History

Envisioning a New School

The French Academy was founded in February 2007 by Anne-Sophie Gueguen who was dreaming of a bilingual education for her 4 children. Nothing existed in Northern New Jersey. Her dream became reality on Bastille Day, July 14th, 2007. The French Academy offered its first class in September 2007.

A Timeline

• September 2007. The French Academy opens in St. Mary’s Parish, in Dumont, NJ. There are 25 children in the afterschool program, which meet on Wednesday, Thursday afternoon or on Saturdays.

• September 2008. The Academy expands, offering Preschool and Kindergarten classes. This is beginning of the Full Time School. The plan is to open an additional grade every year in order to grow with the children.

• April 2009. The French Academy receives its accreditation from the Middle States Association on Elementary schools. For more information, visit www.msa-ces.org

This was a critical accomplishment, the result of five months of hard work by the teaching team, parents and board members. Together, they created an in-depth “self study” report, which explained our mission and beliefs, curriculum, organization and student services. The 150+ page report was submitted and a bilingual team from the Middle States Association spent three days looking into our files and observing our classrooms.

The Association stated: “The Middle States Association’s team commends FABC for its enormous accomplishments in such little time and with such limited resources. A dedicated, well-trained faculty and strong leadership seem to be at the heart of the school’s rapid success.”
The final report from The Middle State Association is available upon request.

• June 2009. 54 children are registered in both afterschool programs and full time school.

• September 2009. The French Academy opens its first first grade class.

• June 2010. The French Academy continues to grow. After an exhaustive search for a new facility, and other sizeable challenges, an ideal school building becomes available at the last minute. It is a perfect fit. New Milford is our new home on July 1^st.

• September 2010 and beyond. The second grade opens in New Milford. A second campus opens in Morris Plains, NJ to answer the needs of an important Francophile community. 220 children are registered in all programs.