Willy LeBihan is a bilingual French-American educator with more than 30 years’ experience in international education. Founder of the French School of Maine, La Maison Française du Maine, and the French American School of Tampa Bay, he was awarded the Médaille de la Défense Nationale and the Chevalier des Palmes Académiques by the French Government for his work in Education and Culture. LeBihan is also a classical guitarist and an avid outdoorsman as he splits his time between life and schools in Maine and Florida.

In this conversation, LeBihan reflects on his family style, international approach to schooling, the central role of immersion in learning, and why clearly defined limits around technology are essential to healthy child development.

An International Family Approach to Schooling

LeBihan’s path to education was unconventional. Trained originally as a geologist in Europe, he brings a scientific mindset to his work: one grounded in observation, systems thinking, and long-term outcomes.

After moving to Maine, his wife, Beth LeBihan’s home state, he noticed a striking contradiction: a state known for its quality of life and rich cultural scene, offered no international or bilingual schooling options. In fact, there were no international schools at all north of Boston. While most international schools are located in large metropolises, Lebihan wanted to offer these opportunities to the children of Maine. Bringing together the best practices in education in the French, American and international educational systems, LeBihan’s school combines a global perspective on learning while making most of a rural, village-school setting.

“Due to our small-scale approach in an idyllic village setting, many are surprised to find a cutting-edge international institution focused on developing international mindedness through immersion education, focusing on inquiry, open-mindedness and creativity.”

Through years of school visits, conferences, and accreditation work, LeBihan observed a growing trend toward large campuses, particularly in the Northeast. In his experience, once a school surpasses roughly 150 people, something fundamental changes. Relationships thin, classrooms become more pressured, and the sense of belonging weakens. His response was intentional: a village school offering family style, international education.

In Maine, this vision took shape in a coastal fishing community of just 400 residents. While unconventional on paper, the model works. Families drawn to Maine for its slower pace and natural environment often seek the same qualities in education, without compromising academic excellence. In 2017, LeBihan opened a sister school in Tampa Bay.

The French School of Maine and The French American School of Tampa Bay are both deliberate combinations of the French National Curriculum and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. The demanding French National academic curriculum provides rigor, structure and depth in all subjects while the IB framework offers students opportunities for inquiry, perspective, and to deepen their international-mindedness. Students are supported by the rich learning communities of both schools which encourage students not only to excel but to explore, fostering curiosity and compassion for others.

Underlying this approach is LeBihan’s deep respect for childhood itself. Between the ages of two and a half and twelve, learning unfolds gradually, but its impact is permanent. He resists the urge to accelerate childhood and instead designs schools where time, presence, and human connection are foundational rather than optional.

A Coherent Curriculum Framework

The schools operate within rigorous regulatory and accreditation frameworks, including recognition by the French Ministry of Education through AEFE-MLF-AFSA, accreditation by NEASC, and state licensing requirements in Maine and Florida. In addition, both schools are official IB World Schools offering the full Primary Years Programme. These structures ensure academic excellence while protecting developmental integrity.

At the classroom level, the alignment between the French National Curriculum and the IB Primary Years Programme forms a clear curricular framework. Students benefit from structured academic progression alongside inquiry-based learning that values questioning, reflection, and global awareness.

Total immersion education is central to this model. Maine, a region shaped by both French and English cultural heritage, confirmed LeBihan’s belief on the importance of reviving French in Maine through immersion education, as it is proven to be the most powerful tools for shaping not only language acquisition and bilingualism, but also fostering open-minded, adaptable thinkers.

French is used transdisciplinarily across disciplines, while English is developed intentionally and strategically. Students do not simply translate. As the school states: We don’t teach French, we teach in French. At LeBihan’s schools, students know first-hand learning languages bridges new friendships and cultural insight builds cognitive flexibility and social literacy.

A simple example is mathematics. When learning long division, students may encounter both French and American methods, which may seem different on paper, but no matter how 10 is divided by 5, the answer will always be 2. Rather than privileging one, teachers compare both methods, allowing students to keep an open mind, and that even in math, there are many ways to solve the same problems.

Childhood, Community, and the Outdoors in Schools

Belonging is not an abstract value in LeBihan’s schools; it is structural. In small communities, every child is known. Relationships span across grade levels, and teachers invest in long-term continuity with families. This emotional safety is not incidental; it is a prerequisite for learning, and part of what makes school feel like family.

Daily outdoor time plays a critical role in student life. Through unstructured play, children learn negotiation, boundaries, cooperation, and self-regulation. Teachers intentionally revisit these experiences in class discussions, helping students reflect on what it means to live well within a community. Older students are given permission to explore the woods behind the school, and spend their recesses building forts under the trees. This time in nature fosters creativity, ingenuity and allows children to fully explore their own curiosities. In winter, children stand in line to sled down the hill on the playground, making most of each season Maine has to offer.

In a world increasingly driven by digital immediacy, the schools protect what childhood is quietly losing: boredom, free time, and the space to invent and roam free.

Balancing Technology with Human Connection

Equally deliberate is the school’s approach to technology. While LeBihan has a scientific background, he remains cautious of the impacts of screens on developing minds. The responsibility of schools, he argues, is balance. Children must grow up capable of deep communication, critical thinking, and genuine connection.

In early and elementary years, screens are limited and purposeful. Priority is given to oral language, handwriting, mental math, music, movement, and direct collaboration. Before the age of twelve, children must focus on foundational capacities: emotional intelligence, social interaction, physical coordination, and empathy. Technology can support these skills, but it cannot substitute for lived human experience.

LeBihan sees promise in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, but only within clearly defined boundaries. AI may one day function as a highly specialized educational tool, yet it can never replace human development. This is why, in both schools LeBihan has founded, there is both a strong no-screen policy and wider anti-screen culture within the school community.

This is why LeBihan values the IB’s discipline of inquiry so strongly. In an age of information abundance, discernment matters more than access. AI can be powerful, but only if students are taught first to question, verify sources, and think independently.

Ultimately, his philosophy is simple: technology should enhance learning, never displace it. Schools must remain places where children remain children: free to talk, play, argue, reconcile, and grow together, in order to grow into thoughtful, compassionate, global citizens.