Popular Bilingual Kindergarten and Early French Immersion Programming Expanding for the 2024-2025 School Year

Posted on Tuesday February 27, 2024

Pembroke, ON - The Renfrew County District School Board (RCDSB) is excited to announce that bilingual kindergarten and Early French Immersion (EFI) popular with area families will be phased in at Mackenzie Community School in Deep River and Highview Public School in Pembroke starting September 2024. As a result, in-person kindergarten registration has been extended at both schools.

In response to a growing demand in the Deep River and Pembroke areas, this initiative continues the expansion of French immersion programming in every “family of schools” across RCDSB.

"We are thrilled to expand our educational programs to include bilingual kindergarten and EFI at Mackenzie and Highview," says Director of Education, Kristen Niemi. "It reflects our commitment to providing enriching educational opportunities and provides students with a rich French language experience early on to promote fluency and proficiency.

Bilingual kindergarten and Early French Immersion are new program offerings at Mackenzie Community School in Deep River. Local Trustee Jodie Lee Primeau shared that “the introduction of French Immersion programming reflects the strong desire from families in Deep River to give students this educational opportunity. It is being very well received in the community.”

“In Pembroke, students who want to choose early French Immersion have until now, had to register at Champlain Discovery School, which is outside of the Highview community boundaries,” explained Trustee and Board Vice-Chair, Leo Boland, “so this is a very exciting opportunity for Highview families to register for this popular program at their home school.”

Both schools are hosting local French as a Second Language (FSL) Family information nights. The session for Mackenzie Community School is on Thursday, February 29th, from 6:00-7:30 pm. For Highview Public School and Champlain Discovery Public School area families, the FSL Family Information Night will be held at Highview Public School on Monday, March 4th, from 6:00-7:30 pm.

For additional information please contact:

Meredith Caplan Jamieson

Executive Officer of Public Affairs and Communications

jamiesonm@rcdsb.on.ca 613-735-0151 X 2231