Marystown French immersion program lives another year after parents recruit more students

Parents in Marystown who fought forKindergartenchildren to be enrolled in French immersion class are claiming victory after the school district decided to keep the program for another year.

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) announced last year that there would be no such program at Sacred Heart Academy as only 10 children applied not enough to justify offering it.

• Excusez-moi? Marystown early French immersion program in jeopardy

That didn't sit well with parents, who started a campaign to recruit more students from the 33 children who signed up for the English-only stream.

The campaign worked, and the school went from having 10 students registered in French immersion to 14,and at a meeting last weekend, the board agreed to continue the program inSeptermber.

"To our delight we had four kids come over to the other side," parentJessica Reid told theSt. John's Morning Show.

"All parents of the original 10 who were registered knew somebody whose kid was in English, and they talked to them. Sometimes we got a, 'No, sorry we're not interested,' and other times we got a, 'Oh that sounds interesting, let me check it out.'"

Those 14 students will now be entitled to do French immersion classes for the remainder of their time in school.

However parents with kids starting kindergarten in 2019 may face the same struggle if not enough students sign up.