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Francophone school bid accepted for Kimberley
By Michelle Forbes
In recent years, Kimberley has seen an influx in new families, and as the city has grown, attracting residents from across Canada, the desire for French education has increased.
During the second half of 2017, a bid was put together by the Francophone residents of Kimberley and surrounding area to bring a Francophone school to the region.
The Francophone School Board (CSF – Conseil Scolaire Francophone), located in Vancouver, has accepted the bid and agreed that there are enough Francophone children to make a school viable, and it is working to meet the necessary conditions to open a school for the 2018/2019 school year. It is also working to open a school in the town of Golden, which also had a successful bid for a Francophone school.
The biggest hurdles to opening new Francophone schools in smaller communities include finding a location and qualified staff to run the school, and Sylvain Allison from the CSF says that finding a location is always the most difficult part of opening a new program.
The Francophone schools in rural B.C. have often shared facilities with under-capacity English public schools, but with all public schools in Kimberley at full capacity, they continue searching for a location to open the Francophone school for the coming year. The CSF invites all those with French backgrounds (French Language Rights Holders) to register their children for September 2018.
The CSF is planning a follow up meeting with interested Francophone parents in both Kimberley and Golden around May 8 or 9, with dates still to be confirmed.
With the future of the Francophone school only available to Francophone families, Anglophone families wanting to give their children a second language often wonder what options are available to their children. French Immersion and French Intensive are the two options available in the region.
French immersion teaches Anglophone children in French (approximately 80% of the curriculum, varying by grade). English language arts, Phys. Ed. and other elective classes are often taught in English, with more classes in English as children advance through the grades.
French Intensive is 80% in French for the first semester, and 80% in English and 20% in French in the second semester, integrating much of the course material into learning both conversational and written French during the first semester, while other subjects are condensed into the second semester. In following years, these students continue their education 20% in French, while the French Immersion classes continue with the majority of the curriculum taught in French throughout the child’s French Immersion experience.
As in other larger cities, French immersion school is available in Cranbrook (K-12), while late French immersion (starting in Grade 4) is available in Fernie for School District No. 5, and late French Immersion is available in Golden for School District No. 6, which includes Kimberley.
In Kimberley, similar to many other small Canadian towns, a French Intensive class is available in Grade 6 for those lucky enough to get a spot, as the one class is filled by lottery.
The large Grade 5 cohort has a 19 child wait list for a spot in the French Intensive program for the 2018 school year. With a specialized curriculum, and a shortage of French language teachers in small towns, a second class would require more qualified staff, extra funding, and the agreement from the school board to put in a second French intensive class, regardless that the desire for French education in the region is much higher than the region has the capacity to serve.
So, as the region continues working to bring to bring a Francophone school to the region to service Kimberley’s Francophone families, Anglophone families have to hope their child is lucky enough to win one of the coveted spots in the French Intensive program, while Francophone families wait to see what the future of education in the area will hold for them and their families.
SD6 is looking for input from local families about the education system through a survey.
If you would like to learn more about French education options for your children, contact the school board in your area, including:
CSF Francophone School Board CSF Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique or follow The French Connection Facebook Page at: French Connection / Connection Francophone for updates about the Kimberley Francophone school.
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