The president of the departmental council welcomed, this Monday, September 4, the innovations implemented in this school located on the border between Dijon and Chenôve.
On this back-to-school day, this Monday, September 4, 2023, 23,700 students are expected in colleges, including nearly 19,000 in public establishments for which the Côte-d’Or departmental council mobilizes 517 agents who participate in their operation.
The president of the community François Sauvadet came to wish a “good return to school” to the students of the Henri Dunant college located in the Bourroches district, in Dijon. “One of the very beautiful colleges of this department”, he underlined while being welcomed by the principal Sophie Pizzolo.
The delegation also included François-Xavier Dugourd (LR), deputy vice-president of the Department, Catherine Louis (LCOP), vice-president of the Department, Céline Maglica (PS), departmental opposition councilor, Viviane Vuillermot (LCOP), councilor departmental majority, Caroline Vayrou, secretary general of the Dijon academy, Sabine de Meester, information and guidance inspector for National Education in Côte-d’Or, and Miléna Manoukian, third-grade student and young departmental adviser.
The Henri Dunant college, an innovative establishment
“No longer quite in Dijon, not yet in Chenôve”, the Henri Dunant college has been run by Sophie Pizzolo since 2022. The establishment has 315 students divided into 14 classes – including a ULIS class introduced in 2019 -, representing 25 different nationalities and living mainly in the districts of Bourroches and Valendons even if about fifty students come from Chenôve, very close, and about thirty students from a reception center for neighboring asylum seekers.
From a pedagogical point of view, the management has opted for the semesterization of report cards with mid-semester reports in order to “relieve the pressure weighing on students and families in terms of academic results and to be able to be in remediation without waiting for the class council”.
The college has launched an animal mediation experiment thanks to an endowment of 18,000 euros from the “Our school, let’s do it together” scheme, from the “education” section of the National Council for Refoundation. It is the only school to carry out such an experiment in Burgundy.
During the 2022-2023 school year, the Henri Dunant college dealt with around fifteen potential situations of harassment, without however going so far as to have to summon a student to a disciplinary council or to note the departure of a child.
No situation of violation of the values of the Republic has been identified. The few “tensions” that were able to emerge were resolved through “dialogue” with the pupils potentially concerned as well as with the parents. However, the director shares her “vigilance” on the subject.
“The question of the Olympic Games will become a subject of educational work”
As part of Terre de Jeux, the preparation process for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games began last June: the students met members of the regional Olympic committee. “The question of the Olympic Games will become an object of educational work within the framework of ‘homework done’ as well as support and deepening in sixth grade”, indicates the principal.
In the medium term, the services of the Côte-d’Or departmental council are planning the creation of a courtyard and the dewatering of the courtyard with the start of construction planned for the summer of 2024 and planting of plants the following autumn. .
Renovated rooms
The visit leads the delegation to the brand new CDI since a change of premises has taken place in order to place the reception of school life on the ground floor to give directly onto the courtyard and the CDI on the first floor.
The principal is pleased to be able to offer “a great working tool” to the teaching team. “We wanted to create a soothing place where students enjoy accessing culture,” she adds, while the academic general secretary welcomes the implementation of “an expression of the needs of the educational community on the ground” .
Correlatively, the localized unit for inclusive education (ULIS) which allows the shared reception of students with disabilities has been relocated in the main building. It is one of the 22 ULIS that count the colleges of the Côte-d’Or.
“We are in the inclusive school. (…) The idea is to create links with colleagues”, insists Sophie Pizzolo who points out that a course in ULIS can continue in high school to allow you to pass the baccalaureate.
Respect for the work of territorial agents
François Sauvadet then gives printed dictionaries to sixth-grade students to symbolize this offer made by the Department to all middle school students in the Côte-d’Or.
Initially welcomed as “the president of the colleges of Côte-d’Or”, the president of the community then made the students aware of the importance of “respecting” the work of the territorial agents working for the cleanliness of the premises or even the preparation meals.
These personnel are employed by the Department, which is responsible for equipping and maintaining schools, while the Ministry of National Education is responsible for educational content as well as the human resources contributing to transmitting it.
After recalling his attachment to the meal price of two euros for all Côte-d’Or students – “the price of the meal is not a tax”, he insists – François Sauvadet informs the students that the chef kitchen incorporates 50% Côte-d’Orien products in meals in the canteen.
Since the introduction of this measure of purchasing power, attendance at the canteen of the Henri Dunant college has increased by 7.70% against 5.38% on average for the department.
Experimenting with animal mediation with a Goldendoodle
The discovery of the specificities of the Henri Dunant college continues with the presentation of the action carried out by Olivier Guillaume, canine mediator, with Épithète, a female Goldendoodle aged five months, resulting from a cross between a poodle and a golden retriever.
According to the principal, the origin of this action comes from a survey on the school climate carried out during the year 2021-2022 which had revealed “a lack of confidence of the pupils vis-à-vis adults” coupled with “a quality of life deemed unsatisfactory.
Looking for “a unifying project” contributing to “create identity at Henri Dunant College, regardless of the academic success or the difficulties of each of the students”, the teaching team has chosen animal mediation.
Operating exclusively at Henri Dunant College, Epithète will work 3 hours a day. Sophie Pizzolo observes that her presence “promotes concentration in class” and “promotes psychosocial skills”. “It’s a way to learn differently,” insists the principal.
In training until the end of the year with Olivier Guillaume, the dog-mediator will then be “in autonomy” with the teaching team, including two teacher-referents. The innovation will be evaluated by a research group from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
“The Department aims to offer a cultural discovery to all college students”
“The educational community has had to face new challenges, as in society, and tries to provide answers for the development of our young people”, analyzes François Sauvadet, “it is a community on the move”.
“I reiterate my confidence in the teaching staff, which fulfills a mission of education and support for teachers. Everyone must participate in their responsibility towards our youth,” he adds.
“Beyond the material investments that we have made here, the Department really wants to offer a cultural and sporting discovery to all college students, to all young people, to all backgrounds, in all neighborhoods, all the Côte-d’Or”, he develops.
The back-to-school visit ends with a musical moment with the singing repeated the same day by around thirty schoolchildren, accompanied on the guitar by their music education teacher.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
The file of the Department of Côte-d’Or on the start of the school year 2023
Henri Dunant college is experimenting with animal mediation with students
“There is no small college, there is only one big mission, that of supporting our children”, considers François Sauvadet
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