Halifax says ‘bienvenue' to private French school
International institution to create ‘citizens of the world'
HALIFAX - An international French school, the first in Atlantic Canada, is opening in Halifax in September.
The Lycée International Français des Provinces Atlantiques (LIFPA) Don Bosco Halifax is a private school with a curriculum and teachers from France. It will be located in Bayers Road Centre, where there will be 80 spots for local children (primary to Grade 12), as well 105 spots for students from France and other countries. So far, 20 students from Atlantic Canada have registered.
Tuition is $15,500 a year. “We are going to create future ambassadors of Halifax to France, and France to Halifax,” said Michel Miraillet, French ambassador to Canada, at a news conference at city hall on Wednesday to launch the school. Members of the municipal and provincial governments gave welcoming remarks.
Miraillet said the school will create bridges between Halifax and France and create “citizens of the world.”
“What an incredible opportunity for Halifax, which will now have an international curriculum . . . and for the French authorities, this project now places Halifax on the map of friendly cities of France and of Francophonie.”
All eight of the school's teachers will be coming from France.
Students in older grades coming from France will stay with host families; in return, local students will be able to study at one of 50 associated schools in France.
They have 585 schools in 139 countries (eight others in Canada), with more than 400,000 students. The curriculum is the same at all the schools.
“Our schools are located wherever Francophonie needs to be defended, wherever France has friends,” Miraillet said.
Early on in bringing the school to Atlantic Canada, Saint John, N.B., was considered as the location. But in January, LIFPA announced that the project was canceled due to escalating construction costs. By bringing it to Halifax, the school is able to open in 2024 instead of 2025, as originally planned.
Sylvain Olivier, director general of LIFPA Don Bosco Halifax, (as translated by Mélaine Ricard-Boulieu, cultural ataché) thanked Halifax developers Wadih Fares and Joe Ramia for their support. In his remarks, he called them “owners of our school.”
He declined to comment on the cost of installing the Halifax school other than to say they are renting the space off Bayers Road.
Miraillet said Fares is a “visionary man” and “friend of the French-speaking world” who brought stakeholders together to make the school happen.