About TES

Taiwan Parenting
1

TES is split up in several ways. There is the lower campus, near ZhiShan Metro station, and there is the upper campus, up on Yang Ming Shan. There are the British, German, and French sections. The British section is the largest, and the lower campus now covers Infants “nursery” through “Year 6” (what USA or Taiwan would call 5th grade). “Year 7” and up students move from to the upper campus, and for H1 - H4 (“high school”) the 3 nationalities all merge as well, with many students electing to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum.

Enrollment
In 2014 I estimate approximately 1380 students enrolled across all 14 years, 3 country groups, and 2 campuses. Many are Taiwanese children who also hold a foreign passport.

Faculty
Approximately 80 faculty

Tuition
The tuition varies by grade and by country, and can be found here taipeieuropeanschool.com/page.php?page_id=19
As a ballpark, for the British Section, 2013-2014 fees would break down approximately as follows.
Year 1 - 6 NT$399,000 per year

Additional Mandatory Costs
Registration Fee NT$50,000
Capital Development Fee (per annum) NT$60,000 (discount for 2nd and 3rd child)

Thus for example if you sent your child to Year 2 (“1st grade”) grade at TES starting in September 2014 your total cost would be 399,000+50,000+60,000 or about $16,700 USD and change. TES also offers additional support in English language (EAL) and Special Education Needs (SEN) when required, and charges for it appropriately.

Again, Taipei European School has 4 sections: British, French, German, and High School. They share facilities. You don’t have to be French or German or British to apply to either sub-school. In fact many of the students are from Taiwan. You do have to present a non-Taiwan passport for your child, by Taiwan law. The tuition is different across these sections, so the above is just one example, visit their website for full details.

At the time of this post, I understand the British section is full at many grade levels. The smaller but active French and German sections are actively seeking to expand with more students. As a parent, I would talk to all 4 alternatives (TAS, and then talk to each sub-section of TES) in choosing a school.

The national sub-schools merge at the High School level, where most take the International Baccalaureate program (somewhat analogous to AP or A-levels). For further explanation, see taipeieuropeanschool.com/ The upper campus is up on Yang Ming Shan mountain, and is embarking on construction and expansion. The lower campus is near Zhi Shan metro stop (and surrounded by government buildings under construction).

Links
taipeieuropeanschool.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_European_School
ibo.org/

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I will complete with what I know best at TES: the French Section (FS).
Contrary to the British Section, the French and German sections are backed by their respective government. They must follow strict rules concerning the curriculum and the school schedule to receive accreditation. It is why sometimes the FS has an holiday that the other sections don’t have: students can not go to class more than x days a year, this is imposed by the French government. It is the same for the more than 500 French schools accredited by the AEFE worldwide.

While the three sections share many common points, the FS has a specificity: it has a French-English bilingual program. This means there is a French speaking teacher one day and an English speaking teacher the next. The English speaking teacher is usually British, Australian or American but he does not teach English. He teaches the French curriculum in English! What happens is the kids become bilingual after 2 or 3 years even if they don’t have English speaking parents. And if the kids have a Taiwanese parent, they will be trilingual long before secondary school.

Speaking French in addition to English can be very useful to students who want to go to the USA as an European language is often required by universities there.

This bilingual program contributes to the French section having many different nationalities represented: Primarily Frenchmen of course, but also Americans, Canadians, Spanish, Mexicans, Italians, Russian, Japanese and many others. Did you know that the most numerous nationality at TES is French?

In 2013/2014 there are around 180 students in the French section.

Currently, the higher class stops two years before the French baccalaureate. But it is planned to gradually build up to and open the two missing classes in two years. This will allow the students to pass the French baccalaureate. It will be useful for French students but also the others as the French baccalaureate is widely recognized worldwide, even in Taiwan.

I invite you to go to the FS Facebook page, there is a lot to see there. It is public, you can see it even without a Facebook account.

3

Dear DBJ,

Sorry to wrong you, but our English programme in our dual French-English bilingual programme of TES French Section is based on the British education curriculum!
It is the curriculum of England, which confers us the accreditations of both the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Council of International Schools (CIS) on this part. Which is why if one was schooled in the TES-French Section Bilingual for 1 year or a number of years, one could still pass to the next level of full anglo-saxon education because of that recognition bridge given by the 2 previously mentioned bodies.

And it’s cheaper than the top other schools/sections too.

Thank you.

4

FYI Taipei European School has a group on Facebook for parents (only) across Sections to join, TES Parents Forum: facebook.com/groups/TESparentsForum/

5

That is great news fabfive. TES resisted this for years. Very glad to see them embracing it and moving into the 21st century. It does build community through parents sharing photos, ideas, and questions.