Heather Latter
A group of parents is hoping to get the French Immersion program going again in the Northwest Catholic District School Board.
“There are a few of us who always talk about how sad it is that the program isn’t around anymore,” said Aimee Matheson, who has a daughter in SK at St. Michael’s School and another at home.
“I would really like for my kids to have the same opportunities I did,” she remarked, noting she was enrolled in the French Immersion throughout her own elementary and high school career.
“What I like about it is it’s an extra challenge for kids,” Matheson said.
“French is the second language in Canada and if you can speak French, it opens the door to so many more opportunities,” she reasoned.
Matheson also said since it has similarities to several other languages, having a foundation in French makes it easier to learn additional ones.
“And the best time to start learning is when they are young,” she stressed.
Matheson said the group is hoping to reinstate the French Immersion program in the “Early Years” classes.
The program began in the 1980s here and Matheson recalls it being a very successful back then.
“I remember there being line-ups to register because they would only take 20 students,” she noted.
But due to a lack of enrolment and the overall declining population in the area, the local Catholic board decided in 2006 to begin phasing out the French Immersion program here.
Only eight students had enrolled to attend FSK at St. Michael’s School that fall and the board’s policy stated the class could not run with less than 20 students.
The board based its decision on a number of reports and statistics provided by administration, including enrolment, attrition rates, local and regional birth rates, and baptismal rates.
However, with 76 children enrolled in the “Early Years” program at St. Michael’s this year, Matheson doesn’t feel overall enrolment is declining as drastically as once thought.
“There are three [‘Early Years’] classes at St. Michael’s, three at Robert Moore, and four at J.W. Walker,” she noted.
“There are a lot of young people and we feel the interest is there.”
Matheson also said there is a new generation of young families.
“People who went through the French Immersion program themselves now have kids and want them to have that opportunity, too,” she explained, adding when the decision was made to dissolve it here, these people were too young to be interested.
But now they are.
Matheson set up an online survey early in September and within two days she had collected 50 names of those interested in enrolling their children in a French Immersion program if it were available here.
She said those interested were in different age groups, but she already has about 10 names for each year of children up to age five.
“My goal is to get 20 names for each year of students who will be entering school without the next five years,” she remarked.
As well, Matheson is hoping parents of older children also fill out the survey and show their interest.
“Even if the board doesn’t want to offer the full French Immersion program, I am looking at other options, such as a mid-version, which starts in Grade 4 or 5,” she noted.
Matheson said the group is hoping to make a presentation to the board at its meeting Oct. 21.
“Our goal would be to have the French Immersion program start up next year,” she noted. “I know that is a challenge, but you have to have something to strive towards.
“We need consistent enrolment and I think the interest is there for that,” she reasoned.
Matheson added she doesn’t think finding teachers for the program is a problem and funding is available.
“Dryden has a successful French Immersion program so why can’t we have one here?” she wondered.
“It might take a couple of years but I just want to get the discussion started.”
For more information or to fill out the survey, visit “Fort Frances Parents for French Immersion” on Facebook.
