French Immersion (FI) will soon be an option for every Halton Catholic student who wants it.
Trustees have opted to scrap waiting lists and lotteries for the popular program and make it available to all students entering Grade 1, beginning in Sept. 2022.
Oakville families have been pushing for expansion of the program, making regular delegations to the Catholic school board over the last six months.
With a son already enrolled in FI, Natalie Cambone was excited to hear the news that her 5-year-old daughter will be guaranteed the chance to learn in French.
“This is amazing news for the community, and for me it means the relief of knowing my daughter is in the program,” she said.
Cambone is co-chair of the school council at St. Mary, the only Catholic elementary school in Oakville that currently offers the half-day immersion program.
Beginning next year, the board will expand the program to add two Grade 1 classes at St. Marguerite d’Youville.
Launched eight years ago as a pilot, the popularity of the Catholic board's FI program has resulted in annual wait lists across the region.
Oakville trustee Peter DeRosa warned that failing to meet demand could drive parents out of the Catholic school system.
“Surely, if we continue to compel parents to seek alternative programing in public boards to give their children the advantage of a second language, it doesn’t bode well for the preservation of Catholic education,” he argued during the board’s March 16 meeting.
According to the organization Canadian Parents for French (CPF), Halton’s public school board had 20 per cent of its students enrolled in FI in 2018/19.
But wide-open expansion of the program will be challenging, warns the board's director of education Pat Daly.
One of the biggest headaches will be staffing classrooms with teachers who are both qualified to teach in French and Catholic.
“It’s challenging enough to find qualified French teachers, but we have the additional challenge that we are recruiting from an even smaller pool,” said Daly.
Interest in FI has spiked province-wide, with participation growing at an average of 5.6 per cent each year for the last 14 consecutive years, according to CPF numbers.
That has translated into increased demand for qualified French teachers, who are being snapped up by eager school boards as soon they graduate, according to last year’s annual employment survey by the Ontario College of Teachers.
Daly said the board will also face challenges accommodating the program in growing areas, particularly in Milton.
“We have been growing the program," he said. "We’re going to grow it a little faster and that will come with some challenges, but we’re excited to be able to offer some additional optional programming for our students and families.”
With the board’s first FI students finishing Grade 8 this year, the program will move into Catholic secondary schools.
In September, Oakville’s St. Ignatius of Loyola will begin offering Grade 9 FI classes. Students will take 10 compulsory high school credits in French, including language, history, geography and religion courses, to earn a French Immersion certificate.