At the end of summer 2017, knowing that his daughter would soon start school, John Denham, an Anglophone who grew up in Quebec, contacted the Conseil scolaire francophone de la C.-B. (CSF) to learn about the process for starting up a Francophone school.

The first step was to demonstrate that the number of admissible children was high enough to justify the creation of a school and ensure its long-term survival. To get an idea of the number of families who would like to see their children attend a Francophone school, he launched a survey among his Francophone acquaintances in Golden, a small town of about 3,700 people located in southeast British Columbia. That was the beginning of the adventure!

The survey counted more than 60 potentially admissible children. Pleasantly surprised by this result, John invited the CSF to come and meet the interested parents. Over 25 parents participated in the meeting, and they realised that a Francophone school in the community was a feasible project...

For the project to have a chance of starting before the next school year, the parents had to prepare a formal application and present it to the CSF by the end of 2017. A group of seven motivated parents set to work, gathering contact information for interested parents, finding out the number of admissible children, and initiating the search for locations that could potentially host a Francophone school.

The group also obtained letters showing support from elected officials and organizations in the region, including the municipality. Eventually, their formal application was submitted to the CSF board of directors, who agreed that it should be studied further.

Searching for a location represented the biggest challenge. After much effort from the parents and the CSF, the building that will house the future school was confirmed, close to a year later. In the fall of 2018 when the CSF returned to show the community what the school might actually look like, parents were finally able to really visualize their school!

Subsequently, about twenty enrolments from Kindergarten to Grade 4 were confirmed for the fall of 2019, and a grant application for developing the outdoor playground was submitted. Since then, families have been very enthusiastic, and are eagerly watching the transformation of the building where their new school will open in September. .

So all it took, initially, was for a parent with an idea to bring together the similar aspirations of other parents, to set in motion the process of obtaining a Francophone school -- which shows that the mobilization of parents is the starting point and a crucial element for such a project.

After working together to take the necessary steps, parents in Golden will soon have a Francophone school to help them ensure the transmission of French language and Francophone culture to their children, contributing to the development and vitality of the region’s Francophone community!