École St. Thomas is celebrating 10 years at its building and school officials note just how rare it is for a French Immersion school to have its own home.
“We have been in this building for 10 years. We are pretty fortunate. It’s very rare for a French Immersion school to get its own building. Oftentimes they will move into an English building or a used building to grow the program,” says school principal Chantale Salt.
Everyone at the school learns French from Kindergarten to grade seven, and then the learning continues at Holy Rosary High School. When they moved into the building in 2013, there were about 400 students. The current enrollment is about 600.
Salt shares the benefits of learning a language at an early age as the ease of acquiring the skill, and career options in later life as it’s one of the official languages in Canada. Salt also delves into the exposure to French culture in a school setting.
“It’s such a vibrant culture. I think we bring a lot of by way of the food, music, and dance, and it’s something we can live every day. The faith component of the Catholic school division also helps to provide us with an extra, little boost to build that family feeling in our building.”
Students filled the school gym to celebrate the occasion and relished specially baked 10th anniversary-cookies.
