By Denise Tom
Centretown parents who want to enroll their children in a middle French immersion program may not have to send them to Vanier come September.
The Hopewell School Council is trying to start a French immersion program for students in Grades 4 to 8 at Hopewell Public School.
The school already has an early immersion program, where students start French immersion in kindergarten.
However, the school council says some parents prefer the middle entry point because they want their children to have a basic understanding of one language before they delve into another.
“For some kids it works really well,” says Joan Spice, a Hopewell School Council member, about the middle program. “Some people really prefer to have kids learn English first.”
The council sent out surveys in early January to area schools to see the interest level for such a program.
In Centretown, those schools included Elgin Street Public School, Centennial Public School and Cambridge Street Community Public School.
Catherine Hyde, co-chair of the school council, says the results from the surveys will be in this week.
“Lots of the parents that already have their kids enrolled in (early immersion) said they would have definitely been interested in something like this if it had been offered before,” says Hyde.
Information sessions will be held this month for parents interested in enrolling their children in the program.