RELATED: Photos from the Lycée Français gala

The Upper East Side private bilingual school Lycée Français celebrated environmental conservation at its annual gala Friday night at Cipriani Wall Street.

Each of the 900 guests received a small evergreen tree at their place setting to take home and plant — at least that was the wish of the gala chairwomen, Alison Levasseur, Jennifer Banks Oughourlian, Cesaltine Gregorio, and Melissa Meeschaert.

Some students dressed in nature-themed costumes (Chloe Bowman was the wind, Zoé Neron-Bancel, moss). Others sang songs about nature, such as "Bravo Monsieur Le Monde" and "Notre Planète Bleue."

Since its relocation three years ago to a new building designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, Lycée Français has decreased its electricity consumption by 200,000 kilowatts, even as it has increased its enrollment by 200 students, the head of school, Yves Thézé, said at the podium.

The school has also greatly increased its scholarship aid, which will total $1.2 million this year; in 1998, the amount of aid was $25,000, the school's chairwoman, Elsa Berry, said.

And so the green in guests' wallets was not to be conserved. The event raised $1.6 million, a $200,000 increase over last year.

A particularly green table at the gala was the one where the event's honoree, the chairman of the supervisory board of AXA, Claude Bébéar, sat. His table companions included the former treasury secretary, Robert Rubin.

More than 70 teachers and other staff members also attended the event, including kindergarten teachers Pascale Lauxerrois and Catherine Smoak.

This week, their 23 students will be studying the Chinese New Year and the postal mail system.

"Students will write cards to their parents, and then estimate how long it will take for their letters to arrive," Ms. Smoak, who teaches the class in English two days a week, said.

The class has also been making paper cuts after seeing the work of Henri Matisse at the Museum of Modern Art, Ms. Lauxerrois, who teaches the class in French three days a week, said. After kindergarten, students receive only five hours a week of instruction in English.

agordon@nysun.com