École élémentaire Marie-Curie

Infobox Education in Canada
name=École élémentaire Marie-Curie


imagesize=250px
motto=Savoir faire et bien faire
motto_translation=
streetaddress=
city= London
province= Ontario
postalcode=
areacode=
phone=
fax=
email=
url=
schoolnumber=
schoolboard= CSDCSO
superintendent=
trustee=
affiliation=
principal=Donald Cyr
viceprincipal=
administrator=
schooltype=
grades=
language= French
area=
mascot=The Owl
teamname=
colours=Black, Silver and White
founded= 1972
enrollment=
lastupdate=June 1, 2006

École élémentaire Marie-Curie is a public French first language elementary school in London, Ontario, Canada. It is located in north-west end of London on Hunt Club Drive. Opened in 1972 it was originally the "London French School" and located on King Street in downtown London. The school was renamed "École Alexandra", after Princess Alexandra, but was simply known as "École". Today the school serves from junior kindergarten–6, in 1999, grades 7 and 8 were moved to École secondaire Gabriel-Dumont when the high school relocated to its present site.

In the early 1990s the then-principal, Jean-Claude Imbeault, made a number of changes to the school. He changed the school colours from blue and white, to black, silver and white; had the school renamed to "École élémentaire Marie-Curie"; gave it a new logo and a motto "Savoir faire et bien faire"; and, most significantly, created a plan for a multicultural school population.

London has an extremely small francophone population; however, it qualifies for French language services under the [http://www.ofa.gov.on.ca/english/FLSA.html French Language Services Act] , and also qualifies to have French schools. Most students are from mixed families and are notorious for conversing in English in the school yard; the students usually view themselves as "bilingual" rather than "English" or "French".

While this was the first French language elementary school in London, there are now five elementary schools (another public school and three catholic schools), two French high schools and one community centre.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include:
* Jeffrey Buttle, figure skater
* Jordan Prentice, dwarf actor

ee also

*École secondaire Gabriel-Dumont
*List of schools in London, Ontario

External links

* [http://mariecurie.csdcso.on.ca/ École élémentaire Marie-Curie] (in French)
* [http://www.acfo.ca L'Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario (ACFO)] (in French)
* [http://www.acfo-ls.org ACFO-London-Sarnia] (in French)