The French Immersion program in Westlock is alive and well, local administrators say, with strong numbers at all grade levels expected for next year.
Low enrolment in Barrhead, the only other community within the Pembina Hills school division with French Immersion, has forced Barrhead Composite High School to suspend its program for Grades 7 to 9 for 2012-13. Pierre Ouimet, principal at R.F. Staples, and Terry Anderson, principal at Westlock Elementary, say the enrolment concerns that have plagued the program in Barrhead have not affected Westlock.
“On our side of things, it’s quite the opposite,” Ouimet said. “It starts from the strong programming at Westlock Elementary.”
For the current school year, there are 13 Grade 9 students, 17 Grade 8 students and 19 Grade 7 students enrolled in French Immersion in Westlock.
Those numbers are strong, Ouimet said, and represent a significant portion of total enrolment at the school.
“When you look at it percentage-wise, that’s about 18 per cent of our junior-high population and that’s pretty significant,” he said. “It’s good for us.”
In Ouimet’s time at the school, those numbers have actually gotten stronger. Three years ago, the Grade 7 and 8 students had a combined class, but once the combined number rose above 30 the classes were split.
“Although 30 is manageable, it’s kind of borderline for junior-high classes, especially if they’re combined,” he said.
Anderson said in his time at Westlock Elementary, the numbers have also been bolstered — with more students in recent years than when he first started at the school.
“It’s rock solid,” he said. “Just to give an idea, we used to have combined grades in French immersion and it’s been seven or eight years that it’s all been singles all the way through.”
Currently there are 17 French Immersion students in Grade 6, 19 in Grade 5, 24 in Grade 4, 18 in Grade 3, 19 in Grade 2, 18 in Grade 1 and 21 in Kindergarten. Those enrolment numbers tend to stay constant, with classes rarely losing students from one year to the next.
“Our only traditional drop is from Kindergarten to Grade 1 when people try it for a year and find out it’s not for them,” he said. “Traditionally we lose a few.”
Over the past several years however, the trend has emerged that the classes actually gain more students than they lose as students from other jurisdictions transfer in to Westlock Elementary.
Anderson credits the strength of the school’s French Immersion programming to the teachers involved; many of them came up through the program and returned to Westlock to teach once they’d finished their university training.
“We’ve been so fortunate in having some of our local graduates come back.” Anderson said. “It’s critical. If we didn’t have strong staff, parents wouldn’t leave their kids in the program.”
Ouimet credits the strong start at the elementary level with the strong enrolment numbers at R.F. Staples, which is able to offer immersion for four core subjects for students in Grades 7 and 8: French Language Arts, Social Studies, Math and Science.
For students in Grade 9, however, the programming has actually waned somewhat in recent years.
Ouimet said when he first came to the school the Grade 9 students also had four core subjects in French, but with some staff changes and scheduling concerns that has been reduced to just two: students now get their Math and Science classes in English.
Having the two classes, French Language Arts and Social Studies, was actually a significant accomplishment in and of itself. At the beginning of the current school year it looked as though students would only get French Language Arts, but after some “creative scheduling” Ouimet found a way to ensure they get the two classes.
“The commitment I have made to my staff, myself, the parents and the program is that we will guarantee having two core classes in ninth grade,” he said.
As for the other two, Math and Science, Ouimet said he thinks there might be some benefit to having those classes in English in Grade 9.
“There’s no research to back this up, but I got this feedback from some of the parents,” he said. “It seems to set up some of those kids a little better for their high school Math and Science if they get their Grade 9 in the same language.”
For more information about French Immersion programming in Westlock, contact Westlock Elementary School at 780-349-3385.
