One week to the day after the start of the January school year during which the students of the Maribel school were able to discover their new school, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, proceeded on Tuesday to the inauguration of the new school located on the road Saint-Martin in Sainte-Marie.
The new school, built at a cost of just over $35 million, includes 21 classes and can accommodate just over 530 students.
Maribel 2.0 is also designed to be accessible to all students, including those with disabilities, and offers a panoramic view from its classes.
Minister Drainville also explained the many differences with the schools of the older generation.
There is a lot of space, a lot of light, a lot of wood, aluminum, a double gymnasium, a very beautiful schoolyard, bleachers… It really is the school of the future in Quebec!
Bernard Drainville, Minister of Education
In addition, collaborative spaces allowing individual or small group work with students who need more explanations have also been set up.
It can be used to have small groups of needs with the remedial teacher. For example, a child who has not fully understood the concepts can go there. In addition, as the classes are paired by levels, if the teachers work on fractions at the same time, if children from both groups have not understood, we will save time because the students from both groups will benefit at the same time. time for specific lessons. Nathalie Poulin, director of Maribel school
Although the new school, whose move was caused by damage suffered during the 2019 floods, has a capacity which is currently greater than the 420 students it welcomes this year, the minister did not promise that modular systems will not be necessary in the medium term.
– What you’re telling me is that we won’t see modulars here in two or three years?
– I can’t tell you that. Immigration, we never thought that Mr. Trudeau would let in so many newcomers. He decided to open the floodgates. Unfortunately, he did not worry about whether we would have enough schools to educate them, enough housing to house them, enough daycares to look after the children. Bernard Drainville, Minister of Education
For her part, the school’s principal, Nathalie Poulin, mentioned that she observed that the students were much calmer since the move at the beginning of January.
The general director of the Beauce-Etchemin School Service Center, Fabien Giguère, suggested that an open house will be organized in the spring to allow the public to discover the new premises.
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