In Valenciennes, a new educational center supports children from nursery to college

It has grown like a mushroom, a stone's throw from the Joséphine Baker college and the Odyssée cultural center, in the heart of the Chasse-Royale district which continues its metamorphosis. The new educational center, called Gisèle Halimi, has just been inaugurated in the presence of residents, after an effective 18-month project.

At the origin of this project, a need: to bring together the Louise Weiss, Siméon Cuveillier schools and the crèche. And one observation: the need to strengthen the principle of equal opportunities, in a territory classified as REP+ where many inhabitants are affected by socio-economic, family and/or psychological difficulties.

From a very young age, the Department protects our children and will always be a first-rate partner to support the projects of mayors who help them grow well.

Valérie Beyrouti, deputy in charge of Early Childhood at the City of Valenciennes explains: This place is a first in France! It is the result of two years of meetings between all the players essential to the development of children. Here, the goal is to ensure the child's educational continuity, from birth to entry into college, by focusing on early prevention and being close to families. We have notably established a partnership with the Valenciennes Hospital Center which will have offices here, as will the PMI. We had the chance to start from a blank page, which allowed us to go much further in thinking.

This place of 7500 m²entirely dedicated to educational excellence, includes:

• a crèche with 22 places
• a nursery school with 10 classes
• an elementary school with 15 classes
• two catering areas for the school group, i.e. 418 places in total
• three dormitories for the little ones
• an integrated leisure center
• medical offices with an independent entrance for the PMI and professionals of the Valenciennes Hospital Center in particular
• spaces shared by the entire educational center (meeting rooms, multi-activities, motor skills, creative laboratory, etc.)
• three outdoor spaces dedicated to children from the nursery and school group

A place that creates connections

Designed by the Tank architectural agency, the building is intended to be calming with noble and simple materials, such as concrete, wood and brick. The idea of ​​the project was also to connect all the stakeholders together: teachers, early childhood and health professionals, facilitators, and of course, parents. Here, a third of the spaces are shared.

Jérémy Pommerol occupies one of the two new positions of Facility
manager. His role? Connect the 70 professionals of the place with each other, and be a trusted resource for families. Former social center manager, he knows the workings well: We are sometimes more productive between two doors or over coffee! My goal is to get everyone talking to each other, or to spread the information. An educational monitoring ecosystem that will allow us to intervene more quickly with families and children: When necessary, we can, for example, refer parents much earlier to specialists in language, behavioral or neurodevelopmental disorders.

A point of view shared by Delphine Harvent, director of the Valenciennes PMI: We have been working on “going towards” for a long time now. By having medical offices on site, we go beyond school. We place ourselves in the center of the neighborhood, we reconnect with families: for everyone, this educational center is facilitating.

Innovative, inclusive, open to the neighborhood and to families, the Gisèle Halimi educational center is much more than a school. Using the same model, a second educational center will see the light of day in 2026 in the Faubourg district of Lille, straddling Anzin and Valenciennes. With a total area of ​​9000 m²it will also include a social center.