Less than a month from the end of the school year, sixth-grade students at Jolis-Prés elementary school in the Laterrière sector in Saguenay were able to discover a newly renovated school on Tuesday.
Work worth $3.5 million has made it possible to rejuvenate a building dating from 1988. Among the new features, there is a cloakroom at the entrance of the students to avoid having to hang their coats in the corridors and by the same token, to soil the floors of the corridors with their wet boots. There is also a creative laboratory, rooms for collaboration between classes, benches in the main corridor, giant touchscreen monitors in the classrooms and plant panels hung on the walls.
The central room is called the “learning crossroads” and is a very well-lit room. It brings children to calm with a soothing atmosphere. There is a wooden platform, comfortable cushions and round tables.
“I had seen before. It was not really a nice school. But there, it’s made really beautiful, ”said a sixth-grade student, Guillaume Bouchard, to TVA Nouvelles.
“It’s bigger. It’s more beautiful. It’s more high school. It’s less school for little ones. I really like the decoration. The style is calm,” added Anne-Julie Dupont, another sixth-grade student.
Amélie Gignac, also a student, noticed a big change with the old building. “It has really changed. It was old, but this is really new.
Jérémie Fitzmoritz loves the Learning Commons. “It’s nice. I find it very luxurious. To read and sometimes to talk to friends. I don’t know if you noticed, but there are plenty of comfy cushions. And we can get comfortable. “Julie Turcotte, a sixth grade teacher, believes that this space will bring another dynamic. “The Learning Commons will allow us to join several classes together. To be able to learn together.”
Since the beginning of the school year, during the work which lasted eleven months, the sixth-grade students found themselves in temporary classes at the other school in Laterrière, Notre-Dame, with the children of the first cycle of primary school.
Julie Turcotte appreciated their reaction when they saw them return to their school, especially since at Notre-Dame, their class was a converted former staff lounge. “They were all amazed to see the collaborative spaces. The Learning Commons. Lockers. The classes how big it is because we go from the staff lounge to a beautiful class like that.
Jérémie Fitzmoritz was happy to be able to finish his primary in “new”. “I find it pleasant that the teachers and the headmistress of the school have thought of us. We are lucky to end our year here.”
Guillaume Bouchard is delighted to return to his school. “We were in the school of the little ones. But there, we find our usual school. There, we are in a school for adults.
Julie Turcotte believes that these renovations will allow teachers to work differently for the benefit of children.
“It gives the taste of having a semi-flexible class. To have a different way of working. That students can do workshops, work in teams. They will be more active in their learning. They will question each other. Push their thinking further and invest more in their learning.”
Over the past few years, the Center de services scolaire des Rives-du-Saguenay will therefore have renovated about ten schools in all. The plan is that between 2018 and 2024, nearly $40 million will have been invested.
“This is our last primary year. We have a month left, not even. We should take advantage of it, ”said Anne-Julie Dupont, with astonishing assurance for a 6th grade student.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca