Southern Ontario’s largest French-language Catholic school board is getting even bigger this fall, as Conseil scolaire Catholique MonAvenir welcomed upwards of 16,000 students for this school year amid a surge in student enrolment and planned expansion.

For the school board, the growth is more than a number. Rather it's a symbol of what appears to be a renewed sense of pride in Francophone Catholic education, a culture that took a blow alongside school enrolment numbers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID hit us, like most school boards in Ontario, quite dramatically. However, parents from Junior and Senior Kindergarten are finally sending their kids to school, and we know that there is keen interest for education in a Catholic system,” said Nicole Mollot, Csc MonAvenir’s director of education.

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“While it’s well known that the Catholic education system is incredible, we are also in the Francophone system, enrolling many families who are arriving as newcomers. Many are faithful, practising Catholics, seeking out a Catholic school as something they have known back home in their country,” added Sébastien Lacroix, the board’s diocesan affairs advisor.

Csc MonAvenir oversees 61 schools ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 12 from the Niagara Peninsula to Peterborough, Lake Ontario (Toronto) to Georgian Bay, while spanning across five different dioceses. Staff believe this impressive reach, combined with its mission focused on providing high-quality French-language Catholic education, faith formation and Francophone cultural pride, also impacts the increased numbers for this school year. 

Dynamic environments, combined with various extracurricular activities and unique clubs, many led by school staff and conducted entirely in French, have vastly drawn families to Csc MonAvenir in recent years.  

“ I'm a parent with two kids in the schools as well, and one of them is already looking at things like when the jazz band is starting, the other one was talking about volleyball. My wife went to a school open house and came back saying that even the school secretary is running a club,” said Lacroix. 

“These schools have something for everyone, and the beauty of it is that you're doing it in French. They all have many things to offer, but it's that French Catholic environment that, for many parents, is very important.” 

More than a dozen cultural and faith leaders work across elementary and high school to organize workshops, camps and activities that connect faith and Francophone culture. Mollot shared one notable example in the annual faith festival, where high school students develop and present community engagement projects, fostering faith-based leadership and peer collaboration. 

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Perhaps the epitome of this type of initiative is the upcoming celebrations of 50 years of the Franco-Ontarian flag, first adopted in September 1975. The board has implemented year-long festivities that involve all 61 schools.   

Students are set to participate in different monthly challenges, such as Franco-Ontarian bingo and scavenger hunts, that are tied to Catholic graduate expectations and Francophone cultural themes. 

Provincial celebrations also include flag-raising ceremonies at city halls and Queen’s Park, with a video featuring all Csc MonAvenir schools launching on Franco-Ontarian Day to kick off the festivities. 

Above all else, Csc MonAvenir’s emphasis on the spiritual dimension of its mission remains paramount. Lacroix said the unique French-language religious education developed autonomously by the board, one distinct from English Catholic boards, serves as a distinct and important offering in faith formation. 

“ One of my greatest joys is to see new teachers coming with their entire hopes and their faith into the classroom and bringing that to their students.  In every school, we have those faith leaders who emanate the importance of faith, which is transmitted down to the children through their witness and teaching,” he said. 

Mollot said it goes beyond the curriculum. She said the heavy emphasis goes back to the culture of the school board and its mission to bring everyone together in faith. 

Mollot and company are hoping that each of the six new schools to be constructed in the future will also serve as a community hub and gathering place for many Francophones. New MonAvenir Catholic elementary schools are planned for Coburg, Mississauga and Brooklin, while Brampton, Milton and East Durham see plans for new secondary schools. 

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While new schools aim to ensure equal access to French-language Catholic education across underserved areas, the board has also been revitalizing some of its existing schools, such as Scarborough’s L’École élémentaire Catholique Saint-Michel. 

“ It marks what is absolutely an exciting time, and for the superintendent, the principal, all of the school board members to be involved in such a phenomenal expansion, with the faith component being extremely important from the get-go, it is just amazing,” Mollot said.