La Petite Ecole

Name

La Petite Ecole

Legal name

La Petite Ecole

Website

https://petiteecole.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early Childhood and Elementary Education

NAICS

Elementary and Secondary Schools (6111), Educational Services (611), Elementary and Secondary Schools (611110)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)

akta.pro primary industry

Bilingual/Language-Immersion Preschools (EDACABAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Language Immersion & Bilingual Private Schools (EDAJABAL), Preschool Programs within Private K–12 Schools (EDACABAM)

Keywords

• Dual-language immersion
• Early childhood education
• Montessori preschool
• Elementary education
• French language instruction

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Enrollment Fees: Primary revenue from tuition payments for core programs including Toddlers, Preschool (Petite Section, French Preschool, Grande Section), All Day Preschool, and Elementary programs. Additional fees charged for supplemental care services including Early Morning Care, Afternoon Care, Late Afternoon Care, and Summer Program.
2. Donations and Charitable Giving: Revenue from donations via PayPal, donor-advised funds, appreciated stock gifts, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, and leadership gifts. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with EIN 30-0291371. Donations support scholarships, classroom materials, faculty support, and long-term school stability.
3. Enrichment and Community Programs: Revenue from adult French classes (French for Adults) and Bonjour Bebe baby-and-me French classes offered to the broader community, generating additional income streams beyond core K-12 enrollment.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

La Petite Ecole is a not-for-profit dual-language school delivering French and English immersion education to children ages 2 to 12 in Columbia, Missouri, using an 80/20 instructional model paired with Montessori principles. It sells core preschool and elementary tuition-based programs, a summer camp, and community enrichment offerings (French for Adults and Bonjour Bebe), supported by charitable donations and a scholarship fund.

Product overview

La Petite Ecole is a not-for-profit dual-language school offering a comprehensive portfolio of educational programs for children ages 2 to 12 and adults. The core portfolio includes Preschool Programs (Toddlers, Petite Section, French Preschool/Moyenne Section, Grande Section, and All Day Preschool), an Elementary Program through 5th grade, a Summer Program, and Enrichment Programs (French for Adults and Bonjour Bebe). The school uses a unique Dual-Language Immersion method featuring an 80/20 model (80% French, 20% English instruction) combined with Montessori principles. Additional care services and scholarship programs support families accessing the core educational offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Toddlers Program French language immersion program for children age 2, meeting Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Introduces basic academic concepts (shapes, colors, numbers, body parts, alphabet and phonics) and initial social skills through French immersion; children do not need to be potty trained.
• Petite Section (PS) Dual-language immersion program for children ages 2-3, available M-F, Tu/Th, or MWF. Introduces basic academic concepts and develops social skills through French language immersion with topics including shapes, colors, numbers, body parts, alphabet, phonics, and pre-writing skills.
• French Preschool / Moyenne Section (MS) French language immersion program for children ages 3-4, meeting 5 mornings per week. Students expand knowledge of academic concepts through French immersion including basic math, handwriting skills, letter recognition, phonics, and awareness of the natural world. Most students begin reading at the syllabic level.
• Grande Section (GS) French language immersion program for children ages 4-5, developing academic concepts and social skills through French language immersion. Topics include intermediate math skills, upper and lower-case letters, basic cursive recognition, and sentence building. Some students begin reading and writing independently.
• All Day Preschool Extended preschool program for Moyenne Section and Grande Section students, running from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Combines a morning French immersion classroom with an afternoon English class focusing on the mechanics of the English language through theme-based children's literature books.
• Elementary Program Dual-language elementary program through 5th grade featuring French and English language arts and math, enrichment curriculum including Discovery (Science, Social Studies, Current Events), PE, and Fine Arts (Visual Arts, Music, Theater), all taught in French. Students receive individualized and one-on-one direct instruction in multi-age classrooms.
• Summer Program Weekday summer camp for children ages 2 to 10, running up to 12 weeks from June through August. Each Summer Camp theme spans two weeks with themed activities including art, science projects, theater, and music. Includes before and after care options from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
• French for Adults Immersion-style conversational French classes for adults offered on a semester basis, meeting once a week for ten weeks with 50-minute interactive language lessons. Four levels available: Beginners, Continuing Learners, Expanding Learners, and Mastering Learners, meeting on weekdays from 5:30-6:20 PM.
• Bonjour Bebe Baby-and-me French class for children ages 9-36 months and their accompanying adult, meeting on Mondays from 9:30 to 10:00 AM for 10 weekly classes. Participants engage in French through play, songs, finger plays, crafts, and creative activities together.

Quantifiable outcome

• Students achieve native French accents, which is nearly impossible to attain when learning a foreign language at a later age
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Fairview Road Christian ChurchminorOthersThe school leases its physical space from the Fairview Road Christian Church. The organization explicitly states it is not affiliated with the church. This is a real estate lease arrangement rather than a formal partnership or alliance. The church provides the facility while LPE operates its educational programs independently.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Bright Horizons Family Solutions: A leading multinational provider of early childhood education and care, operating employer-sponsored child care and preschools. Comparable in delivering structured preschool programming at scale, but in a much wider portfolio across many geographies and education models.
• KinderCare Learning Centers: The largest private early childhood education provider in the U.S., with national footprint and corporate/employer contracts. Comparable as a private preschool operator but with vastly broader scale and corporate-back-office resources LPE lacks.
• Primrose Schools: A national franchise system of private preschools and elementary programs (Accredited Early Learning). Comparable in offering premium private preschool education, with franchised expansion model versus LPE's single-site approach.
• Guidepost Montessori: A national network of Montessori schools (private). Comparable in its use of Montessori instructional philosophy (as LPE does) but operating through a multi-site, multi-state franchise/owned-school model that LPE has not pursued.

Direct peers

• L'Ecole de Dallas: A nonprofit French immersion school serving young children in the Dallas, TX area. Comparable as a small, mission-driven French immersion school with similar scope of programs.
• Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley: A nonprofit French-English bilingual school in Berkeley, CA offering preschool through elementary education. Directly comparable in dual-language methodology and age range (toddler-grade 5) although operating in a different regional market.
• French American International School (FAIS) - San Francisco: A long-established private French immersion school (PreK-12) in San Francisco. Comparable in French immersion curriculum and private-independent governance, though operating at significantly larger scale than LPE.
• Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans: A French immersion school in New Orleans operating under the Alliance Française network, serving preschool through elementary. Directly comparable in mission and bilingual-immersion methodology.
• French International School of Portland: A private French immersion school serving preschool through elementary in Portland, OR. Closely comparable to LPE in pedagogy (French immersion, preschool-through-elementary scope) and nonprofit/private structure, though larger in scale.

Emerging players

• International School of Portland: A language immersion school in Portland, OR offering Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin immersion through elementary. An emerging player with adjacent immersion positioning, comparable in scope and pedagogy to LPE but focused on different target languages.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/la-petite-ecole-columbia-mo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about La Petite Ecole