La Decouverte

Due to the extremely high interest in the bilingual programme offered at Tuia Burnside, a lot of work was put in by existing parents to form a second school somewhere in Christchurch. We did not want people to miss out on the wonderful opportunity that our kids were having. The only school that had the available space to accommodate another classroom was Haeata Community Campus in the east of Christchurch. Of the 50 children on the wait list, and 25 children who expressed an interest in a second school, not a single person enrolled in the new class. As a result seven kids from the existing Tuia Burnside class made use of this amazing opportunity and the Haeata Class of 2025 opened at the start of the year with Natalie as the teacher.  The Tuia Burnside class continued with 12 kids in Weka 1 (Cindy) and 22 kids in Weka 2 (Sue).

This year the class moved into the main learning spaces in the main teaching block, alongside Piwakawaka and Pukeko. The lack of distinct, separated classrooms has resulted in some work around with Weka 1-2 based in the resource room, while Weka 3-6 are together in a shared space with another English class. While not 100% ideal there were limited options with the whole school roll being well over 300. 2024 Staff

The new school completed construction and the class reached the limit of fifty children across three classes. Weka 1 Weka 2 Weka 3 In the middle of the year, we farewelled three important people in the school. Matt Bateman retired after 18 years as the principal of the school. Matt made us feel so welcome and loved at the school, that he really does deserve a huge amount of credit for the work has put into the programme.  Jean Critron took up another role at another school. Jean was a teacher of LD since our second year of operation in 2018. Christelle returned to France, after four wonderful years of being a teacher with Weka. In the pouring rain we managed to get a little ceremony going to farewell our teachers and principal at the end of term. We then welcomed in out new teachers with Susan and Sonia joining Cindy in the new school buildings that were just completed at the start of Term 3. Justin Perriam was appointed by the Board as the new school principal and started work wit...

For the first time the number of children in La Decouverte justified the opening of two classes, so creating a senior and junior classroom setup. Forty children are shown in these photos from the beginning of the school year. We finished nearly up to the agreed special programme cap of fifty children. The senior class of La Decouverte in 2022. The junior class of 2022.

The class of 2021 near the beginning of the year included 26 children and finished the year with over 30 from memory. The second person to 'graduate' from the programme at the end of the year was Zara Wesley, having been in the class since it first started. The French community came together for a 'school camp' at Woodend Christian Camp. This was all organised by Sue Pagoet and was a huge team building success. Woodend was an excellent venue and the kids had an absolute blast. We also had a great article published in The Press promoting the class: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/124516650/allez-les-bleus-the-south-islands-only-officially-recognised-frenchenglish-bilingual-school-where-students-are-fluent-by-year-6 A big effort in the background had been going on since the previous year, and finally came to fruition, with the Ministry of Education granting us 'Special Programme' status. This finally ensured that we were officially included within the s...

The class continued to grow well with new kids always joining the class during the year. This class photo shows twenty children in total near the beginning of the year.  At the end of the year our first 'graduate' student was Shae, who had been in the class since the beginning. With a full class and sustainable programme an agreement was signed between FRENZ and Burnside Primary School to formalise our partnership in running this great bilingual class.

Following our eviction from Discovery School, we quickly found a new home for La Découverte at Burnside Primary School, with the amazing support of Matt Bateman the principal. After being threatened with closure by the Ministry of Education, the school had lost a lot of students and were slowly rebuilding the student numbers and teaching staff to match. There were a number of spare classrooms available for immediate use. Parents photo on the deck of the new classroom home for La Découverte at Burnside Primary School. This was on a working day to clear the classroom and sort out some chairs and tables for the kids. While our new classroom was not flash, it was the start of really growing and expanding, feeling really secure for the first time in a school that we quickly came to love. The assemblies were amazing, the teachers incredible,  and the leadership of Matt Bateman outstanding.

Second year at Discovery School, and the only photo I can find is of Cairo checking out the classroom at the end of the year when we were packing up I think. We'd love to have a photo of the class if anyone can help at all with this. At the end of the year Discovery School decided there was no room for us in the new building being built in town, and so a frantic search was on for a new home. Some of the kids from the class helped check out the playground and sandpit of our new home, Burnside Primary School.

The class opened at the beginning of the 2017 school year with six children from around Christchurch. We were hosted by Discovery School at their temporary site in Halswell. First Le Decouverte class: Front Row: Alba, Elise, Neema, Louka, Shae Middle Row: Teacher stagiaire Aurelia, Zara. Teacher Marie-Eve Back Row: Cairo, Apolline, Theodore  .

The beginning of the Christchurch French bilingual class begins in Auckland, where FRENZ was formed in 1994, and the first bilingual class was started in 1995 at Richmond Road School.  Sonia Shaker came up with the vision of starting a class in Christchurch in the same way and began gathering a group of keen parents who would provide the backbone of a committee to advance the idea. The first school to host the class was Discovery School at its temporary site in Halswell (its original buildings being damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010). We gathered together to paint the classroom ready for the start of the new class at the beginning of the 2017 school year. Parents meet in the staff room of Discovery School to plan the setting up of the new school classroom.