School Information

Our School

École Van Belleghem is a Kindergarten to Grade 6 French Immersion school located in Southdale, at the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Vermillion Road. Our school is one of eight elementary French Immersion Centers in the Louis Riel School Division.

Our beliefs are as follows:

• Children are unique and inquisitive learners.
• Children deserve respect, structure, guidance, and a sense of belonging.
• Children learn to establish goals for personal growth in order to develop artistically, emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially.
• Children develop self-confidence through inquiry, discovery, and creative problem solving.
• Children learn to develop responsibility for their actions and the resulting consequences through interactions with others.
• Educators should be caring, open-minded professionals who model and promote motivation and life-long learning.
• Educators, parents, and students are responsible for making decisions that lead to successful learning.
• High academic standards are achieved through challenging curricula designed to address various learning styles and needs.
• The use of current technology enhances skills, which promote future learning opportunities.
• Learning occurs best in safe, secure, fun-filled, and caring environments.
• Ongoing communication and the cultivation of positive relationships between home and school encourage learning.
• Our diversity is our strength.

Instruction is totally in French except for the English Language Arts program, which begins in Grade 2. The school is administered in French and communication among staff and students is in French, but communication with parents is in English.

École Van Belleghem’s catchment area comprises Southland Park, Niakwa Place, and parts of Southdale and Island Lakes. This year we have 282 students. We pride ourselves on being small enough to know all of our students quite well and to care about each one as an individual.

The school’s professional staff includes a list of 17 people, including a full-time principal, a part-time vice principal, resource teacher, physical education teacher as well as a part-time teacher-librarian, music teacher, and counsellor. Five paraprofessionals work with the resource teacher and classroom teachers providing support for students. They also supervise the lunch program and playground. Included in the staff are one secretary, a full-time library clerk and three part-time custodians.

Van Belleghem French Immersion Pre-School Inc. offers a French Immersion Pre-School Program for three and four year old children and we also have Niakwa Pre-School for three and four year old children offered in English,  a Before and After School Child Care Program is also available.

Programs

The regular academic program, with the exception of physical education and music, is taught by the homeroom teacher according to Manitoba Education, Training and Youth guidelines. There is a strong emphasis on the development of literacy and numeracy. Over the past few years, the Parent Advisory Council has provided funding to purchase reading materials, math and science manipulatives, as well as music and physical education equipment to enhance the efforts of teachers in these areas. Our school has also developed an excellent reputation as a leader in the use of technology at the elementary level.