The school's language of instruction is English, and it prepares pupils for British GCSEs and A-levels, with the French Brevet and Baccalauréat as options.

The motto on the official arms of the village comes from the 133rd Psalm (Ecce Quam Bonum): 'Habitare fratres in unum' (Behold how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.)

The land on which the college is built, near the site of a Roman villa, was given to a community of Benedictine monks in the thirteenth century by the Anglo-French family Harpedan de Belleville, who then ruled the area.

This legend would later inspire several successful attempts to keep the seminary open against the will of the Emperor Napoleon, the Fourth Republic and the Nazis.

Already recognised by Napoleon, and under the authority of the diocesan bishop, it received a royal charter from Charles X in 1825, as the ‘Ecclesiastical School of Chavagnes’, during the brief period of the restored Bourbon monarchy (1824–30).

In 1912 the buildings were bought back by a local aristocrat, the Comte de Suzannet, and reopened as a junior seminary, much to the chagrin of the Paris authorities.

The college was shared between German soldiers and junior seminarians during World War II, housing a small garrison and a military hospital.

A machine-gun was placed in the clock tower, dominating the village, but the Nazi soldiers turned a blind eye to more than 50 Jewish children sheltered by local families until the liberation.

[2] Shortly after the Second World War the college (then the Petit Séminaire de Chavagnes) received the visit of Angelo Cardinal Roncalli, Papal Nuncio in Paris.

Finally, in September 2002, with the support of the local bishop, a group of English, American, Australian and Irish teachers, led by Ferdi McDermott, reopened the school but with a different, international emphasis.

In 2004, two founding Masters of Chavagnes International College, Robert Asch and Ferdi McDermott, were invited to visit Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome.

Cardinal Ratzinger blessed rosaries for the boys at the college and expressed the hope that his forthcoming retirement would enable him to work more closely with his visitors.

In one of his last acts as Pope, Benedict XVI gave the title Venerable to Father Baudouin (the founder of the Petit Séminaire de Chavagnes) on 20 December 2012.

These arms of England are combined with the right-hand side representing the recognition of the French monarchy under Charles X (by the fleurs de lis) and the patronage of Bishops of Luçon (with the mitre) to this day.

It is a reference to the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Chapter 24, verse 13 in which Wisdom is bidden by God to take root among his Elect, the people of Israel.

There are no surviving vestiges of Roman or medieval buildings on the site, with the possible exception of a small piece of stained glass, bearing an episcopal coat of arms.

The marble altar features sculpted panels depicting our Lord with the Evangelists and Moses distributing manna to the children of Israel.

Boys in year 10, of whatever nationality, are given the option of sitting the French brevet exam, as well as the usual raft of Cambridge IGCSE examinations at 15 and 16.

In Holy Week 2014 the Choir made a pilgrimage from Tui to Santiago de Compostella (about 110 kilometres (68 mi) on foot over 5 days.)

Each house is named after a general of the Vendéen uprising that took place in response to the French revolution: Suzannet, Charette, Rochejacquelein and Cathelineau.

It became quite famous in France in 2004 when its buildings were used in the summer holidays for the filming of a reality show called Le Pensionnat de Chavagnes in which children recreated a school from the 1950s for a month.