École L'Odyssée (, English: "Odyssey School") is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

francophone high school in Moncton,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada. It is part of the province's

Francophone Sud School District Francophone Sud School District (''French'': District scolaire francophone Sud) is a Francophone Canadian school district in New Brunswick with its central offices in Dieppe. The district operates 37 schools in the south-central part of New Bru ...

, offering education to students from grade nine to twelve. The school opened on September 30, 2005 as part of a $24.2 million project, alongside the adjoining

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

, École Le Mascaret."Official opening for Le Mascaret and L'Odyssée Schools in Moncton"
Communications New Brunswick, 30 September 2005, retrieved on 16 June 2010. École L'Odyssée was conceived as a way to alleviate the overcrowding problem at École Mathieu-Martin in nearby

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

, a problem the district has had in the past.Jardine, Aloma (15 April 2010)
"New schools to serve students in the north end"
''Times and Transcript'' (Moncton), retrieved on 16 May 2010. The ''Odyssée-Mascaret'' project, as well as the future Carrefour de l'Acadie middle school, replaced the former École Beauséjour and École Vanier complexes."Official opening of École Carrefour de l'Acadie"
Communications New Brunswick, 4 December 2006, retrieved on 16 June 2010. This move allowed the

Moncton Hospital The Moncton Hospital is a Canadian hospital in Moncton, New Brunswick. The Moncton Hospital operates as a tertiary care referral hospital for New Brunswick, as well as neighbouring regions of northeastern Nova Scotia (Cumberland County) and the ...

to expand, while the Vanier establishment made way for medical offices."École Beauséjour Monument Unveiled"
South-East Regional Health Authority, 6 October 2008, retrieved on 16 June 2010."Amiante à l'hôpital"
, Radio-Canada, 17 November 2008, retrieved on 16 June 2010. On September 9, 2009, the school was given permission to begin an $884,000 expansion for its far side, allowing for a larger space to be reserved for its infirmary and orientation center.
Communications New Brunswick, 9 September 2009, retrieved on 16 May 2010. As of September 2010, the school holds 767 students"Summary Statistics School Year 2010–2011"
New Brunswick Department of Education, March 2011, retrieved on 7 September 2011, p. 62. out of its capacity of 850,
Communications New Brunswick, 15 July 2005, retrieved on 16 June 2010. compared to 971 students at École Mathieu-Martin. It is the only French high school in Moncton.
École L'Odyssée, retrieved on 20 June 2010.

History

As Moncton's population grew over the years, overcrowding in high schools soon became a problem: in the 2004–05 school year, École Mathieu-Martin – the sole francophone high school in the area – had an enrolment of 1,609 students, well above the 2009–2010 enrolment of 1,025."New Brunswick Education Dropout Rates"
New Brunswick Department of Education, July 2006, retrieved on 19 June 2010, p. 16. When the city's growth rate climbed from 5% in the years 1991–96 to 6.5% in the years 2001–06, the problem became even more apparent."Population Statistics for Moncton – 1996"
Statistics Canada, 14 May 1996, retrieved on 15 June 2010."Population Statistics for Moncton – 2006"
Statistics Canada, 16 May 2006, retrieved on 15 June 2010. In fact, prior to construction, the idea of a second francophone complex had been in the minds of the New Brunswick Department of Education since as early as December 20, 2002.
Communications New Brunswick, 20 December 2002, retrieved on 15 June 2010. This idea was later confirmed in New Brunswick's record-breaking $809 million budget for the 2003–04 fiscal year, where $100,000 was allocated to "develop the educational specifications" of the complex.
Communications New Brunswick, 3 April 2003, retrieved on 15 June 2010. Originally, the project was code named "Moncton School Complex" (french: Complexe Scolaire de Moncton). On January 12, 2004, the two schools were revealed to be attached side-to-side, occupying a combined area of 16,000 square meters ( square feet) about 2.5 kilometres ( miles) from the nearby

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian francophone university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on highe ...

."Presentation of model, artist's rendering of Moncton's new school complex"
Communications New Brunswick, 12 January 2004, retrieved on 16 June 2010. When commenting on the new facility, New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord said that "

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

project offers numerous advantages, from several points of view", and that "it reflects

he government's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

commitment to equipping New Brunswick with a high-calibre education system." The names for the two schools were picked from submissions sent by the education councils of District 01 and District 03 on March 14, 2005."Names announced for new schools in Moncton and Edmundston"
Communications New Brunswick, 14 March 2005, retrieved on 15 June 2010. Both schools were announced to be replacing École Beauséjour and École Vanier, two francophone middle schools, which made way for the expansion of the Moncton Hospital and for medical offices, respectively. A final $11.2 million was allocated on January 6, 2005, which was 23.3% of the $48 million Department of Education budget for that fiscal year.
Communications New Brunswick, 6 January 2005, retrieved on 16 June 2010. On July 15, 2005, the school was awarded a $60,000 federal fund for energy efficiency 39% below the national energy threshold; this would save the New Brunswick government $115,193 per year, or an eventual $2 million over 20 years. The province's educational minister, Madelaine Dubé, said: "It is good to know that our schools can also contribute to protecting our environment." The school held its inauguration ceremony with Bernard Lord present on September 30, 2005, despite its delayed opening a few days after the beginning of the 2005–06 school year. Lord spoke of his government's intention to add schools to the growing number of Francophone institutions in New Brunswick, as well as advancing the state of the province's education. "Today's inauguration represents an historic moment for Moncton's Francophone community," he said in his speech. "Parents, students and teaching staff now have modern, state of the art facilities. I feel very proud about this project and I am delighted that it is now a reality.""Inauguration Ceremony at École L'Odyssée"
Loudspeaker

, 13:32–13:38 minutes, Communications New Brunswick, 20 September 2005, retrieved on 16 June 2010. On September 9, 2009, a new, $884,100 permit was awarded to extend L'Odyssée's total area by for the expansion of its new infirmary and orientation center. The city went under scrutiny after the death on November 30 of Erica Frenette, a student at L'Odyssée, who was struck by a car after crossing an intersection near the school in poor weather conditions."Erica Frenette Funeral Home"
Frenette Funeral Home, December 2009, retrieved on 16 June 2010.
archive

''CBC New Brunswick'' (Moncton), 3 December 2009, retrieved on 16 June 2010. Parents began petitions to install street lights near what they deemed to be a "dangerous treet corner, and on May 4, the request was approved."Parents petition for crosswalk where teen killed"
''CBC New Brunswick'' (Moncton), 7 April 2010, retrieved on 16 June 2010.
''CBC New Brunswick'' (Moncton), 4 May 2010, retrieved on 16 June 2010.

Academics

Curriculum

The school's curriculum is based on a 30-credit system, requiring a student to receive all 17 mandatory credits and seven optional credits to graduate."Description du régime pédagogique et des cours offerts"
, École L'Odyssée, 2009–10, retrieved on 16 May 2010.
archive
Examples of notable courses are

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, Esperanto,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Auto mechanics, carpentry,

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

world religions World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate the five—and in some cases more—largest and most internationally widespread religious movements. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are always includ ...

cooperative education Cooperative education (or co-operative education) is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for struct ...

, and

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

. L'Odyssée also offers exclusive courses in work-life development and speaking Acadian. A partnership with the

and CCNB Dieppe allows students to take and be credited for select courses off-campus one period per semester at no cost during their senior year. Additionally,

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

offers a course in server and information sustainment, and the school offers access to ten online courses, including

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

and world geography. Sports programs are available and credited, including

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and soccer. There are two curricular programs, called "''Volets''", for students wishing to graduate with

honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

.Although the ''volet'' is on the list of programs, it was removed in early 2009 due to lack of participation. The main differences between the standard curriculum and the two "''Volet''" programs are the addition of mandatory courses in the domain of the chosen program, and the requirement to complete thirty hours of volunteer duty. A student must gain an average of 80% in the additional mandatory courses to graduate with honours."Objectifs des volets"
, École L'Odyssée, 2008, retrieved on 19 June 2010.
archive
"Formulaire de choix de cours"
Nuvola-inspired File Icons for MediaWiki-fileicon-doc

, 88 Kb, , École L'Odyssée, 2009, retrieved on 19 June 2010.

Schedule

École L'Odyssée operates on a modified version of the controversial concept of

block scheduling Block scheduling or blocking is a type of academic scheduling used in schools in the American K-12 system, in which each pupil has fewer classes per day. It is more common in middle and high schools than in primary schools. Each class is sched ...

.J. Bennett, Karen (12 April 2000)
"Block Scheduling: With a Mathematics Perspective"
University of Illinois, retrieved on 17 June 2010.W. Laurence, William and D. McPherson, Danny (24 October 2008)
"A Comparative Study of Block Scheduling and Traditional Scheduling on Academic Achievement"
ABC-CLIO, 2000, retrieved on 17 June 2010. Instead of the traditional seven- or eight-period school day, every day students attend four out of the five classes for that semester. The following semester, students attend their remaining five courses in the same fashion, totalling ten courses per year. School days are labelled 1 to 5, instead of Monday to Friday, with each "day" having a predetermined layout. This type of scheduling prevents courses being cancelled for holidays and school vacations, since in such a case, the schedule resumes with the days shifted forward by the length of the school break. For example, if Monday was designated as Day 1, and Tuesday was a holiday, Wednesday would be Day 2, and Thursday would be Day 3. This type of scheduling, however, does not cover unexpected school cancellations (for example, school closure due to poor weather), due to problems it would cause with the predetermined calendar. Wednesdays, regardless of the "day", are cut by one hour throughout the district to compensate for Community of Practice (French: , or "CAP") meetings between teachers at the end of the day, to "direct he district's effortstowards the educational success of students.""Rapport annuel 2008–2009"
, District Scolaire 01, 2008, retrieved on 17 June 2010, p. 4.

Study hall Study hall, known as private study, SAS, structured study or free periods in the United Kingdom, is a term for a place to have a study time during the school day where students are assigned to study when they are not scheduled for an academic cl ...

(known as the "PAAQ" period, which stands for "") is reserved between the first and second period of the day, except for Wednesdays, where the period is removed to compensate for the CAP meetings."La Période PAAQ"
, École L'Odyssée, retrieved on 17 June 2010.

Another difference between L'Odyssée and other schools is the amount of time allotted between classes. Instead of the usual five-minute intermission, students are given 14 minutes between every period – except for the intermission between the first period and PAAQ, and between lunch and the third period, where students are given five minutes. They receive 57 minutes for their lunch every day, except for Wednesdays, when they get a 55-minute lunch (both excluding the five-minute intermission). Although the schedule is identical throughout the school, students must fill in their courses – A through E – as defined by their schedule:

Rankings

Outside rankings for the school have been low compared to the district's average. In 2010, a report published by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies put L'Odyssée at the bottom of the district's 22-school list overall (one school being unranked), based on data from 2005 to 2008.8th "Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools"
Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, 2010, retrieved on 16 May 2010, pp. 6–7. In 2005, the province began including the school in their reports on student dropout rates. At the time, its rates were the highest in the province, with a total of six dropouts for every 100 students enrolled. In contrast, the district average was 0.9 dropouts per 100 enrolments, and the provincial average was 2.4 dropouts. The following year, the school's rate dropped to 5.4, remaining three percentage points above the provincial average. In 2007, it fell 2.2 points, down to 3.2 dropouts per 100 students, and finally settled at 2%, 0.2 percentage points below the provincial average of 2.2%."New Brunswick Education Dropout Rates"
New Brunswick Department of Education, 30 April 2010, retrieved on 19 June 2010, p. 24. In terms of academic performance, the province releases report cards based on yearly exams to track the progress toward a goal set for 2013. The exams are held for English classes in the tenth grade, for French classes in the eleventh grade, and for mathematics in the eleventh grade. The report card rates schools based on how many students pass each exam, instead of rating on the average mark on the exam. L'Odyssée, according to the report, is below both the district and the provincial success rate:

Athletics

L'Odyssée offers spots in nearly every

NBIAA The New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association, or NBIAA, (french: l'Association sportive interscolaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, ASINB) is the governing body for high school sports in New Brunswick, Canada. As with all of Canada's provincial ...

-organized sport. Players participating under the school's name are given the nickname "" (English: Olympian).

Hockey

The

teams, male and female, are required to practice every first period of the first semester in a credited course. Students participate in up to three tournaments before the provincials and over 30 games in total. The 2009–10 female team finished second in the provincial finals versus the Riverview Blackhawks.Barrett, Kevin (1 April 2010)
"RNS short on players, long on desire, ability"
''The Telegraph Journal'' (Dieppe), retrieved on 16 May 2010.

Soccer

The school has four soccer teams: two juniors and two seniors. The male junior team placed first in the 2009 provincial championships."2009 NBIAA Provincial Championships"
NBIAA-ASINB, 7 November 2009, retrieved on 13 June 2010.
archive

Track and field

The

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

team at L'Odyssée has been the recipient of several provincial titles since 2006. Team members have included Geneviève Lalonde (7-time champion with six provincial records in the 800 m, 1,500 m, and 3,000 m from 2006 to 2009 and represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics), Jessica Chamberland (6-time champion with one provincial record in the shot put from 2006 to 2009), and Alexandre Coholan (2-time champion in the 100 m and 200 m, as well as a silver medal in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

). ''Asterisk'' (*) ''denotes NBIAA record holding score as of 2012''.

Other sports

L'Odyssée is home to a cross-country team, a

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team, two

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

teams, a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

team, a football team, a

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

team, three

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

teams, a

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

team, and a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team.L'Odyssée sports listing
, École L'Odyssée, retrieved on 16 May 2010.

In 2010, the school's

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

team featured a provincial winner in the girls' 60 kg class."St. Stephen, Oromocto capture wrestling titles"
''The Telegraph Journal'' (Saint John), 20 February 2010, retrieved on 16 May 2010. The senior female

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

team took the silver medal in the 2010 provincial tournament."Monday sportsline"
''The Daily Gleaner'' (Fredericton), 15 March 2010, retrieved on 16 May 2010.

Activities

Jazz / Harmony

The

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and Harmony teams, led by instructor Martin McLaughlin (previously Charles Arsenau), act as a side project for the school's existing music course and has participated in every yearly Heritage Festival since 2005. The team won a competition in New York in 2009 and six Maestro awards, including the "Outstanding Band Award", and "Best Solo".Mousseau, Sylvie (30 April 2009)
"Les musiciens de l'Odyssée triomphent à Washington"
, ''Acadie Nouvelle'' (Moncton), retrieved on 12 June 2010. The following year, the team placed second and garnered one Maestro award in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

.Lagacé, Sheila (29 April 2010)
"L'Harmonie de L'Odyssée est au Festival Heritage depuis hier"
, ''Étoile – La République'' (Dieppe), retrieved on 12 June 2010.

Improvisation

L'Odyssée participated in the regional Improvisation competitions in the 2009–10 season. The team also participated in the "" competition, a provincial tournament, and took first place. Sebastien Richard earned the "Most Starred Player" award, while captain Julie Frigault won MVP.Thériault, Christine (15 April 2010)
"Gougoune dorée 2010 remportée par L'Odyssée"
, ''Étoile – La République'' (North-West, NB), retrieved on 16 May 2010.

Debate club

The school was among the first to participate in the debut of the provincial

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

championship in

Caraquet Caraquet ( ) is a town in Gloucester County, New Brunswick, Canada. Situated on the shore of Chaleur Bay in the Acadian Peninsula, its name is derived from the Mi'kmaq term for ''meeting of two rivers''. The Caraquet River and Rivière du Nor ...

. The team of three received the gold prize on March 22, 2010 against École Mathieu-Martin in the finals."First provincial francophone high school debating tournament"
Communications New Brunswick, 22 March 2010, retrieved on 16 May 2010.

Notes

References

External links

*
Info from District 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole L'odyssee High schools in Moncton Educational institutions established in 2005 2005 establishments in New Brunswick