In addition to the mainstream public French curriculum, the institution houses private English and German-language sections through which students can take the option internationale du baccalauréat (OIB), the international variant of the French baccalauréat.

[1] Plans to establish a municipal school in Fontainebleau were first tabled in 1874 under president Patrice de MacMahon and minister of public instruction Arthur de Cumont, the objective being to provide education for the sons of officers.

[2] After a competition was held in 1877, Henri Proust was officially commissioned in 1880 to design the new institution, which was founded at the site of a house Le Clos de Bel-Air (originally built in 1840) and would fall under the category of lycée.

During the occupation of France, classes took place at the former Maison Sauvager on Rue Grande while the original premises was used as a field hospital.

The multilingual école international de Fontainebleau was established in 1959 in an agreement between the Ministry of Education and SHAPE, who eventually left in 1967.