One sign of a school\u2019s regional popularity is the number of buses parked outside. In the lot at \u00c9cole Gabrielle-Roy on 132 Street in Newton, 20 buses shuttle students between Surrey\u2019s lone Francophone school and homes located in Surrey and nearby cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we are a regional school, we pick up students from Abbotsford, places like that, and bring them here,\u201d explained Pier-Maude Lachance, vice-principal at Gabrielle-Roy.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor elementary school here, the students must live in Surrey, but this is a regional school for high school students. For example, in Langley there is no French high school, so we get those students. There are French elementary schools in Langley and Delta, but for high school we welcome older students from other cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Free bus transportation is a selling point at a school where admission requirements are covered in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which gives Canadians living in B.C. the right to have children educated in a Francophone education program.<\/p>\n
The Now-Leader recently toured Gabrielle-Roy, which this year welcomes 595 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 as the only public Francophone school of its kind in Surrey.<\/p>\n
Part of the CSF provincial school district (Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique), Gabrielle-Roy is among 47 public schools for close to 6,000 French-language students in B.C.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not French-immersion schooling, it\u2019s a total Francophone experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a Francophone school, so it means that all the communication we do is in French with our families, everything is in French,\u201d Lachance noted. \u201cThe report cards are in French, the communication, what we put on our walls. Sometimes many languages are spoken at home but one of the parents of a student here must speak French.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opened in 1998, the school was rebuilt in 2004 after fire destroyed the original building.<\/p>\n
Originally from Quebec, Lachance is in her 11th year at Gabrielle-Roy, fourth as an administrator.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more students this year than last year, and we welcomed 11 new families from different countries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a beautiful diversity in our school, with a lot of different languages that are spoken at home. The common language at school is French, so that\u2019s what brings us all together. We have students who speak Swahili, Kirundi, English, Arabic, and beautiful, many accents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always say that we speak French at school and we promote the French culture, but we add \u2018s\u2019 to cultures, because we have so many students coming from different countries, different cultures. It\u2019s not just one French, it\u2019s a plural French, global. It\u2019s grande Francophonie \u2014 I don\u2019t know if you have other words to to describe it better in English, just Francophonie plural.\u201d<\/p>\n
New students should have a basic understanding of French before they enroll, but it\u2019s not mandatory at the school, which boasts the name of a major voice in French-language literature in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example we do welcome Kindergarteners that hear French at home just a little bit,\u201d Lachance said. \u201cThey start the school year and they don\u2019t know a lot of words but then by December we can see them being able to make sentences, learning the language, ask questions, they\u2019re more confident. We don\u2019t ask any student to speak perfect French, because they are all learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are three Kindergarten classrooms at Gabrielle-Roy, along with a daycare for preschoolers.<\/p>\n
A program prepares the youngest students for life at school, well before classes begin, with monthly activities for kids and families.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also great to create connection between our families because as they come from everywhere in Surrey, it\u2019s not like a neighborhood school where they can easily meet and make friends before they attend school,\u201d Lachance explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our daycare here as well, it\u2019s always great to welcome them because they\u2019re so used to having everything in French, because it\u2019s a French daycare, so when they come to Kindergarten, they\u2019re ready. We have some children who come here when they\u2019re age three and stay until they\u2019re 18. That\u2019s quite special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basketball is popular at Gabrielle-Roy, where the 2025 senior boys team won the Greater Vancouver Independent Schools Athletic Association championship \u2014 a first such banner for the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very exciting, and basketball is very strong in our school,\u201d Lachance said. \u201cIf you come during lunchtime, they\u2019re practicing, always practicing. They love it and they\u2019re really good, but I am biased. Soccer is strong here as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Portable classrooms, set up outside the school building, are a sign of recent student-population growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast August and September, we had a lot of new families coming,\u201d the vice-principal recalled. \u201cWe also have families that leave for different reasons, whether they\u2019re moving back to Quebec or France or another country, that happens. Last fall was very busy, and it\u2019s always exciting to welcome new students. We haven\u2019t reached our maximum yet, and we make the best of the space we have. I think we would always find a way of welcoming Francophone students to our school.\u201d<\/p>\n