The Lycée Français de Toronto is a French non-profit school located at 2327 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1995, the LFT has 400 students in 2010-2011 with an average of 16 students per classroom.
The Lycée Français de Toronto is governed by the French Ministry of Education and therefore evolves with developments and changes in the French educational system, in accordance with the accreditation requirements of the Agency for French Teaching Abroad (AEFE); hence a large proportion of the teachers and the headmaster, Dominique Duthel, being qualified by the French Board of Education.
The Lycée Français de Toronto offers the full range of grades in the French educational system, from pre-school to grade 12, and enriches it with an in-depth knowledge of Canadian history, geography and economy.
Since 2000, the year in which the first graduating class took the Baccalaureate examinations, our students’ results have been excellent, averaging 75% passing the exam with distinction. The LFT also offers the American option of the French Baccalaureate (OIB) with literature, language, history and geography classes specifically designed for bilingual students. These specific courses are offered in grade 10 in 2010-2011, from grade 6 to grade 11 in 2011-2012, for the first American option of the French Baccalaureate exam in 2013.
The students who wish to may prepare for and take Advanced Placement exams in “English Literature and Composition” during their graduating year, which will enable them to already have credits if enrolled in English-speaking universities.
Excellence in languages from pre-school is one of the school’s priorities. All the students have extensive hours of English lessons, from pre-school to grade 12, continuing the emphasis on academic excellence. The LFT also offers classes in Mandarin and Spanish starting grade 1 as an extra-curricular activity. In addition, Spanish as second language is part of the curriculum starting in grade 6, German as a second language from grade 7, and Mandarin on Italian as third language from grade 9.
Language learning at the LFT is in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the students can take one of the following language certification exams based on their level:
- DELE in Spanish
- ZD in German
- CILS in Italian
- HSK in mandarin
After their years at the LFT, a large proportion of the school's graduates study in some of the most competitive universities in Canada (e.g:The University of Toronto, McGill University, HEC Montréal), the United States, and Europe, a clear indication that they have managed to achieve a genuinely bilingual level. They also attend universities in France but most of them continue on to classes préparatoires (the first stage of France’s parallel elite university system).