By Colton Swiderski

NWSD expands French immersion; school won’t begin until after Labour Day next year

Feb 10, 2017 | 11:00 AM

French immersion expanding in Meadow Lake

Trustees for the Northwest School Division (NWSD) have voted to expand French immersion in Meadow Lake into Carpenter High School.

The request from Canadian Parents for French – Meadow Lake Chapter, was made in December (hyperlink: http://meadowlakenow.com/article/541781/french-immersion-potentially-expand-meadow-lake) and came as a result of growing interest in French immersion and to give students the opportunity to graduate with a bilingual diploma.

Currently French immersion is offered to students in kindergarten through Grade 9. For the 2017-18 school year, students moving from Grade 9 into Grade 10 will be offered French immersion classes through online distance learning according to communications officer Kaitlin Harman.

Harman added there are six French immersion students transitioning to Carpenter High School next year and the decision to offer classes online was due to the low number of soon-to-be Grade 10 French students.

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Harman said next year the board of trustees will re-evaluate what courses can be offered for the next round of students moving into Grade 10 and those transitioning into Grade 11 in a combined setting.

Since the course is offered online, it’s possible French immersion students can take their classes at home which Harman said will be decided by school staff.

“In some cases, students have more success when they’re in the school and able to interact with each other,” she added.

To graduate from high school a student needs 24 credits through Grade 10 to 12. In order for that diploma to be French bilingual, 12 of the 24 credits must be in French immersion.

Ideally a student would take four French classes per year, equalling to two a semester. However, Harman added how many a student will take next year depends on what’s offered through distance learning.

Academic calendar

The 2017-18 school year won’t begin until Sept. 5, the day after the Labour Day long weekend.

Past years had students start the week before Labour Day which was due in part to needing a certain amount of days in school between September and June according to Harman.

Throughout September and June, students will spend 184 days in the classroom with breaks during Christmas, Easter and the spring season.

The full calendar with Christmas, Easter, and spring break will be made available on the division website (hyperlink: http://www.nwsd.ca/pages/NWSD) in the coming days.

Email: colton.swiderski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @coltonswiderski