The following is a description of a ministry project of Impact France in collaboration with ELAH.
Promoting a quality education based on Christian values
ELAH
- open to all
- innovative
- hands-on
- educational community
Created in April 2017 by a group of parents, our association, ELAH, is an educational community built on the Christian values of transmission, sharing and respect.
Our association hopes to offer:
- a quality, innovative education in a reasonably sized elementary and secondary school,
- a wide range of cultural activities and events in relation to childhood, family life and parenthood,
- additional after school care and junior high school developed over time.
Our History
2017-2018: ELAH started and ran a small independent school with 10 children aged 3 to 7.
2018-2022: ELAH has been gathering around twenty home-schooling Christian families for informal activities and mutual support.
Today: ELAH is in the process of buying a house in Fresnes (94), near Paris, in order to open a school of 100 spots.
A Villa for ELAH
After five years of experience as an association and having already started and operated a school in the past, we feel ready to take a new step, settle in Fresnes and build our community with a long term perspective.
With its wonderful green yard in a very convenient location south of Paris, in a culturally mixed area, right across the street from the church where we opened our first school back in 2017, this big house is perfect for our project!
Our Community
A real community that gathers families and individuals from diverse backgrounds around a specific educational philosophy :
- an education where parents, teachers and professionals cooperate and work together in close relationships,
- transmission of inherited values, the foundation for thriving in life,
- a holistic, Gospel-based approach for the personal growth of each individual involved, children and adults alike.
Our hope is to see children, parents, teenagers, educators and teachers grow and benefit from the common practice of diverse and enriching educational and cultural activities.
Each person involved will freely bring their own skills and expertise to contribute to the realization of the community’s projects.
ELAH also collaborates with several other associations specializing in family life and education to carry out and complement its actions.
Our Future School
While the French public school system is trying to keep up with the challenges of our times, an alternative to it is highly needed to meet the diverse expectations of multiple families and children. Today, there is no Protestant school in this area of the Parisian suburbs and many parents have shown great interest in the realization of our project:
- an independent, Protestant, parent-managed school
- open to all
- small multi-age classes
- a hands-on, project-based pedagogical approach that aims at the decompartmentalization of learning
- dedicated teachers, participating parents and expert input from diverse professionals for more specific subjects (such as arts, foreign languages, botany or computer engineering for example)
- an engaging prepared environment that fosters curiosity, exploration and evidence-based reasoning
- authentic and applicable biblical teaching, an introduction to the Christian faith and to prayer
- income-based tuition fees.
Our Innovation
Deeply attached to the practice and values of homeschooling, our association is working on a new concept, unknown in France and inspired by American and British models: la flexi-scolarisation.
Since COVID-19 and even more after the recent restriction on homeschooling in France, many families are looking for new alternatives and more comprehensive schools.
La flexi-scolarisation will offer a legal way for parents to take a significant part in the education and instruction of their children!
Our Highly Dedicated and Qualified Team
Mary-Colleen de Katow, future director of the school – mother of 4, English teacher and homeschooler for 12 years.
Anne-Elisabeth Fabrizio, future teacher and parent coordinator – mother of 2, psychomotor therapist for 20 years and homeschooler for 4 years.
Emmanuel, financial director, and Ludmilla Pénot, future teacher – parents of 3, homeschoolers.
Tiana Nguyen, community manager – parent of 2, painting artist and homeschooler for 5 years.
How to Contribute?
Help us get started as we are raising money for the purchase of the house:
Purchase price 895 000 €
Notary fees 61 000 €
Construction and other costs 39 000 €
TOTAL 995 000 €
We are currently working on the creation of a Société Civile Immobilière (the French equivalent of the American LLC) and hope to find associates and lenders to help us purchase the house and start the school.
Thank you for your consideration and your help!
For more information on the project, please write to ecole@asso-elah.fr or download our pitch presentation here.
By contributing to this project, you authorize Impact France to share your contact information with this partner for the purposes of communication and stewardship. If you do not wish for this partner to receive your contact information, please go to www.impactfrance.org/give and in the comments box include a note stating “Anonymous Gift for ELAH.”
