Grade 7 students Kali Bender (left) and Reese Grassl celebrated with cookies at their school’s 10th anniversary assembly Oct. 25. Photo Jeannette Benoit-Leipert
Joy was in the air and cookies were on hand at École St. Thomas last week as students and staff celebrated 10 years in their building.
On Oct. 25 they gathered in the gym to celebrate as a school family.
“We’re just a big family here. And we’re a really big family now! We’ve just continued to grow from year to year to year. We’re up to four groups in kindergarten-Grade 1 and Grade 2, and three groups in Grades 3 to 7,” said École St. Thomas principal Chantale Salt, adding the total enrolment numbers have jumped from nearly 400 students in 2013, to 585 today.
“We just keep growing and it’s nice to have such a wonderful mix of students and families in our building.”
Salt said they are very fortunate to be where they are today.
“We’ve been in this building for 10 whole years. We’re pretty fortunate … it’s very rare for a French immersion school to get its own building,” said Salt.
“Often times they’ll move into an English building or a used building to grow the program, but we were lucky enough and fortunate to get a brand-new building and we’re a single-track school, so only French immersion here.”
Studies have shown that learning a second language at an early age is easier than learning it later in life.
“It also grows and helps develop different parts of the brain for children, and it opens up doors for students who have that second language—being that it’s one of the official languages in Canada. There’s some doors that open when you have that second language.”
At the assembly, former École St. Thomas principal, Lisa Kreese told students and staff a true story of how a big dream became reality.
“The dream … was that parents in our city would choose French immersion for their students,” said Kreese.
“We started to tell everyone why French immersion was a great choice for their children, and we told them that St. Thomas was an awesome Catholic family to join,” she said.
“There are so many people that helped make this school a reality and we are so thankful. I’m forever grateful to the parents who believed in French immersion and believe in French immersion today. And the LCSD board members and the LCSD administration who listened to that dream and helped us follow through.”
