The school buildings have been heritage-listed by the ACT Heritage Council.[2]
Primary school
One half of the school's buildings has been allocated to the primary section of Telopea Park School. All of the students in primary at Telopea Park School follow a bilingual education, with 80% of the lessons from Kindergarten to Year 2 given in French by teachers recognised by both the French Education department and the ACT Department of Education. In Years 3 to 6, French and English is taught as a 50/50 ratio. French staff are generally contracted for 2 to 3 years. They arrive and depart mid-year in accordance with Northern Hemisphere schooling. Students also have classes given in English by Australian staff to complement their French language education.
Secondary school
The secondary school is not exclusively English speaking. The English/French Stream (EFS) allows students to continue their education in French. It follows the French education system while incorporating three compulsory ACT courses. The other students, who form about two-thirds of the student body, follow the ACT secondary school system and can then complete the International Baccalaureate Organisation Middle Years Program. Most students from Telopea Park School go on to Narrabundah College, the EFS in particular as Narrabundah College is the only college in Canberra (and one of only two schools in Australia) to allow students to sit the French Baccalauréat.
Languages
During Years 7 to 10, learning a language other than English is compulsory at Telopea park school, unlike most other ACT secondary schools. Students usually study a single language for all four years. However, sometimes beginner classes are started for new students to the school in years 9 and 10. Students choose between Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Indonesian, Mandarin, and French. Mandarin was introduced to the school in 2017, making a total of 7 languages. Students follow two hours and forty-five minutes of language classes a week.[3]
The English/French Stream (EFS) is essentially a portion of students at Telopea High School who follow a different system and curriculum to those of the English Stream (who follow the standard ACT system and curriculum). These students are usually those who follow on from Telopea Park Primary School. The way the EFS students learn is very different from that of the students of the English Stream: EFS students have fewer elective classes, as they have compulsory History and Geography every term, and they learn three languages instead of two (English, French, and a third language). The current principal is Michelle Morthorpe.
The EFS has a different timetable and also has its own principal (la proviseure) currently Florence Llopis.[4] After the EFS students finish at Telopea, they continue the EFS French Baccalaureat at Narrabundah College in years 11 and 12.[5]
To underline the equal importance of the French and Australian streams, both national anthems are played at the beginning of the school assembly which alternate each week between the year 7 & 8s and the year 9 & 10s.
The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) classifies the Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney Japanese schools as nihonjin gakkō (Japanese international schools) as they are operated by Japanese associations. The former South Queensland Academy was classified as a shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu (overseas branches of Japanese private schools) and was the only Japanese school in Australia to offer senior high school-level education. The Russian Embassy School only serves primary school.
This list does not include schools on French soil including the collectivities of French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna, and the area of New Caledonia
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