In Canada, public education is free and accessible to children. In Nova Scotia, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is responsible for the education of young people from Grade 1 to 12.
Nova Scotia has public schools that provide most of their educational services in English, but the Chéticamp region, through the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, offers its inhabitants the opportunity to access French-language education.
To be enrolled in a public school, a child must be five years old before December 31 of the current school year. Attending school is compulsory until the age of sixteen. The school system is generally structured as follows:
- Pre-kindergarten (from the ages of 3 to 5) is provided by some schools, daycares, non-profit organizations and individuals.
- Elementary education: from kindergarten to Grade 6.
- Middle school education: from Grade 7 to 9.
- High school education: from Grade 10 to 12.
- Community college or university.
Daycares in French
Les petits poussins
French-language childcare services for children aged 18 months and over available from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm (childcare services are closed whenever Chéticamp’s École NDA is closed).
Telephone: 902-224-1998
Email address: [email protected]
Website: https://sites.google.com/sepne.ca/garderie-les-petits-poussins/accueil (Page in French)
Pam O’Toole (private)
MiKayla Cranton (private)
Elementary and Secondary School Education in French
IMPORTANT
There are two categories of students who are eligible to enrol in a Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial school: students whose parents are rights holders and students whose parents are non-rights holders.
Parents who are rights holders
To be a parent who is considered a rights holder, they must be a Canadian citizen AND at least one of the three following statements must apply to their situation:
- Their first language learned and still understood is French;
- They received their primary school education in Canada in a program in French as a mother tongue;
- One of their children received or is receiving their primary or secondary education in Canada in a program in French as a mother tongue.
Parents who are non-rights holders
For a child to be considered a student when their parents are non-rights holders, at least one of the following statements must be applicable:
- Child of parents/guardians who are Canadian citizens, whose grandparent speaks or spoke French during his or her lifetime, provided that the parents/guardians undertake to actively promote the French language during their child’s schooling;
- Child of parents/guardians who are not Canadian citizens, who speaks, reads and writes French to the required school level, living in a French-speaking household. This child’s parents/guardians will become rights holders once they get their Canadian citizenship;
- Student participating in an international exchange program and who speaks, reads and writes French to the required school level;
- Child living with their non-rights holding biological parent who now lives with a rights holding Canadian citizen.
École NDA (Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial)
Address: 15118 Cabot Trail
Chéticamp, NS B0E 1H0
Telephone: 902-224-5300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ecolendacheticamp
Grandir en français: This program is for children who will be 4 years old no later than December 31 of the current year and who will be eligible to attend kindergarten in September of the following year.
To enrol your child in the Grandir en français program, contact the school’s office at 902-224-5300.
Elementary and Secondary Education
École NDA provides education in French up to Grade 12.
The school welcomes students as of 8 am.
The start of the first class is at 8:42 am.
Lunch is between 11:30 am and 12:15 pm for secondary school students and between noon and 12:45 pm for elementary school students.
End of the school day: 2:53 pm
To enrol your child, you must create an account in the CSAP system (Page in French) to fill out the online registration form.
To enrol your child in student transportation services, click here (Page in French).
IMPORTANT
In Nova Scotia, it is against the law to leave a child under the age of 12 at home unsupervised.
If your child is under the age of 12, and you cannot supervise them at home after the end of the school day (from 2:35 pm), you must enrol them in an after-school childcare service.
Ecole NDA provides this service.
Postsecondary Studies in French
Université Sainte Anne
Université Sainte-Anne, the only French-speaking university in Nova Scotia, offers university and college programs, as well as immersion programs and customized training programs in French as a second language.
It has five campuses, one of which is located at Saint-Joseph-du-Moine (Page in French) in the Chéticamp region.
You will find contact information here (Page in French).
Resources for Parents
Chéticamp Public Library, where you will find works in French and English
Address: 15359 Cabot Trail (entrance at back of building along boardwalk)
Chéticamp, NS
Telephone: 902-224-3728
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://ecrl.ca/locations/cheticamp-public-library/
To get a free library card, register on-line here or in-person at the library.
Équipe d’alphabétisation Nouvelle-Écosse (“Nova Scotia French-Language Literacy Promotion Team”)
This provincial organization provides French-language skills and literacy programs to adults and families in Nova Scotia. All programs are free and provided in both classroom and on-line formats. You’ll find all the info you need by clicking https://eane.ca/en/home/.
La Pirouette
This resource centre provides free services and serves Acadian and Francophone families with young children. It is located next to the daycare.
Address: 15118 Cabot Trail, Chéticamp, Nova Scotia, Canada
Telephone: 902-224-2805
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064318346627