other hours and subjects are taught in French following the French state curriculum.
Admission to the Programme is not automatic. If fundamental decisions about coming to the 'Pays de Gex' or the Geneva area (or about your children's educational future) depend upon a place in the Programme, you must enquire about the likelihood of gaining a place before taking these.
Entrance Testing
There are written and oral entrance examinations in English for all Collège and Lycée levels. These take place on Friday 5th April this year (2024) and are normally placed on the same day as tests in French and Mathematics organised by the Lycée/Collège. The Programme tests all pupils, regardless of their school of origin.
The Lycée/Collège runs tests in French and Mathematics for students who are not transferring from a French school, who are therefore coming from a foreign educational system. Pupils coming directly from a French school recognised by the French Ministry of Education are not tested in these subjects. The decision of their last ‘conseil de classe’ is applied in the Lycée/Collège. In the Lycée students are expected to have competence in French in order to be admitted to an International Section.
A further testing session is held just before the school re-opens in September for families new to the area. It is recommended that children attend the earlier (April) testing session if at all possible.
Places and admission priorities
Many pupils joining the Secondary section of the English National Programme in 6ème (the first year of secondary education in France) come from the English National Programme Primary section however admission is not automatic. All pupils for 6ème, both those in the Primary section and new pupils, take the same type of test and results are compared in what is, in effect, one testing session. We admit around 90 - 95 students per year group.
Within the group of students who achieve a pass mark in any test, priority is given to children of CERN employees (that is, those who are employed directly by CERN).
Secondary pupils of parents living in Switzerland are accepted by the school at the discretion of the Proviseur (Head of the Cité Scolaire Internationale). The Programme undertakes to test such Swiss residents, but cannot guarantee them admission by the school.
Application for admission
The English National Programme is an International Section within the Cité Scolaire Internationale. Pupils must therefore be accepted for a place in the school to be admitted to the Programme.
You must contact both the Cité Scolaire and the English National Programme for admission, since both must accept your application. Please see contact details below.
Admissions decisions
The English National Programme passes the results of all tests to the Proviseur of the Cité Scolaire Internationale who, reporting to the French Inspecteur, is responsible for offering places in the school and in the International Sections. Final decisions about the main testing session in April are sometimes not made until June or early July.
Families resident in Switzerland may have to wait until the beginning of the school year in September for the Proviseur’s final decision.
ENP cannot communicate test results to families.
When your child is accepted onto the Programme you agree to become a member of the ALA-ELP association, the body which finances and runs the Programme, to abide by its statutes and conditions, as determined by the committee of the Association, on receipt of invoices. You must become an Association member if you wish to place your child in the Programme.
Further information and communication
Important information on the ALA-ELP Association, fees charged for tuition, and the Programme in general is available elsewhere on this website. Please read this information carefully before proceeding further with admissions. It is assumed that all parents have read and understood the Tuition fees page on this website before they proceed with applying for a place.
To contact the Programme, email administration@enpferney.org or telephone 04 50 40 82 66. Our administrative staff will be pleased to help you.
All decisions regarding testing for the Programme are taken by the Head of Programme. The local Inspecteur with the responsibility for International Sections makes and publishes the final decisions concerning admissions based on recommendations from the Proviseur.
For admission to the Lycée/Collège please contact Mme Sandrine Cretenoud, secretary to the Proviseur, by email, phone on 04 50 40 00 00, or by letter at the following address: Lycée International, Avenue des Sports, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France.