Lycée Builds for the Future

The Lycée Français de New York has launched Ponts vers l’avenir – Building for the Future, a five-year strategic plan that sets an ambitious direction for the school’s next chapter. Building on 90 years of French bilingual educational excellence, the plan combines academic initiatives, expanded learning opportunities, and a major campus extension to support future generations of students.

The Lycée’s vision is built around three priorities: strengthening French bilingual academic excellence and innovation; fostering student belonging, well-being, and flourishing; and preparing courageous citizens for an interconnected world.

“A Lycée education must continue to be academically rigorous, bilingual, and truly human-centered,” said Head of School Jérémie Bourdon during the plan’s official launch. “Our responsibility is to cultivate 21st-century literacies, not only knowledge and skills, but also judgment, integrity, responsible action, and, as part of our school values, épanouissement and joy.”

At the heart of the plan is a 22,000 square-foot building extension featuring a new STEM center, an outdoor garden laboratory for science and sustainability, and dedicated spaces for student creativity, well-being, and academic advising.

Among the initiatives outlined in the plan are the creation of La Passerelle – Institute for Bilingual Teaching, Research and Innovation, a center dedicated to faculty training and development, and the introduction of a two-year French bilingual International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IDBP) to open in 2028, expanding the pathways available to students alongside the school’s current French Baccalauréat and Baccalauréat Français International.

Together, these investments reflect a vision for learning that is innovative, human-centered, and deeply connected to the needs of students.

This strategy was developed through a collaborative process involving the Board of Trustees, the Head of School, a dedicated task force, the school’s leadership team, and extensive consultation with parents, faculty, staff, and students. It also builds on the Lycée’s recent NYSAIS accreditation process, which involved a comprehensive assessment of the school’s strengths and future opportunities.

“We want to define what modern international bilingual education should look like in the 21st century,” said incoming Board Chair Charles Hatami. “The strategic plan marks an important evolution of our programming that brings together excellence in education, in our physical spaces, and in our community. These are interconnected. Great education requires great spaces, and great communities create great learning environments for our children.”

One of the plan’s most forward-looking ideas is the introduction of “Futures Literacy,” an emerging educational approach that helps students develop the ability to imagine, question, and prepare for a changing world.

“A little gem hidden in the plan is the addition of Futures Literacy to our core curriculum,” Bourdon said. “With so much change shaping our students’ lives, we want to help them become more literate in how they imagine, question, and use the future to inform the choices they make today.”

Watch the video below to learn more about Futures Literacy at the Lycée.

“Joy is not secondary to learning,” Bourdon added. “It sustains curiosity, confidence, creativity, and the desire to engage with others and with the world.”