Par
Fabien Hisbacq
Published on
Nov. 19, 2024 at 1:12 p.m.
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It was created in the Tarn around 1850 on the site of a farm by the sisters of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. She is currently living her last hours. At least in this form and in this place. A historic Catholic school will close its doors.
The announcement was made on November 14, 2024 to the families and staff of the establishment: Sainte-Marie-Le-Calvaire in Castres.
Primary education reorganized in Castres
A decision taken for “financial reasons”, explains the diocesan direction of Catholic Education in a press release.
What will become of the students? “At the next school year, in September 2025, the students of the nursery and elementary school, Sainte-Marie-Le calvaire, will be welcomed at the Notre Dame school,” specifies the diocesan management. Who had to reorganize primary education accordingly in Castres.
“This new organization, consisting of a grouping of classes and a merger of schoolswas prepared and anticipated, in conjunction with the academic services of National Education,” assures the diocesan management.
Families invited to discover their new establishment
Thus, the classes will be transferred and the tenured teachers who wish, including the head of the establishment, will be able to be appointed to the Notre-Dame school. The same will apply to the three people employed as service agents or assistants to teachers.
“The families of Sainte Marie- Le Calvaire will be invited, on November 30, to discover, with their children, the Notre-Dame sitewhose development work is being completed”, also underlines the press release, which affirms that “this grouping is born from the desire of two establishmentswhose projects are close, to work together.”
“It is also a kind of back to basicssince it was the Sisters of the Blue Convent of Notre-Dame who founded the Sainte-Marie-Le-Calvaire school,” concludes the diocesan management.
Only four Catholic schools left in Castres
There were therefore, until today, five Catholic schools in Castres, educating nearly 830 students: in Barral, Saint-Jean-Saint-Louis, Saint-Pierre, Sainte-Marie-Le calvaire and Notre-Dame. There will only be four left in September.
This year, Sainte-Marie-Le-Calvaire school welcomed 110 students divided into five classesfrom the very small section to CM2. She joined a juggernaut, since the Notre-Dame ensemble already brings together around 1,500 students and 120 teachers, from kindergarten to 12th grade.
More than a century and a half of history
This school was therefore created around 1850, and the Sisters of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul managed it until 1953. Then, the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception took over until the end. in the 1980s. The bishop then entrusted the establishment to lay people.
The name of the school comes from the calvary built on the site of the park located in front of the school. Before 1900, it was a parish cemetery.
Part of the school's facade was created by the famous architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, to whom we owe the renovations of Mont Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame de Paris and the city of Carcassonne.
Castres is a stronghold for private Christian establishments. In all, in the sub-prefecture of 42,000 inhabitants, nearly 3,300 young people attend a Catholic establishment (school, middle school, high school), or more than a quarter of the total number of Catholic Education in Tarn.
Parents don't want to give up
But some parents still have difficulty digesting the news. A Facebook page was created immediately: “Sainte-Marie-Le-Calvaire will live”. “Following the latest announcements which did not satisfy a majority of parentsI suggest we unite and try everything. Let's show the true face of our school in order to welcome new families, and Let's find a financial solution together. There are still things to try so let’s go,” plead its creators.
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