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.