Ironically, the French Muslim headscarf affair, culminating into the 2004 law that bans certain religious signs in public schools on the ground of secularism, spurred the establishment of private Islamic schools that eventually receive government subsidies. The first Muslim school to enter a contract with the state, the Averroes High school in the suburb of Lille, made headlines in 2013 when it was named best high school in France. This talk investigates whether Islamic schools participate into the much decried communautarisme (or ethnic/cultural separatism) that the Muslim community is often accused of in France or whether their founding is a sign of intégration (or assimilation) into the French Republic given the State funding of most private education in France. This talk starts with an analysis of the two terms that are at the foundation of the debate: communautarisme, which in the French context carries a negative connotation, because it is deemed as incompatible with the values of universalism promoted by the French model of the nation, and integration, which is the goal that the nation fosters for all immigrants and their descendants, but that Muslim minorities claiming their identity are faulted for eluding. It then gives some background about the history of private education in France, where private schools can get substantial subsidies from the State provided that the school teaches the nationally mandated curriculum, accepts all teachers, and does not make religious instruction mandatory. The second part examines two Muslim schools that receive funding from the State, and draws some commonality in their mission and curriculum in Arabic and Islamic studies, in addition to quality education. The religious component is specifically targeted to the French context, and a priority is to help students reconcile their identity as Muslim French, something that is most often than not considered by mainstream society to be an oxymoron. The conclusion surmises that the 1989-2004 affair of the scarf simply accelerated the establishment of Islamic schools, witness the recent trend in opening elementary schools. These schools can also be seen as a sign of maturity of the Muslim community in France, which has now mustered the education and the means to take advantage of benefits the French state can offer to religious communities.