100 years of Telopea Park School. French-Australian is the perfect classroom mix

And yet Telopea Park School, Canberra's oldest public school and one of the only public bilingual schools in Australia, is 100 years old and thriving.

Back in 1983, when the Australian government signed a treaty with the French government to set up a French-Australian school in Canberra, it wasn't quite clear how it would all work.

At least, that's how it looks in hindsight; I was in the first group in 1984 to start a bilingual education in Canberra. Nearly 40 years later, my two kids are there doing the same thing, and it's both completely different and, comfortingly, the same.

But how, exactly, does it work, having two distinct curricula and learning philosophies working in tandem?

Opened in 1923 for the kids of public servants, brickwork employees and construction workers - the capital's founders and builders - Telopea was an essential public service that grew and morphed over the years to accommodate a growing city and changing educational landscape.

But by the 1970s, enrolments were dwindling and the school had to make tough decisions around its future.

Teaming up with the French government certainly did the trick; today, places for kids in the primary school are highly sought after and hard to get, especially if you don't speak French or have any connection to French culture. Numbers are strictly capped, and French or Francophone families get priority.

The high school, meanwhile, is a standard neighbourhood school, with all the problems that entails in the Canberra public system, including and especially, growing numbers of kids needing a place. There are plans to extend in the next few years, although it's not clear where.

Primary kids can choose to continue in the French stream throughout high school, and many do; some even go on to complete the famously tough French Baccalaureate.

But the kids complete the French curriculum, almost in tandem with their peers in France, while also meeting the requirements of the Australian syllabus.

Current principal Jason Holmes says navigating the cultural differences between the two teaching systems is one of his biggest challenges.

"That's a never-ending challenge, I've got to say," Holmes says.

I mention, as I do to anyone who will listen, that back when I was in primary school at the 1980s and '90s, we did half of each day in French, and the other in English (these days, the younger grades spend around 80 per cent of the time in French). The French teachers then were mainly young men doing their foreign service, when conscription was still a thing over there.

Holmes is mildly shocked; nowadays the teachers are provided by the French government's education department, and come here on secondment for anywhere up to six years.

But one thing that hasn't changed is the unavoidable culture clash. The French are very different to the Australians, and nowhere is this more marked than in the education system.

Holmes himself speaks little French, and lives on the wrong side of town for his own kids to attend. He's on a learning curve as much as the teachers.

"As a leadership team, we've spent a bit of time trying to build understanding so that we get a clearer idea of what are the requirements? What are the cultural norms that are specifically French? And what are those that are Australian? Where do they kind of blend, and where can we blend them?" he says.

"And where do we actually need to help our community understand that it operates this way, because that's who these people are."

He's not exactly spelling it out, but I know exactly what he means. French teachers are strict, and their classrooms are regimented. Australians are far more laid back - the cliche is well and truly borne out in Telopea's classrooms.

Later, I have this confirmed by the school's current proviseur, Florence Llopis. She has been at the school for two years, and before that taught at a French school in Lithuania. Telopea is part of a vast, worldwide network, Agence pour L'enseignment Francais a l'Etranger or the Agency for French Education Abroad, and many of the teachers who land here have already taught abroad in other countries.

When it comes to Australia, Llopis says the differences between the two curricula is stark.

"The French program is really founded from an academic perspective - that is, exams, tests, competencies and homework," she says (in French which I later translate - my time at Telopea has paid off).

"Lots of discipline in terms of respect for a program that's quite challenging at the academic level.

"On the Australian side, there's more emphasis on the wellbeing of the student, more autonomy in learning."

For example, she says, Australian kids sitting at a computer are encouraged to be creative and learn new things, rather than sticking to the French framework.

"I find there's more freedom given to kids, and less emphasis on achievements relating to marks and testing, and more emphasis on wellbeing and personal growth," she says.

"In France, we focus on both, but with more emphasis on the end result, the Baccalaureate."

She says the hardest thing for French teachers to get used to in Australia is the rhythm of the school year. In France, especially in high school, kids are at school from 8am to between 4.30 and 6pm, and they have heavy workloads, but there is a term break every six weeks.

They also, it must be said, obey their time-honoured tradition of a two-hour lunch break and a three-course meal served in the middle of the day - no playing, only eating - and are horrified here by the hastily scoffed sandwiches and running around in school playgrounds.

Holmes says the school is very conscious of the differences between the two systems, and the challenges new French teachers sometimes face.

"One of the things that is really clear is that when French teachers come here, they work under the regulations and requirements of the ACT, and so we run a pretty significant induction program," he says.

"And one of the first things we talk about is in relation to students, this is what you can do, and this is what you can't do. So that it's just really clear. And then we continue to work with the staff around that.

"In saying that, though, it's not a major issue. What we do know is it's much stricter in French classrooms. And it's much more direct in how the teachers talk to students."

But surely, I say, this is all part of the package? Holmes admits to some bemusement when parents object to the different teaching styles.

"It's one of those things that I struggle with a little bit, because we have people who sign up for this amazing opportunity to be embedded in French language and culture and learning ... but they don't want the French language cultural learning!"

His predecessor, Kerrie Blain, says grappling with the two systems was never a chore for her. She was principal at the school for 10 years and deputy for five, and says it's important to understand the different philosophies that underpin the two systems.

"You have to remember that French secondary teachers teach their subject. They don't do anything else," she says.

"In Australia, we teach the whole child, so it's not just your subject, it's standards, it's values, that are all modelled by teachers. You do playground duty, for example. The French teachers will not do playground duty in France, because that's not part of their role, they've got assistants there. We don't have assistants in Australia.

"It's a model that Australia could morph into, I believe, so that teachers are given the support of other people being in their classroom."

She says it was also important for her to help French families who were in Canberra on diplomatic postings or other short-term arrangements to adjust as well.

"I think it's a positive, it's not a negative. I didn't see it as something which was difficult for me. It was something that I enjoyed doing," she says.

"Most teachers love it - [they] go back and say they've grown because of it."

She's also scathing of the ACT education directorate for its laissez faire attitude when it comes to all that Telopea has achieved.

"I think they've been rather complacent in not celebrating the fact that there is a school which is approaching 100 years old. Even in Australian education, it's amazing," she says.

"I think they're overworked, I think they don't understand. It's a case of educating them, and I can tell you I tried, but there's limited acceptance and limited understanding. I guess I can say that now, I'm not employed by them anymore. But it was a case of, 'You can look after Telopea, we'll look after the rest' attitude."

Holmes hopes the kids themselves will one day understand the magnitude of what they've been handed; there's oodles of research showing the benefits of learning more than one language, of being bilingual.

"I've absolutely enjoyed coming into the school and learning about it and it blows my mind the opportunity that kids get at this school," she says.

"I don't know that they appreciate it all the time."

Personally, I'm quite comfortable with the whole thing. I think it's good for my kids, a bit of discipline, not to mention being embedded, for part of the day, in an entirely different culture. I'm not sure I was a model student, especially in high school, but I have discipline, a lifelong habit of ticking off lists, of getting things done, ingrained in me as a kind of muscle memory. But maybe this is just my personality; I know other kids didn't benefit, or flourish, from this system.

My friends with kids all think I'm nuts, adding this seemingly unnecessary layer of difficulty and challenge to the already fraught years of early childhood and school.

But have they ever heard an Aussie kid speak French, perfectly? It's irresistible.

And besides, they should understand that Telopea really does have the best of both worlds.

Even Llopis is keen to point out what she admires most about the Australian system - our sense of fun and our love for a good party.

"What I really appreciate here, that I didn't know about before, is the emphasis on shows - there are lots of shows and spectacles," she says.

"The Year 10s put on a big show at the end of the year for their graduation ceremony and I was amazed, because we would never do that in France."

What, really?

She gives a Gallic shrug.

"We're completely academic. Here, it's all about parties and celebrations. I love this, I think it's wonderful and I wish we did that in France."