Françoise Candelier is a pure product of public school: she was a primary school teacher for 30 years. This means that she knows from the inside what has become for her the example not to follow.
The failure of National Education
Because with it, no tongue in cheek: National Education has gone on the dark side, and for a long time.
The global reading method has caused the burning of our cultural heritage. Students no longer like to read Victor Hugo or Colette! This is normal, they are unable to get into it because the transmission broke. The school has a huge part in this failure. “
She tried an experiment in Roncq within her public school for 4 years, the SLECC project (knowing how to read, write, count, calculate). But she couldn’t go as far as she wanted. Never mind, she will create her own school!
At the time when she should have retired, she embarks on this crazy gamble with two colleagues. It was in 2009. “We had 25 students in the first year, then 75 in the next school year.” Today, the school has 200 students; the college, opened in 2011, 100. “We have 13 primary school teachers; around thirty teachers at the college ”.
Adapt to everyone, in excellence
First settled in Wasquehal, the establishment must move because it is too cramped. An old school in Croix was bought in 2013. But again, it’s too small! There are no classrooms, lessons in small groups are done in a corridor, behind a screen. “We adapt to each student. There are often courses in half-classes, see with a single student. We want those who need it to be able to progress; and that bright students are not slowed down. “
Its success is word of mouth. “From parents, it’s the survival instinct. He sees the knowledge deficit and the difficulties of learning to read and write around them. ” Parents must sign a contract, in which in particular they undertake to control the screens at home. “It’s a partnership,” notes the director.
We replace the master in his place: not the animator, but knowing it.
Françoise Candelier knows very well that her pedagogy is considered old-fashioned. Apron in elementary school, uniform in college, pen writing at CP, impeccable notebook, refusal of cellphones, daily dictation: the method is square, discipline is the rule. “This is not an old school. On the contrary, we are open and modern. But there is basic common sense. Grammar remains grammar, learning to calculate must not be dislocated. We also replace the master in his place: he is not a facilitator, but knowing it. He knows and the students learn. The cultural auto-café must stop. By what right am I going to impose on my pupils a stupid modern youth literature when we have treasures of French writers? Who knows the human soul better than Balzac? “
The profile of the families is varied: “We have all social levels, dyslexic, dyspraxic children, with a handicap, and brilliant pupils too. Our school is not just for the elite. We want excellence for everyone, everyone at their level. It is not because a pupil will be a carpenter that he should not be trained in general knowledge … “
Call for donations
She calls on patrons to help her continue. Works would be welcome in dilapidated premises. An extension is planned. “We are cramped, we already need another room for the college, near rue du château. I refuse registrations every year! “
She adds: “Our school does not make a profit. Dividends will be there in 20 or 30 years. And it will be worth gold: a trained, cultivated youth, who will be able to write, who will appreciate our French cultural heritage embodied by La Fontaine or Hugo. This will avoid a manipulable populace, good little robots who will have only one aim: to consume. “
Info: courscandelierscolaire.com; 06 13 50 65 29.
PARENTS ‘WORDS
Marie and Olivier Malcurat put 5 of their children at Blanc-Mesnil. “We chose this school for our eldest daughter’s entry into C.P. She is now in sixth grade, still in the same school, and her four siblings followed her there. We have never regretted our choice! The fundamentals (French and mathematics) are worked on daily and the concepts solidly acquired. The teachers are demanding and kind. What we also like is learning through beauty! This notably involves the selected books where beautiful stories are told and illustrated. Children learn classical subjects as well as cultural and artistic subjects (English, choral singing, drawing, recorder …) We appreciate this school where joy, family spirit and professionalism are at the rendezvous. Our children thrive there at their own pace! Besides, our two elders are a year ahead and it suits them perfectly. Education of this quality is what we want for everyone!
We chose the non-contract because we absolutely did not want socio-constructivism (pedagogy which starts from the principle that the child is master of his knowledge. The teacher only supports him in his research) in force in the establishments under contract . We did not want a semi-global for learning to read. We wanted rigor in learning and in the transmission of knowledge (syllabic method, learning the 4 operations from kindergarten, chronological history …) Being myself a teacher in college (modern letters), I saw too many students not having basic knowledge. We want our children to have a well-constructed head so that they can later be free adults. ”
Maryse and Charles Monet have a child in GS at Blanc Mesnil : “We wish that our child can, as an adult, develop socially, family, professionally, emotionally … That he can be equipped to live in society, to make the right choices, his good choices. That he can defend values and convictions, those that will be his. As parents, we participate in this construction and have this educational role to play, choices that are so difficult sometimes to make. To accompany a little being with a lot of love, questions … and not to feel alone in this great adventure, this is the hope of many parents and it is ours. And we found the school that questions itself, which sets a benevolent, rigorous framework and which will allow our little boy to live his schooling to the full, proud of his learnings and his successes. We feel supported and reassured, have confidence and are impressed by the ability of this beautiful school to question what is good, to defend its methods and to question itself if necessary. A school that allows us to question ourselves, without judgment.
We were worried about the difficulties (especially writing) of the children around us at the end of primary school. We did not question the work of the teachers but the methods of the schools under contract. After doing research on pedagogies, methods, taking parents’ opinions… we chose the Blanc Mesnil school for its learning method, but also for the benevolent and rigorous framework defended by the director and the team. consistent teaching. We know that in the event of difficulties, the children are accompanied by the school, we know that in the event of problems, we are listened to by the team and the director. We know that as parents, we are part of the educational community and that hand in hand, we will move forward so that Hippolyte flourishes in his learning. It’s very reassuring. “
–
