Public Board says French at Oliver School "c'est possible"

Families living in downtown Edmonton will know after the April 15 registration deadline whether a French Immersion is a “oui” or a “non”.

Parents have been lobbying the Edmonton Public School board for a French immersion program for some time.  If enough kindergarten students are pre-registered in the potential program at Oliver School, it will be a sure thing in September.

One of the parents that has been trying to get a French program near her downtown home is former public school trustee Heather MacKenzie.   She told the Edmonton Journal that she wasn’t too sure that she would be successful in getting a program while her daughter was still in school but felt it was an important undertaking for future students in the downtown core.  She also a believer that if you keep inner-city schools alive and offer high-demand programs such as French Immersion, it will the downtown core healthy and vibrant.

The designated French immersion school for residents of the Oliver community is McKernan.  The school is five km away and has a very full program.  MacKenzie said other families that live outside the inner-city area could drive in to take advantage of the program, but she felt it didn’t make sense for her to go against the traffic and she stated that she wasn’t interested in having her child bused.

When MacKenzie was pushing her idea forward, she did her own survey online to see what kind of enrolment numbers might be possible.  She found 100 families that expressed their interest and when she presented her findings to the Edmonton Public Board last fall, they listened.

The board set a pre-enrolment deadline of April 15 for a French program at Oliver School.  Students aren’t limited to those who live downtown and a bus may be possible for some children.

To make the program viable, the school division needs a minimum of 25 children. At present, this is just for kindergarten and as they children move through school, the program could expand.

Throughout Edmonton, there are 3,792 public students in French. This is 17% more than the headcount five years ago. Historically, some schools have more students who have applied for French than spaces available but the board has juggled and in the last school year, only a small number were denied space in the immersion program.

Beginning in September 2016, the Catholic system will have a new French program for elementary students at St. John XXIII School in the community of Windermere.  If this proves to be popular, the program may extend to junior high students.  There is a feasibility study ongoing to determine whether Father Michael Mireau School, a brand new facility scheduled to open in 2017 in the south east community of Summerside should also include a French immersion curriculum.

There are several new public schools scheduled to open in the city in the next two years, but public officials are waiting to see what type of demand there is for French before planning any programming.

Currently, nine per cent of separate school students are taking French immersion in ten K-Grade 6 schools, two junior and two senior high schools.

In downtown Edmonton, Grandin Catholic Elementary School currently (and successfully) offers French immersion.