One of ELSA’s most important responsibilities is to inform and guide English-speaking families newly arrived in France and, therefore, unfamiliar with the particularities of the French Education system. ELSA acts as an advice centre, offering to such families access to a network of schools able to cater for their educational and linguistic needs.

ELSA’s initial responsiblity is to explain how the system works, as well as making explicit the various options open to English-speaking families settling in France. State, state-contracted (i.e. semi-private) and fully private education in France have different qualities and it is of the utmost importance that families understand what is on offer before taking the all-important decision of enrolling their child or children.