It is independent of the state, and has permission to follow its own teaching approach, which is structured and places great stress on repetition to drive home what has been learned.

[1] The founder taught some of the great Parisian families towards the end of the 19th century, and developed a method of teaching by correspondence for the children of diplomats, which is still followed today.

[3] When Brigitte Bardot was admitted to the Cours Hattemer at the age of seven during World War II (1939–45) she only had to go to school three days a week, and otherwise studied at home.

[4] In the period after World War II the school was one of the few that encouraged art, and thereby attracted pupils from the families of actors or public figures.

The walls of the school are lined with photographs of famous alumni, including Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Chirac, Christophe Dechavanne, Jean d'Ormesson, Michel Polnareff, Véronique Sanson and Anne Sinclair.