Félicitations to TFS’ Latest Brevet Recipients

On the beautiful morning of March 24th, 65 Level III students stood in front of their parents, peers and teachers, to receive the Diplôme National du Brevet des Collèges from M. Jérôme Cauchard, Consul Général de France. The formal ceremony, and delightful breakfast, marked the culmination of years of hard academic work, and successful completion of a series of external exams taken in June 2009 at the end of Level II and conducted in French.

Before receiving their diplomas, M. Cauchard and his associate, M. Joel Savary, Attaché Culturel au Consulat de France, addressed the assembled guests. M. Cauchard remarked that “when learning French, you are not just learning a language; you are also learning part of the history of this country,” referring to the 400 years of French being spoken in Canada. Meanwhile, M. Savary told the students “You are winners in the field of education.”

Preparing for the Brevet diploma is optional at TFS. However, it forms an integral part of the School’s curriculum, since TFS is accredited by the French Ministry of Education to the Grade 10 level. Level II participation in the Brevet diploma has gone from an average of about 60% 15 years ago, to almost 100% today.

The Brevet is both a curriculum and the resulting exams leading to the diploma. In France, all students in classe de troisième (our Level II equivalent) write the exam, which is used as a benchmark to assess academic performance. As a result, the Brevet is designed explicitly for native French pupils. Taking the exams allows TFS students to measure their knowledge of French against that of their peers in France, in many core subject areas.  As the participation rate in taking the exams has risen at the School, so has the rate of success.  Over the past five years, 97% of Brevet candidates were successful, and in 2009, that percentage was 98.5%.

As indicated by Mme Odile Téphany, Director of French Studies, receiving the Brevet diploma is “truly a milestone in your education at TFS. It marks a point of turning into fully bilingual adults.”