News de Nous – 5/8/19

May 8, 2019
Bonne Fête des Mères !
 Bonjour ! To all Mom’s in our FASTB family and beyond, we salute the love, care, dedication, effort and sacrifice that you pour into raising your children on a daily basis and we wish you a well-deserved, very Happy Mother’s Day!
 This week’s News de Nous covers new developments in our ongoing Camp FASTB and Florida scholarship stories, plus classroom reports, our final Suzuki performance and extracurricular French training is on the horizon – for high school students… and adults!
Camp FASTB – Ready to Enroll!
We are just a little over a month away from the first day of Camp FASTB and we now have our enrollment materials online. Whether you have inquired previously or you are approaching us for the first time, please visit the Camp FASTB page on our website. In addition to all the camp details, you will now see a link to the enrollment page that has our online Enrollment Agreement and payment form, plus a pdf with emergency and medical forms that we will need.
Please submit the agreement and fee as soon as possible to secure your spots and allow us to properly plan and staff each camp week. Thank you for your attention to this – we are looking forward to a great first summer of Camp FASTB!!
FASTB 2019-20 – Ready to Enroll!
With the last day of this school year now incredibly less than one month away, we are finalizing 2019-20 applications and enrollments for Pre-K through 8th grade! Wherever you may be in the application process below, or if you are just now considering applying, please contact us so we can work with you to bring things to completion before summer vacation, if possible We want to make sure we have enough time to plan and have everything in place for FASTB Year 2. You can give us a call at (727) 800-2159 or email dan.hannigan@fastb.org.
Below is the sequence of events for our application process (please note that there is a new online application form):
  1. 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
  2. Apply: Click here for our new online Enrollment Application which offers the convenience of applying and paying the fee entirely online
  3. 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
  4. 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!
Florida Scholarships for K-12 – Breaking News
News de Nous reported last week that FASTB has been given the “all clear” to accept Florida state scholarships in 2019-20. The breaking news this week is that, in addition to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, there is now a second income based scholarship: the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which will also be administered by Step Up for Students. Key points for this scholarship are:
  1. For students currently in public schools OR students entering Kindergarten
  2. Income thresholds are higher than those in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
If you meet the criteria in the first item above, it is definitely worth filling out the free online application to see if you qualify.
This brings the number of scholarships that we will accept in 2019-20 to five:
  1. Florida Tax Credit
  2. Family Empowerment
  3. McKay
  4. Gardiner
  5. Hope
FASTB should be listed on the websites for these scholarships sometime in the next few days – in the meantime, it is very important that you apply now if you want one of these scholarships – the way it works is that your free application is reviewed and the scholarship is awarded before you choose a school, so you can get started right away. Here are the links:
Step Up For Students (Florida Tax Credit, Family Empowerment, Gardiner, Hope Scholarships): https://www.stepupforstudents.org/for-parents/
We will announce, via News de Nous, our website and social media, when FASTB is added to the list of participating schools. Merci !
Elementary Class Frozen In Time
Our elementary class enjoyed an afternoon of sport recently, navigating various obstacles, while maintaining balance (below) and also played “un-deux-trois… soleil”, where they had to freeze on the word soleil (above). Always good to get some different types of physical activity in, especially fun games that require some focus and discipline.
Lire l’heure (telling time): Back in the classroom, time marched on as a review subject with students filling in the clocks on the board with the designated time (below). A bit of a lost art, considering the digital age in which we live!
Hands-On Approach in Pre-K
Let’s face it – when you’re 3, a hand covered in wet paint presents a lot of intriguing possibilities! In Pre-K this past week, the painted hand was a key tool in the art lesson. All parts of the hand were needed in this project – the whole hand providing the flower stalks…
…and then the fingertips added the flowers to finish the beautiful bouquet!
Art was not the only topic at hand in the Pre-K class – as firefighters and others worked on some letter and word creation as well (below)!
Suzuki Performance Set For May 16 at 2:15pm
Date and time set for our final Suzuki performance of the school year – Thursday, May 16 at 2:15 at FASTB World Headquarters (the school). Our musicians have continued their progression throughout this 6-week session and are excited to put that progress on display. We will also have a couple special guests from Suzuki Strings, who will join us to perform!
We hope to see you on the 16th – all parents are welcome to attend and cheer on the students. Thank you to our Suzuki Instructor, Jenny Diedrich, for all her work in forming our young violinists this year!!
Attention Adults – French Classes Are Coming To FASTB!
We are excited to announce that French classes for adults will be coming soon to FASTB – we have to finish working out a few details and once that is done, there will be a sign-up on our website for those interested! Stay tuned…
Attention High School French Scholars
We are also pleased to announce that, beginning this fall, we will be offering after school advanced French classes for high school students, who wish to pursue a greater proficiency in the language. The Diplôme d’Etudes de Langue Française (DELF) is a certification of French language abilities for non-native speakers, administered by the International Centre for French Studies for the French Ministry of Education.
The program includes six different units (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), with each leading to an exam and, if passed, a French diploma. The last levels of the program can give access to French universities without having to take another proficiency test before enrolling. US colleges also recognize the value of these diplomas and they are also be very valuable professionally as proof of fluency in French.
If you or someone you know might be interested in this program, please contact the school. You can click on the photo above, or here, to view the brochure pdf. Merci !
FASTB Calendars 2018-19 AND 2019-20
To access the 2019-20 calendar, click on the image below left and you can download a pdf. To access this year’s calendar before it becomes a collector’s item, click the image below right. Please also check the Events tab on FASTB.org periodically for more specific information on certain events. Merci !
Multimedia Maine School
Recently, our school in Maine, L’Ecole Française du Maine, was featured on the local NBC affiliate – great job by Willy LeBihan, the students and parents who participated in the story!! Click here to view the feature.
Don’t forget to visit the Blog and Instagram of the school up north – Year 18 is in the home stretch!
Meet The Founders
The French American School of Tampa Bay, (FASTB), founded in February 2017 by Elizabeth and Willy LeBihan, offers a unique immersion school experience to students from Early Childhood through grade 12.
Inspired by their successful creation of L’Ecole Française du Maine: The French School of Maine 18 years ago, the Founders decided to put their experience and devotion for education to work in the Tampa Bay area they have grown to know and love.
2100 62nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33702
Telephone: (727) 800-2159
Dan Hannigan: School Director dan.hannigan@fastb.org
Elizabeth LeBihan: Founder and Admission Director admission@fastb.org
Willy LeBihan: Founder and Head of School director@fastb.org
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2100 62nd Ave N
St. Petersburg, FL 33702

Email: office@fastb.org
Tel: (727) 800-2159

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