Trained as a psychologist, Claude Duval joined a bilingual school as an
intervenor and quickly found herself taking over its direction. From this
experience, a passion for education and pedagogy was born. Focused on
openness to the world and particularly to Europe, she was disappointed by the
language programs and the preparation for international development in public
schools. She then decided in 1989 to create her own school.

The concept is simple but ambitious and innovative for the time: to combine the
balance of an education built around sports, art, and languages. For her, the
essential is the learning of children in a family environment, focused on their
well-being, to enable them to prepare for the opening to the world around them.

Convinced of the role that secular private schools would play, she was at the
forefront of creating the federation of secular private schools in France and the
confederation of these same associations at the European level. Recognized for
her commitment in this approach, she was awarded the Order of Merit for the
creation of Eurécole and the Legion of Honor for her contribution to education
with a European perspective.