A language program that started 46 years ago in Coquitlam - paving the way for other B.C. school districts - continues to be one of the strongest in the province.
Canadian Parents for French's B.C. and Yukon chapter this week released its annual report about French Immersion enrolment for the 2013/'14 school year and it notes School District 43 has one of the highest rates, with more than 10% of its student population in French immersion.
CPF executive director Glyn Lewis credited SD43 staff and teachers for taking charge.
"There seems to be strong leadership in the district in terms of extra-curricular and enriching the education experience," he said. "I'm always hearing from Coquitlam parents about waiting lists."
French immersion started in SD43 in 1968 at Coquitlam's Alderson elementary school with a group of 32 kindergarten students - most of them residents of Maillardville, the city's historically French-Canadian enclave.
Six years later, SD43 officially opened its early French immersion program but the Ministry of Education blocked it from expanding. After some lobbying, late French immersion began in 1978 and, by 1991, there were 2,667 students in the program, ranking the Coquitlam school district 13th in the country with the highest number of students.
Last year, more than 5,900 students were enrolled in French immersion in the Tri-Cities.
SD43 assistant superintendent Sylvia Russell, who oversees the program and whose daughter was an immersion student, said SD43 has made strides over the past decade and, recently, added early immersion at Coquitlam's Nestor elementary and late immersion at Moody middle.
She said because of SD43's long history with French immersion, "there comes a real sense and pride and identity with that."
As well, with the district located close to Simon Fraser University, where many teachers are trained, several go to SD43 for their practicums "and so you will see access to high-quality teaching staff," Russell said.
Still, there remain challenges with attrition - that is, how to convince French immersion students to stay in the program at the high-school level - as well as space for expansion. "It takes a lot of classrooms to build a K-to-5 program."
Lewis said the CPF will work with SD43 - and other districts - to advocate for a bigger program. Nearly 50,000 B.C. students were enrolled in French immersion last year, accounting for 8.8% of the total public school student head count.
Proportion of French immersion students last year in British Columbia school districts:
Maple Ridge: 10.1%
Coquitlam: 10.3%
Burnaby: 8.6%
Surrey: 4.6%
Vancouver: 9.1%
New Westminster: 12.7%
Langley: 7.2%
Richmond: 10.4%
