How many French schools in Jeddah
Jeddah supports a small but stable French education community in 2026, anchored by a single AEFE-network school, the Lycee International Jean Mermoz de Jeddah, with a few private French sections embedded inside larger international schools providing an additional 2 to 3 hours of French language teaching a week for francophone children who cannot secure a Lycee place. This is a very different ecosystem to Dubai, where 5 French schools serve a much larger French expatriate base. Families relocating from Paris or Lyon often arrive expecting the Dubai or Casablanca density of provision and need to recalibrate quickly.
The AEFE-affiliated school in Jeddah delivers the French national curriculum from petite section through to terminale, leading to the French baccalaureat at age 18. Pupil numbers sit at around 450 across the full age range, with cohort sizes of 25 to 30 in primary and slightly smaller groups in lycee. This gives the school a personal community feel, but it does also mean that subject choice at the seconde, premiere and terminale levels is narrower than in Paris or even Riyadh. The school is homologated by the French Ministry of Education, which means qualifications carry the same weight as a French national school.
Outside the AEFE-affiliated provision, francophone families have two practical options. Larger international schools in Jeddah, including JKIS and BISJ, accept fluent French speakers into their English-medium programmes and provide private after-school French tutoring through external providers such as Alliance Francaise Jeddah. The second option is the Cours Pi or CNED distance learning route in parallel with an English-medium school day, used by families who plan to return to France within 2 or 3 years and want pure French syllabus continuity for the baccalaureat.
Fees and the AEFE system
French curriculum tuition in Jeddah works very differently to British or American provision. The Lycee Jean Mermoz uses an AEFE fee scale benchmarked to French education costs, with annual tuition ranging from SAR 28,000 in maternelle through to SAR 55,000 in terminale. This is materially cheaper than the SAR 75,000 to SAR 110,000 typical at the premium IB and British schools in the city. The AEFE network also operates a bourse scolaire bursary scheme for French passport holders, which can reduce fees substantially for lower-income French families. Bourses are awarded by the French consulate in Jeddah after a means-tested application.
Non-French passport holders pay the standard fee schedule with no bursary access but at considerably lower cost than the premium tier of Jeddah international schools. The school charges a one-time registration fee of around SAR 5,000 and an annual school cooperative fee covering trips, materials and library access. Our Jeddah fees guide walks through the all-in cost picture across curricula. The fees comparison tool sets the AEFE Jeddah pricing against the Dubai, Riyadh and Doha equivalents for direct comparison.
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Illustrative example providers
The three providers below are illustrative, not a ranking. Each plays a distinct role in the small Jeddah francophone education market.
Lycee International Jean Mermoz de Jeddah, the single AEFE-network school in the city, runs the full French national curriculum from maternelle through to terminale. The school sits in the Al Hamra district and serves a mix of French passport holders, Saudi-French dual nationals, Lebanese, Tunisian, Moroccan and Algerian families. Average baccalaureat results sit in the 88 to 92 per cent pass band with strong placement into Paris-based universities and grandes ecoles preparatory classes back in France.
Alliance Francaise Jeddah, the cultural and language partner of the French embassy, does not run a school timetable but offers after-school and weekend French tuition for children attending English-medium international schools. This is the most common solution for francophone families who arrive after the Lycee main admissions window and find places full.
Cours Pi and CNED distance providers are used by around 30 to 40 Jeddah families a year, mostly in cases where the parents are on a 1 to 2 year contract in Saudi Arabia and plan to slot their child back into a French lycee on return. The child typically attends an English-medium school by day and completes CNED material in the evenings under parental supervision, with a structured French baccalaureat examination booked at the French consulate or a third country.
Where French families live
The francophone community in Jeddah clusters around Al Hamra and Al Rawdah, both central residential districts with established villa compounds and reasonable proximity to the Lycee Jean Mermoz. Older French expatriates often live in independent villa rentals along the Tahlia Street axis, while newer arrivals on engineering, construction or healthcare contracts gravitate to the compound housing along the northern Corniche where compounds offer pool and gym facilities behind security gates.
Jeddah's French community is smaller than its Riyadh counterpart by roughly half, with around 1,800 registered French passport holders in the western region according to consulate figures, against 3,200 in the central region around Riyadh. The community is closely-knit, with the Alliance Francaise running a weekly Saturday cafe meet and a strong WhatsApp parents group used by families to coordinate transport, hand down uniforms and pass on information about local services. Our Jeddah neighbourhoods guide gives a fuller picture of the residential geography.
Admissions and the baccalaureat pathway
The Jeddah school year runs August to June, matching the Saudi national calendar. Lycee Jean Mermoz applications for the August 2026 academic year opened in October 2025 and closed for the main intake by February 2026. The school maintains a waiting list, with mid-year transfers possible up to fin de cinquieme (Year 8 equivalent) but progressively more difficult thereafter. Premier and terminale transfers are essentially impossible because the baccalaureat coursework, controle continu marks and subject specialisation are already locked in.
The baccalaureat itself follows the post-2021 French reform structure with two specialty subjects in premiere narrowing to two specialties plus an optional third in terminale. Most Jeddah francophone families take the standard mix of mathematics, physics-chemistry and either history-geography or sciences economiques et sociales. The Saudi Ministry of Education requires the school to deliver Arabic Language for all Arab nationals and Islamic Studies for all Saudi nationals, which is layered on top of the standard French timetable for the relevant pupils.
Frequently asked questions
How many French curriculum schools are there in Jeddah?
Jeddah has one AEFE-network school, the Lycee International Jean Mermoz, plus a few private French language sections inside larger international schools and the Alliance Francaise after-school provision. There is no second full Lycee in the city, so families needing French-medium baccalaureat education essentially have one school choice with CNED distance learning as the fallback.
How much does the Lycee Jean Mermoz cost?
Annual tuition runs from around SAR 28,000 in maternelle through to SAR 55,000 in terminale. French passport holders may apply for an AEFE bourse scolaire through the French consulate, which is means-tested and can reduce fees substantially. Registration is around SAR 5,000 and the cooperative fee covering trips and materials adds a few hundred riyals a year.
Does the Lycee deliver the French baccalaureat?
Yes. The Lycee Jean Mermoz is homologated by the French Ministry of Education and follows the post-2021 baccalaureat structure with two specialties in terminale, the grand oral and the mathematics common core. Pass rates sit in the 88 to 92 per cent band and placement into French universities is strong, including occasional grandes ecoles preparatory class admissions.
Can francophone families live outside Al Hamra?
Yes, but the school does not run dedicated school buses to all parts of Jeddah, so families living in Obhur or the far north of the city face a 30 to 40 minute commute each way. Most French families settle in Al Hamra, Al Rawdah or the central Tahlia Street axis to minimise the school run, with some compound options at Cinnamon and Movenpick on the northern Corniche.
What happens if my child does not get a Lycee place?
Two common paths exist. Families either enrol the child in an English-medium school such as JKIS or BISJ with after-school French tuition through the Alliance Francaise, or they run a parallel CNED distance learning programme in French alongside an English-medium school day. The CNED route preserves French syllabus continuity for families returning to France within 2 to 3 years.
