After joining the French Resistance and becoming a member of the London Free French in 1940, Jeannine Manuel returned to France for the Liberation of Paris in August 1944. She returned firmly convinced that ignorance breeds fear and that fear is the root cause of human conflict. Scroll down to find out more about our school’s fascinating history and Jeannine Manuel’s extraordinary vision.
In September 1954, the École Active Bilingue opens its doors in a former townhouse on Avenue de la Bourdonnais in Paris’ 7th arrondissement.
For Jeannine Manuel :
The aim of education is to help shape ‘whole’ people, individuals aware of their presence in this world, engaged in its history, and ready to play a part in world affairs.
Faced with a severe lack of space, Jeannine Manuel opened a new school near Parc Monceau with the help of a new investor. However, in 1979, the two schools underwent an official split. Jeannine Manuel consequently opened another school, where she was joined by many of her former teachers and families who believed in her methods. The school was renamed the École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel (EABJM) and opened its doors on 70 Rue du Théâtre in Paris’ 15th arrondissement.
In 1992, École Jeannine Manuel established a new campus in Marcq-en-Barœul, a few kilometers from Lille. Its boarding school welcomes international students from all over the world.
In 2004, one year after Jeannine Manuel’s death, the Fondation Jeannine Manuel was established under the patronage of the Fondation de France. The Fondation’s mission is to support École Jeannine Manuel and to encourage the development of other schools with a similar mission and pedagogical approach.
On the occasion of its sixtieth birthday, the school was officially renamed École Jeannine Manuel and underwent a visual rebrand. A new logo was designed and the school chose a new motto that perfectly encapsulates Jeannine Manuel’s original vision for the school: “International understanding through a bilingual education”.
In 2015, with the financial support of the Foundation and in honor of Jeannine Manuel’s formative years in London, the school opened its first site in Bedford Square, London.
