News de News – 6/6/21

Following Through to the Finish !

 With intensity usually reserved for a spirited Pétanque match, our students are pushing hard to the end of school year 2020-21. Speaking of spirited, we are about to embark on Spirit Week (details below), marking our final full week of the year!

 News de Nous doesn’t stop there – Camp FASTB is looming and we have all the enrollment details; plus lots of school enrollment news, including the expanded scholarship opportunities for K & up students. We also peek in on classes and aftercare, and Adult Ed wrapped up this past week in a beautiful setting. It’s all in this I-can’t-believe-the-year-is-almost-over edition of News de Nous…

Camp FASTB is just around the corner so if you are interested in a bilingual summer camp experience for your child, please visit our Camp FASTB web page to view the details and enroll by June 14 so we can make sure we are properly staffed and supplied for the summer. We have some openings – ages 3-12 are welcome and our camp runs from June 21 through August 6.

On the Camp FASTB page, you will note the daily calendars which give you an idea of the activities we have planned in our Expédition Française d’été. Click on the calendars below to view and download the pdf files.

We announced in the last NdN that we are pleased to welcome Tamye Crutchfield as our new Camp Director this summer! Tamye brings 30 years of experience in early childhood education, serving most recently as both school director of Villa Montessori in Ohio and regional director, overseeing schools in two states operated by the same owner.

Tamye is excited to move back to Florida, having previously owned and operated a preschool in Destin. We are finalizing our staff and will be ready to welcome campers on June 21. A wonderful opportunity for your child to learn some French in the context of a wide variety of fun activities – we hope to see you this summer!

More and more families are receiving scholarship awards after the big announcement last month that the state of Florida has expanded access to its scholarship funds for the 2021-22 school year. The income ceiling for a family of four to qualify for the Florida Tax Credit and Family Empowerment scholarships is now nearly $100,000! For our current families or those considering FASTB, please click on the letter below to read the details – and click here to go right to the Step Up for Students application page to benefit from this expanded offering.

Not only is this school year coming to a close in a week and a half, but our team of News de Nous statisticians tell us that the next school year begins in 73 days! Our enrollment has grown throughout this past year and we already know we are adding a lot of new students in 2021-22, but we do have some slots available, so please contact us ASAP to set up a virtual tour.

Rising Preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade students can enter our immersion environment with no previous instruction in French. These years are foundational for language development and students at this age are particularly suited to thrive in this environment.

In case you missed them, please take a look at these articles – why it’s great to start learning a language at a young age; and this article on the cognitive benefits of multilingualism.

At FASTB, Kindergarten students are not only at a great age to learn a second language, they have the added bonus of being eligible for Florida scholarships (must be 5 on September 1), which we offer to students K & up. Please see the latest on Florida scholarships and Step Up for Students in the article above to learn how you could benefit from this great offering in Florida.

Private Virtual Tours

You hear things about language immersion, but what does it actually look like? Well, the best way to see what we do first-hand is to schedule a private virtual tour, which will take you inside our dynamic and safe classrooms to see where it all happens.

Our Director of Admissions, Audrey Talarico, is regularly conducting these tours, offering you a live look at our school in action – see and hear what French immersion is all about, observe the structure and content of lessons, view our welcoming environment and student artwork and tour the rest of the school and playground as well. You will see what makes our school unique in this region – the school days are dwindling, so please contact Audrey to schedule a virtual tour today.

We also conduct after hours in-person tours and will continue to do so through the summer.

You can also feel free to visit our Admissions page and website to further explore what we have to offer, and learn about our admissions process.

We look forward to hearing from you soon – merci !

We begin with the young ones who received a recent treat – a guest storyteller from our CP class. A great experience for the CP student to read aloud to a friendly and attentive audience, and also some inspiration for the maternelle students.

Speaking of storytelling, that same CP class also enjoyed a guest reader as Bianca (below), a volunteer from Tampa Prep, shared a story with Magali’s group and also chipped in on an art project!

Pétanque Catching On

Olivier has our elementary and middle school students turned on to a new activity – Pétanque, a French bowling game, originally developed over a century ago by Ernest Pitiot in the town of La Ciotat (thank you NdN research team). Divided into small teams, students caught on quickly, and the excitement ensued – they are that way with every new activity or sport that Olivier brings to the table, instant enthusiasm!

Outdoor fun is not limited to the school day – aftercare is full of activity, such as ping pong (above), which has the added challenge of keeping the ball on this side of the fence, and diabolo, which has captivated all ages and has inspired circus stunts such as the one below:

Headline doesn’t really make sense, but satisfies the pun requirement. After a year of online classes, many of our adult ed students got together for a soirée at the St. Pete Pier last week. Turned out to be a beautiful and enjoyable evening and a great chance to confirm that we are not all just talking heads!

Emmy is an energetic and excellent in-person adult ed instructor and she made the transition to Zoom seamlessly this year! Thank you to Emmy and all of our adult ed students for a great year!! We will be starting classes again in September – please keep an eye on our adult education page for updates.

FASTB Spirit Week comes to St. Pete this week. Each day has a different theme. Emmy’s middle school class has taken the lead and everyone is on board.

A bit challenging out of the gate with Musical Monday, sometimes known as Lyrical Lundi, Not only will everyone need to dress musically, but all interactions among staff and students that day will be in song!

Pyjama Day Tuesday, Throwback Wednesday (can dress as a historical figure or just someone from way back in the 1990’s), Crazy Hair Thursday and Fancy Friday round out the week!

Graduation Day – June 15 8:45am

Our playground will be the setting for our in-person School Graduation on Tuesday, June 15th at 8:45am. Our school community is invited to this celebration of our students to wrap up the school year!

The French American School of Tampa Bay is honored to be a Candidate School for the Primary Years Programme (PYP), officially pursuing authorization as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy – a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that FASTB believes is important for our students and aligns very well with our mission. Please click on the video below about PYP from the perspective of educators.

This is a great initial step in a process that could take up to five years for full accreditation, however, beginning this fall, we will incorporate the program into our curriculum, both in English and in French, and start building toward full authorization.

For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org.

In April, we were privileged to receive the Ambassador of France to the United States, Philippe Etienne, to our school for our inauguration and recognition of the French accreditation we earned last year. It was a great day that we were able to share with our school community – in the video below, M. Etienne shares some complimentary words about our school and the Tampa Bay area.

On Saturday, March 20, Isabelle David, Head of the French American School of Chicago, announced the The French American School of Tampa Bay has been unanimously accepted as the 51st member of AFSA, Association of French Schools in North America.

All AFSA schools are accredited by the French Ministry of Education and the association’s goals include:

Our sister school, L’École Française du Maine, has been a member for many years and Head of School Willy LeBihan is an active participant in conferences and on committees. This is a key affiliation for FASTB, along with AEFE (see video below) and MLF – benefitting our students and staff, and solidifying our standing within the large network of outstanding French schools.

We have our school calendar for 2021-22 available on our website. You will find start dates, holidays and more – just click on the image above and you can download the calendar.

Les élèves, anciens élèves, personnels et parents d’élèves du réseau AEFE ont la parole ! À travers leurs expériences et leurs regards, des témoins partagent ce que sont pour eux les forces du réseau AEFE, fort de 540 établissements dans 138 pays et rassemblant plus de 365 000 élèves, et les atouts du système éducatif français, qui participent au rayonnement de la France à l’étranger.

Students, alumni, staff, and parents of students of the AEFE network have their say! Through their experiences and views, witnesses share the AEFE network’s strengths, with 540 schools in 138 countries and more than 365,000 students. The French education system’s assets, which contribute to France’s influence abroad, are for them. Video 2 below has English subtitles.

2100 62nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33702

Telephone: (727) 800-2159

Dan Hannigan: School Director dan.hannigan@fastb.org

Audrey Talarico: Director of Admissions audrey.talarico@fastb.org

Elizabeth LeBihan: Founder and CFO

Willy LeBihan: Founder and Head of School

office@fastb.org | https://fastb.org