Headmasters’ Welcome
We begin the 2026/2027 academic year with energy and enthusiasm, following a year of progress, projects and achievements for the Lycée franco-chypriote.
In choosing our school, you have chosen an ambitious institution with strong academic foundations, as well as a close-knit community where personal relationships, individual attention and a warm atmosphere are central to school life. This combination of high expectations and care is our strength, and we are committed to preserving it at every stage of our development.
Our school continues to grow steadily. In Limassol, our campus welcomes more than 100 pupils this year, with enrolment increasing by over 60% in just one year. This remarkable growth reflects its appeal, its vitality and the growing trust placed in it by families. In Nicosia, enrolment remains strong and has even increased slightly. In a highly competitive environment, this trend is particularly encouraging and reinforces our ambitions.
Multilingualism is also a source of pride and a key strength of our educational approach. Combined with a rigorous academic education and the recognition enjoyed by the French Baccalauréat, it opens doors to leading universities and prestigious higher education institutions around the world. Beyond language proficiency, we nurture cultural openness and the ability to thrive in international settings—qualities that will serve our pupils throughout their lives.
This academic year also marks a major milestone in our school’s history: the École franco-chypriote becomes the Lycée franco-chypriote, with a new name, a new logo and a refreshed visual identity. Beyond a much-needed update to our image, this change supports the ongoing transformation of our school. It reflects our growth, our increasingly professional approach and our ambition, while expressing more clearly who we are: a Franco-Cypriot school welcoming pupils from nursery through to the Baccalauréat, firmly rooted in Cyprus and fully integrated into the French education network abroad.
This new identity builds on the many improvements achieved over the past year. We will now continue and intensify these efforts. Further developing the professionalism of our services, modernising our campuses and improving our tools and organisational processes will remain central to our work. In Nicosia, the refurbishment of the sixth-form common room over the summer and the creation of a security lodge at the entrance are tangible examples of this commitment. In Limassol, the installation of air conditioning in all classrooms and the addition of a new classroom are helping us accommodate growing pupil numbers and improve the learning environment as we look ahead to the future campus.
We will also continue to broaden and enrich our provision for pupils and families: expanded extracurricular activities, learning support and tutoring, the “Learn to Swim” programme, and sporting, cultural, language and citizenship projects. Sport plays an important role in this, particularly through participation in local and international competitions, including the International Youth Games and the Cyprus School Athletics Championships. All these initiatives share the same ambition: to continually improve the support we provide to our pupils and, more broadly, the quality of school life for everyone.
However, our ability to fulfil this ambition is shaped by a particularly challenging budgetary context, which requires discipline, responsibility and careful choices. Working hand in hand with the Management Committee, and in the spirit of transparency and dialogue that guides our work, we will continue to act responsibly to safeguard what we have achieved, sustain the improvements made and secure our school’s stability and growth. Our core mission will always guide us: to provide our pupils with the best possible conditions to learn, flourish, succeed and strive for excellence.
In pursuing these goals, the Lycée franco-chypriote benefits from strong institutional ties. Our school is a tangible expression of the special relationship between France and the Republic of Cyprus. This bilateral cooperation has grown even stronger in recent months through the strategic partnership between our two countries and the official visit to Cyprus last spring by the President of the French Republic, Mr Emmanuel Macron.
We therefore approach this new academic year with confidence, a clear understanding of the challenges ahead and determination. Growth means more than welcoming additional pupils. It means supporting them more effectively, enriching their educational experience, strengthening our teams and services, improving our working environment, and providing everyone with ever better conditions for learning and personal development. It also means ensuring that every family continues to experience the accessibility, attentiveness and warmth that define our school community.
I would like to extend my warmest thanks to our entire community—pupils, families, staff, the Management Committee, partners, and French and Cypriot institutions—for their trust, commitment and loyalty to our school.
I wish you all an excellent 2026/2027 academic year, filled with discovery, inspiring projects, personal growth and success.
Eric Szarzynski
Head of School
The French-Cypriot school figures
Our history
Located in the center of Nicosia, in the Saint Joseph School’s premises on Saint Maron Street, the French School of Nicosia opens its doors.
The school changes its name to Ecole Française Arthur Rimbaud and signs its first agreement with the ‘AEFE’, Agency for French Education Abroad.
The school celebrates its 10th anniversary. Middle and High School classes are created and supervised by the CNED (National Centre for Distance Education).
The school has now been operating for 20 years, and the foundations of the Franco-Cypriot School are emerging.
Inauguration of the EFC.
The EFC is accredited by the ‘AEFE’ up to the Baccalauréat
The Limassol school opens.
Our Assets
The value and strength of the French curriculum
The EFC is accredited by the French Ministry of Education and by the Cypriot Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Education. Pupils follow the French curriculum from Nursery School through High School. They are prepared to take the French standard exams (Diplôme National du Brevet) in Year 10 (3ème) and the Baccalauréat diploma in Year 12 and 13 (première et terminale).
Further studies in France and internationally
Attending a French school provides a privileged pathway for further studies both in France and internationally. The French Baccalauréat is recognized in many countries and is considered one of the most prestigious diplomas around the world. It enables our pupils to pursue their studies not only in France but also in many European countries (such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain…) or internationally (United States, Canada…).
The ‘AEFE’, the strength of the network
The ‘AEFE’ is the French public agency overseeing and coordinating the network of French educational institutions abroad. The ‘AEFE’ constitutes the world’s largest educational network within which its accredited schools offer educational continuity from Nursery School to the Baccalauréat. Being part of this dynamic, attractive, and open-minded global network allows our schools to provide a particularly enriching education. The stated ambition across the network is educational excellence thus supporting the success of all students. Most graduates from the network subsequently gain admission to prestigious French ‘Grandes Ecoles’ (business and engineering top schools) and leading international universities.
Multilingualism at the core of the educational project
From Nursery School onward, students are immersed in a multicultural and bilingual environment, benefiting from instruction in French and Greek. In primary school, they start learning English as well. Through this curriculum, our pupils are fluent in three languages (French, Greek, and English) by the end of Key Stage 2 (‘Cycle 3’). They reach the Baccalauréat with an excellent linguistic background, a significant asset for their higher education applications and future careers.
Agency for French Education Abroad (‘AEFE’)
Founded in 1990, the ‘AEFE’, the Agency for French Education Abroad is a national public institution under the supervision of the ‘MEAE’, Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs. As the educational operator of the ‘MEAE’, the primary objective of the ‘AEFE’, is to support, promote, and develop a unique school network worldwide. As of the 2025 academic year, this network consists of 612 institutions across 138 countries, providing education to French and international children destined to become enlightened citizens.
138
Countries
612
Schools
>400.000
Students
Our team
Contacts
Nicosie
20 Konstantinou Kavafi street, 2121 Aglantzia, Cyprus
P.O. Box 22091 – 1517 Nicosia
secretariat@efchypre.com
+357 22 66 53 18
Office Hours: 7:45 a.m. to 16:15p.m.
Limassol
Ptolemeon, Limassol 3041
secretariat-lim@efchypre.com
+357 25 35 59 00
Office Hours: 7:45 a.m. to 14:30 p.m.