In Esse, a small, independent secondary school in the Charente region, opened in 2022, finds itself under intense scrutiny following an academic inspection report dated October 2025. The document, reviewed by franceinfo, concerns the Aliénor d'Aquitaine school, with its approximately forty students, and its membership in the Excellence Ruralités network, described as being partly funded by investor Pierre-Edouard Stérin. More than six months later, the SE-Unsa union is raising the alarm again, a sign that the issue has not been forgotten in the administrative routine.
The first, very concrete, area of focus is hygiene and safety. The report describes lunchtimes with picnics "placed on the ground," without access to a refrigerator, and mentions a risk of food poisoning. The playground is also highlighted for safety issues, with repairs reported as having been carried out since. These are minor details, one might say. Except that in a school, details quickly become a systemic problem.
Beyond the walls, it is the school itself that is being judged.
Beyond the walls, it is the school itself that is being judged. The report then focuses on the educational organization, and the picture is less flattering. In French, the inspectors note a lack of written expression exercises and the use of textbooks deemed outdated, some of which are presented as "a reaction against the curriculum defined by the Ministry of Education." The document also mentions limitations regarding projects, cooperation between students, autonomy, research skills, and restricted access to digital tools, not to mention the lack of a suitable space for hands-on physics and chemistry experiments. When the school promises a different path, it is expected to deliver on its methods, not just on its rhetoric.
Another sensitive point is that several subjects are not included in the timetables, according to the report: moral and civic education, media literacy, and sex, relationship, and relationship education. The director disputes all the criticisms and emphasizes that the visit was conducted over a limited time, while indicating that an association will soon be addressing the last point. One sentence in the document remains particularly significant: shortcomings had already been noted in 2023 and were reportedly still present in 2025, which raises fundamental questions about monitoring and the ability of these independent schools to consistently deliver on their promise of high standards.
Community
Comments
Comments are open, but protected against spam. Initial posts and comments containing links undergo manual review.
Be the first to comment on this article.