It went relatively well. There were no significant problems. As expected, we are losing students in the eight schools in the territory.
This year we have 764 students. We have 33 students at the school in Aubigny-les-Pothées, 125 in Auvillers-les-Forges, 85 in Éteignières. There are 121 in Liart, 115 in Maubert-Fontaine, 99 in Rouvroy-sur-Audry, 27 in Rumigny and 160 in Signy-le-Petit.
And if you compare these numbers to last year?
We are losing 18 students compared to 2023-2024. We had 782 last year. If we compare, we are losing three students in Rumigny, six in Auvillers and Liart, eight in Maubert and Signy. We are gaining one in Aubigny and Rouvroy and five in Éteignières.
How do you explain it?
We are a rural area and, like everywhere in the Ardennes, we have fewer and fewer births. In the years to come, we will continue to lose students. The National Education predicts that by 2050 we will have lost 50% of our students.
You say that the start of the school year went well, but there was a demonstration in front of the Aubigny school, which you will close at the end of the school year…
Yes, there is a demonstration, that’s true. But we can’t go back on this decision to close the school. When we see the numbers lost over a year, we see that we are losing almost a class.
How then can we try to attract residents and families?
We have three nurseries in the area, a good network of childminders, an early childhood relay which organises things… We also still have land to build on in certain villages but the demand is not great.
