After some years of teaching in secondary and many years working in the direction of public schools, among which the last ten years between 1980 and 1990 spent at the versatile Antoine-Brossard, I have come to the conclusion that the best educational system dreamed of should not only shape the elite of tomorrow and give a considerable importance to the quality of the French taught to our young people, but should also provide a solid training in English in order to help them resume their place at the international level and integrate in the globalization movement.
Developing linguistic skills should take place at an early age. Thus, it was in September 1990 that the Academy of Marie- Laurier, the first private school officially recognized as both French and English school, came to life in Brossard. It started with 28 pupils, and within the following 30 years of its existence the number has multiplied 30 times. Given their number, today our pupils are divided into groups and sent to our three campuses: Brossard, Longueuil and Candiac.
Aside from its status as a non subsidized private school, the Academy can place all its pupils in its English or bilingual immersion program regardless their mother tongue or their parents’native country. In order to achieve our objectives in terms of bilingualism before the entry to the first year, wherein learning to read and write is initially in French then in English followed by the Spanish language,we welcome children at the age of 3 (MFA permit) and 4 in prekindergarten and those at the age 5 in kindergarten. Subsequently, at these levels French-speaking children are immersed in English program while the Anglophones and/or allophones are immersed in French or bilingual program.
We remember happy and memorable years of joy spent with all our pupils who never stopped coming to join our establishment since the day when the Academy opened its door for the first time, almost 30 years now, in the headquarters of Boulevard Taschereau.
In the past 30 years, in large part due to each and every pupil’s eagerness to learn, their perseverance, their attachment and love for school as well as the trust their parents gave to them and to us, the tree has grown and grown from the little stem planted in my suburban garden.
The Marie-Laurier Academy, a wild dream came true!
Monique Bergeron
Founder and Director