Cree Bilingual

Overview:

St. Frances Cree Bilingual School is home to our pre-kindergarten to Grade 9 Cree bilingual program.

Pre-K to Grade 5 is offered at 2141 McPherson Avenue, and Grades 6 - 9 are housed at 6 Bateman Cres.

Free transportation is available for students who don't live near St. Frances Cree Bilingual School.

(Because of enrolment growth, the McPherson Ave. location can longer house all the students, so it was decided to have two locations while we await Ministry of Education approval for a new facility.)

Benefits:

• The program meets the developmental needs of children by encouraging participation, learning, observing, experiencing and interaction among the students. The main characteristic of the Nêhiyawêtân program is storytelling. This is how First Nations people interact with one another: through learning about the experiences of others.
• The program also includes kêhtêyak (old ones/elders) who are the knowledge keepers of origin and history, which provides a foundation of values and beliefs from a First Nations perspective.
• From kêhtêyak the children learn the natural laws and the validity of learning to live with respect for oneself, for others and everything occupying Mother Earth. With traditional teachings, children come to embrace their identity and assume ownership of the language.
• The goal of the program is to integrate nêhiyaw ways, origin, history and natural laws into a faith-based Catholic education program. The children will reawaken to the depth of their identity and come to understand exactly who they are with pride and integrity.

Further Information:

• This program is available to children across the city, with transportation provided at no extra cost to parents. Children are taught by a professional teacher who is fluent in the "Y" Cree dialect.
• For more information please contact St. Frances Cree Bilingual School at (306) 659-7310.