A new building for the International School — from drawing board to reality

As new ITER employees arrive from all around the world, so do their families. The International School in Manosque, which opened in 2006, is growing fast.

The school offers bilingual education: 50% of the classes are given in French whereas the other 50% are given in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese or Japanese, according to the choice of the parents. More than 100 pupils from nursery to high school level attend the school, which is currently hosted in another Manosque school, Le Lycée des Iscles.

From September 2009 however, a new school will be opened to accommodate the increasing flux of pupils which are expected as the ITER Organization welcomes more and more new arrivals.

Following a competition in July 2007, Rudy Ricciotti, the company Léon Grosse and the architect Jean-Michel Battesti, were selected to build the future International School, which will be located near the current location on a 7 hectares site.

Construction of the new buildings, with a capacity for about 1000 pupils, will start this summer and delivery will be spread out over 2 years, to allow the first pupils to move in at the beginning of the school year 2009/2010.