Who we are
Teaching to think since 1933
The Lycée Français de Bilbao is a private international school created in 1933; it was then called “Escuelas Francesas de Bilbao”. It was an initiative of a group of French citizens settled in Bilbao and in particular of an industrialist Mr. Jean LAFFONTAN, who directed it until his death in 1963. His son-in-law, Mr. Gabriel JOBBE-DUVAL, succeeded him and his grandson, Mr. Antoine JOBBE-DUVAL, is currently the President of the Management Committee.
Several bilateral agreements between the French and Spanish States recognize the existence of the French College of Bilbao: the Convention of February 7, 1969, ratified by the Convention of June 2, 1977, and Royal Decree No. 806/93 of May 28, 1993.
Since 1990, the Management Committee has signed an agreement with the A.E.F.E. (Agency for the Teaching of French Abroad), a national public administrative body under the aegis of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Iberian network of 26 schools
The Lycée Français de Bilbao is a private center; it is managed by the Management Committee of the French Association of Education, Charity and Sports and by the Director of the Center, a French-appointed official.
The Lycée Français was originally created to provide schooling for French children residing in Bilbao; it currently welcomes about 850 students of French, Spanish or foreign origin from other countries.
Initially located in the neighborhood of Indautxu, it moved after the Civil War to Deusto to return in the 50’s to Bilbao. It was at that time that secondary education was introduced.
Over the next 20 years, Bilbao changed and developed, and the school followed this growth with a new center in 1968, the one we know today.
The lycée is a coeducational center that provides schooling for children from the age of 2 up to the Terminale (2nd year of Bachillerato).
The center’s fundamental objectives are quality education, learning based on the construction of knowledge and skills, and education for citizenship, all within a multicultural and multilingual framework.
Finally, the French School of Bilbao belongs to the network of French establishments of the Iberian Peninsula which groups 26 schools, colleges or high schools that spread the French language and culture within an education adapted to their environment as well as to the worldwide network of French high schools.
