French Specialist Prgorams at AHS
Auburn High School is committed to offering comprehensive and highly challenging pathways to continue learning French in secondary school for students who have a bilingual profile or are coming from a French accredited school overseas.
Auburn High School is the only Victorian government secondary school accredited by the French Ministry of Education to be delivering a dual curriculum combining French and Victorian curriculum in high school.
Since 2019, Auburn High has also developed a Partial Immersion Program focusing on the Victorian Curriculum for French Bilingual students allowing them to continue their French studies and prepare at an accelerated pace for their senior years.
Both French Specialist Programs run from Year 7 (5eme) to Year 9 (3eme) in parallel to the General and SEAL programs. From year 10 onward, students join the Auburn High senior school (Lycée) and will continue their studies through VCE or IB with the opportunity to accelerate.
French Partial Immersion
· Designed for students with a high level in French (equivalent to a DELF junior A2-B1)
· Follows the Victorian Curriculum for all subjects.
· 7 hours per week in French: French advanced + 1 other subject: Science / 18 hours per week in English
End of program certification
. DELF junior B1
French Binational
· Designed for students proficient in French (equivalent to a DELF junior B1-B2)
· Follows the French National Curriculum for French Literature, Mathematics, Sciences, Humanities (core subjects) and Spanish (LV2)
· Follows the Victorian Curriculum for all other subjects: English, Arts and Technologies, Health and PE
· 14 hours per week in French / 13h per week in English and Spanish
End of program certification
. Diplôme National du Brevet (DNB
. DELF junior B2
Students in any specialist program at Auburn High School are merged with students from other streams for some of their classes to ensure that students can learn in various environment and develop social connections with all their peers.
Participation in either French Specialist Program attract an additional specialist fee of $580 per year for French Partial Immersion and $2,940 per year for French Binational Program in 2025.
Details of the FSP Payment Policy can be accessed HERE.
Enrolment Process
1. Lodge an expression of interest for AHS French Specialist Programs with the online form HERE
2. Upload supporting documentation (schooling history & last available report). These elements are used to assess eligibility for FSP programs.
3. Current Year 6 students from Victorian Government schools only: record AHS as you first preference on the placement information form lodged with your primary school by May of that year.
4. Attend a writing workshop and an interview with AHS French staff.
Year 7 (5eme) intake for 2025 is currently being finalised – additional queries for year 7 or other year levels should be directed to [email protected].
Expression of interest for Year 7 2026 intake will open in January 2025.
French Partial Immersion Program (FPIP)
Students with advanced skills in the French language are eligible to enrol in the French Partial Immersion Program. The French Partial Immersion Program focuses on the Victorian Curriculum and supports accelerated French language acquisition through an immersive approach.
Students have access to advanced language classes 4 hours a week as well as additional Victorian Curriculum subject(s) taught in French (currently Science).
Students have access to an academically challenging French language program from Year 7, completing the Year 10 Victorian Curriculum standards in three years instead of four. They may then consider accelerating into Year 11 French to complete VCE unit 1 and 2 when enrolled in Year 10.
French Binational Prgoram (FBN) - Lycee franco-australien de Melbourne
Since its inception, Auburn High School has offered to students the option of following a binational program. This program brings together students from diverse background and enable them to grow from able French speakers to fully independent and articulated bilingual individuals in both French and English.
From Year 7 to Year 9, students continue their study of French following a dual accredited curriculum that combine the Instructions officielles françaises for Cycle 4 (Year 7-9) along with the requirements of the Victorian Curriculum.
This program is accredited by the French Ministry of Education since 2016: students study the same curriculum and sit the same end of cycle examination Diplôme National du Brevet as in France. FBN students can also at any stage transition seamlessly into any French school if necessary.
Students also learn Spanish as a second foreign language, as required by the French education standard curriculum. After sitting the Brevet mid-through Year 9, the program focuses on preparing the students to start their senior years (VCE / IB program).
Recognition and Partnership
Since receiving accreditation as an AEFE school from the French government, over 130 students passed their Brevet with consistently outstanding results.
Students have also achieved excellent results in their DELF B2 examination (median score over 70%). DELF B2 is a language certificate set by the Common European Framework for Languages and required by tertiary education providers and French Universities
Auburn High School is:
a partner school in the AEFE network: 580 French schools worldwide and 70 in the Asia Pacific area working to deliver professional training and leadership opportunities ;
a founding member of the Australian Association of French Bilingual Schools (AAFEBS);· an active member of the Association of French Teachers in Victoria (AFTV) ; and
an active partner of the Alliance Française de Melbourne (AfM).