Feeling Write at Home !
Uh oh – the puns are back! At least we resisted sharing silly school-at-home dialogues such as, “House French school going?” “A-maison !”
Moving right along, in this week’s News de Nous, parents share photos of their children participating in L’Ecole à la Maison and the French Embassy has some terrific cultural links to share to help lift your spirits during this time. Plus, we have scholarship & enrollment info, Camp FASTB info and we had to dig deep to find this week’s FASTB Flashback in a very eventful April 2019…
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L’Ecole à la Maison – Photo Sharing
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In what may be the most comfortable looking desk chair in Tampa Bay, our middle school student above takes a moment to acknowledge the camera – one of many photos submitted by parents this week, depicting their children in the throes of school at home. Please keep sending them in!
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Whether deep in a reading assignment (above) or deep in potting soil (below), students have been all-in in class activities, on their own as you see here, and during live videoconferencing sessions.
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Technology makes school at home possible and allows students to see their classmates, but we all miss each other and long for the day that we can be together again at school – a feeling captured in the photo below…
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Plongez-vous dans la Culture Française
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“Immerse yourself in French Culture” is the message from Gaëtan Bruel, the Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy in the United States, and he has put together a very large selection of online offerings for those of you looking for a bit of an escape from stay at home life. Click here and see the Embassy’s list of links that will transport you to the best of French art, music, dance, film, drama, literature and virtual reality. The page is continually updated so check back every so often to see what is new.
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FASTB Flashback – Garden of Eatin’
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This week’s FASTB Flashback takes us back about a year to one of our first field trips – visiting a beautiful half-acre vegetable farm in downtown St. Pete, the 15th Street Agrihood, as guests of our friend and Urban Food ParkFounder, Emmanuel Roux (below). With Mr. Roux, who is French and also owns and operates Gateau O Chocolat, students, parents and FASTB staff toured the farm, learned about organic farming and the cycles of nature, and discovered many tasty items along the way!
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FASTB Flashback 2 – Has it been a year already?
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Hard to believe, but one year ago today Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris caught fire in a horrifying scene that shocked the world. Fox13 (above) came to FASTB that day, as the cathedral was burning, seeking some context for what seemed at the time to be the total destruction of the 850 year old structure. In the end, the spire and much of the roof were destroyed, but reconstruction efforts were set to move forward in March, before being delayed due to the virus.
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For many of you considering FASTB for your child or children in the 2020-21 school year, we understand that the current situation has created many uncertainties in your lives. You may also be wondering what the impact will be on our school, so our Founder and Head of School, Willy LeBihan, is available to do private videoconferences with families to discuss these matters. For those who have not previously visited the school, Willy is also available to do a live virtual tour with you. Please email dan.hannigan@fastb.org if you are interested in setting up a meeting or a tour. We are currently accepting applications for 2020-21 and below you will find the sequence of steps to apply and enroll at FASTB:
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- Inquiry: Submit the Application Inquiry Form on our web site and we will contact you to set up a school visit to give you more information about FASTB and answer questions
- Apply: Click here for our online Enrollment Application which offers the convenience of applying and paying the fee entirely online
- Interview: After receiving the completed application we set up a parent or guardian and child interview to assess readiness and ability to benefit from our program
- Acceptance & Enrollment: Upon acceptance, an Enrollment Contract must be signed and deposit paid to secure a spot for the upcoming year
Please visit FASTB.org and click on the Admission tab for more on the process, tuition, financial aid and more – we look forward to hearing from you!
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2020 Florida Scholarships – Accepting Applications Now
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The current crisis has impacted many of you financially and our Florida scholarship partners have announced that, despite the disruptions in schools, they are accepting and processing applications for 2020-21 – all are welcome to apply.
FASTB accepts Florida state scholarships and we are a participating school on the Step Up for Students, AAA Scholarships, Family Empowerment andMcKay Scholarship websites, so when you apply and you are awarded a scholarship, you can opt for our school there.
Please note that there are two income based scholarship offered by the state of Florida: the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which was created just last year. Key points for the FES are:
- For students currently in public schools OR students entering Kindergarten
- Income thresholds are higher than those in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
If you meet the criteria in the first item above, it will definitely be worth filling out the free online FES application to see if you qualify.
The total number of scholarship programs that we will accept in 2019-20 and 2020-21 is five:
- Florida Tax Credit
- Family Empowerment
- McKay
- Gardiner
- Hope
Here are the links:
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Our FASTB calendar for the 2020-21 school year has been released – you can click on the calendar image above to find out when school starts and ends, and everything else in between.
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Camp FASTB Is Back – Enrollment Is Open
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Camp FASTB Year 2 is on track to begin in July and you can enroll your child today by visiting the camp page on our website. Our French Immersion camp is open to children ages 5 to 12 (must turn 5 as of Sept 1, 2020) and will begin the week of July 6, and run 4 consecutive weeks to the end of the month – you can sign up for 1, 2 , 3 or 4 weeks and we have both full & half day options. Please contact us at (727) 800-2159 if you have any questions – Merci !
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FASTB Featured in February Courrier de Floride
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In the February edition of Le Courrier de Floride, you’ll find a terrific feature story about FASTB, written by founder Gwendal Gauthier, who interviewed FASTB Head of School, Willy LeBihan, and teachers Olivier & Magali Guilhem, about the progression of our school in year two, as well as the evolution of French education and how it works in our immersion environment.
Thank you to Le Courrier de Floride for this wonderful article !
Until next time, wishing you all good health and safety – merci !
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2100 62nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33702
Telephone: (727) 800-2159
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