With deep gratitude and respect, we are honoured to be learning and unlearning on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh  Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) & səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). 

L'Ecole Bilingue is a single-track French Immersion school, nestled within the hub of the community, located on West 14th Avenue between Grandville Street and Oak Street, with a well-established French Immersion program that opened in 1973.  With entry into French Immersion being restricted to Kindergarten and Grade 1 students, most of the approximately 400 students remain with their Kindergarten cohort throughout the grades, and staff work very collaboratively to ensure connections throughout the grade levels.  

Some highlights of our program include working with our community partner Earthbites in the on-site community garden, where students learn about growing and harvesting vegetables, cross-grade passion projects, enriching Field Studies such as our Grade 7 camp with Vancouver Outdoor School, cooking workshops and many art projects.  

Our Grade 7 students play a very important role within the school and serve as leaders in many ways such as organizing and running school wide assemblies, preparing and leading activities in primary classes and volunteering as Hall Monitors and Playground Monitors, where they support the younger students at recess, help serve Sushi lunch in the primary grades, help in the office with tasks, as well as reading the morning announcements. 

Most of our divisions are paired with a buddy class, where the intermediate classes work with a primary class weekly, on literacy and numeracy skills. This also fosters relationships between the older and younger students. 

Our Student Council meets regularly to organize theme days to enhance school spirit, and fundraisers, such as a popcorn sale with the profits going to the Children’s Hospital.  

Parent involvement is high and very strong, and parents are supportive and committed to their children learning French in the French Immersion program. In addition to the Parent Advisory Committee, parents play key roles in a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, such as planning and running community building events, such as the Welcome Back BBQ and the Halloween Haunt, as well as providing funds to enhance students’ learning experiences, such as bringing in sexual health educator Saleema Noon to lead Body Science workshops, or Kitsilano Gymnastics to teach gymnastics during Physical Education classes. 

 French speaking staff work cohesively as a team and are dedicated to the social-emotional well-being of learners first and foremost. There is a strong athletic commitment from staff and parents, with many school teams at the intermediate grades, such as volleyball, basketball and cross-country teams and daily fitness within the class.  

Staff and parents value creating a positive school culture of inclusion, belonging, sense of community and common purpose.