Making History!

"It's taken several years to get this close to a dream I've had for a long time," says Marie-Josée Pepin, Chief Executive Officer of North Star Academy and the major force behind a determined effort to give English people in Laval/North Shore another choice apart from French private/public schools on the island or English private schools in Montreal, the West Island, the South Shore or the Eastern Townships, and of course the English public schools of the Laurier Board.

Buoyed by the rapid progress of the construction work at the site of her North Star Academy, Mrs. Pepin spared no enthusiasm in saying how excited she is about the opening of the school. "We're giving the families another option, the best option of all as far as I'm concerned," she states emphatically, exuding great confidence, standing in front of heavy machinery at work behind her at the site of the school, during an exclusive interview with Courrier Laval Weekly News.

And what will North Star Academy have that will convince families to pay about $10,000 a year for a private school education? Mrs. Pepin is asked.

“Well, lets start with the location,” she quickly answers, suggesting that as in real estate, so too in education, it stars with location, location, location. “But more importantly, it comes down to providing everyone involved - teachers, parents, students, administrators, professional and support staff - with the support they need to do the best job possible,” Mrs. Pepin, mother of a child who’ll soon be entering North Star Academy, adds.

“Our class sizes will be considerably smaller, at 23 to 25 students per group, than most public schools and some private schools offer, with some of the groups in these institutions putting as many as 40 kids into a class. That will make a big difference in the quality of teaching and learning that will take place at North Star Academy. We are committed to the pursuit of excellence through individual attention for each student,” says Mrs. Pepin, adding that many other avenues of innovative and creative approaches to learning are also being explored with an eye to future programs of study.

As well, she emphasizes that the school will concentrate on a bilingual approach, with French occupying at least 40% of the instructional time. “But French and English will not be our only focus,” she explains, adding that there are plans to also offer other languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Greek and Arabic in the curriculum.

“We’re aware of the community’s needs in this respect,” she says, “and we realize that many parents in Montreal/Laval/North Shore want their children to explore and develop other languages, especially the third language that comes from their origins, a language they want their children to learn out of respect for their traditions and their roots, not to mention for practical purposes of communication,” she specifies.

At first projected to officially open on schedule with the start of the new 2007-2008 school year, North Star Academy will open on time but not at its permanent campus, since it will not be ready until October 1, 2007.

Mrs. Pepin says she’s undaunted by this unavoidable minor setback. She’s convinced that the 200 Secondary 1, 2, and 3 students and 10 teachers of North Star Academy “will do just fine" in temporary quarters while awaiting completion of the construction.

“We tried everything in our power to open at the permanent campus, but it wasn’t to be, so we’re asking families to bear with us for a few weeks,” Mrs. Pepin explains, adding that the parents and children have shown consideration, tolerance and complete cooperation.

"Parents can be assured that their child's education will not be sacrificed. In fact, we are committed to pursuing excellence, without compromise. It’s a small price to pay for the convenience and historic opportunity to finally have a private English high school close to home, a place where children can get quality education without having to spend 3-4 hours on busses, metros, trains or cars to get to and from their school,” Marie-Josée Pepin concludes.

Photo:Star 1

(Photo: Martin Alarie)