Background

Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine is a private Canadian high school (École secondaire) located in Lachine, Quebec

Lachine, Quebec

Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now a borough within the city of Montreal.-History:...

, Canada, a former city on the Island of Montreal

Island of Montreal

The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....

 which is now a borough within the city of Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

Often called CSA for short by students, the school has over 70 teachers and over 1500 students.

History

Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine was founded in 1861 by the Congrégation des Soeurs de Sainte-Anne and so will shortly be celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2011, making it one of the oldest schools in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

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Architecture

The school is composed of four main buildings:

The Main Pavilion (Pavillon Sainte-Anne) is the eldest of the four, built of stones extracted from the nearby Lachine Canal as early as 1861. The building has the shape of the letter E and is divided in three counterparts. The building is famous for its architectural features such as the large dome which can be seen from miles away. The central wing is a chapel, soon to be transformed into the BiblioTEC, a library with many technological features such as iPads and eBooks. The rest of the building is divided on either side of the chapel. On the West side of the chapel lies the Convent which is currently being renovated to house the Collégial Sainte-Anne, for students continuing their post-secondary studies at the school. The East side of the chapel is part of the secondary school and is used by students from secondary II to IV, each level on their own floor. However, the fifth floor is open to all students and is divided into a large study hall, two art rooms and two science labs. The building's main features are: the principal and administration offices, two conference rooms and a small auditorium, four science labs, a small cafeteria, the agora, the study hall, the BiblioTEC and the art rooms. This building is linked to the sports complex by an underground tunnel which crosses Lachine's 12th avenue.

The Pavilion Marie-Esther, abbreviated as PME by most students, is home to the secondary I students. It is named after Sister Marie-Esther Blondin, one of the founding sisters and former headmistress of the school and was founded in 1988. This building's main features are: a 500 seat auditorium (Salle Jeanine-Serres)along with one out of the school's two music rooms with individual cubicles, a cafeteria and a science lab. The third floor of the PME is linked to the fourth floor of the sports complex by an interior walkway.

The Sports Complex is the centerpiece of the schools four buildings. Located between the 11th and 12th avenues and adjacent to the PME, it rises on four floors. The three bottom floors are occupied by the schools sports facilities, however the fourth floor (Pavillon Roger-Gauvin) is exclusive to the secondary V students and holds the name of the former headmaster of the school. This building's main features are:
On the lower level; a semi-olympic swimming pool with 1m and 3m diving boards along with a gymnasium, a music room, a classroom for Académie Sports et Arts Élite, a dance hall and a student lounge.
On the second floor; another dance hall and a gymnastics palestra with two olympic trampolines, parallel and asymmetric bars, a tumble track, rode floor, vault, pommel horse and balance beams.
On the third floor; a third dance hall, a double gymnasium with rock climbing wall, a gym with cardio machines and weight training, the student cafeteria with a panoramic view on the Lachine Canal and the St-Lawrence River.

The fourth and smallest building is the former school library. As of 2011, it will be transformed into a larger cardio gym since this library will be replaced by the larger BiblioTEC.

Programs

This school has many programs available for their students.

DéfiMonde: An international program for students with humanitarian values and who are engaged in their community. These students have extra curricular classes in history, geography, mandarin and humanities. DéfiMonde students are of the involved type and have intensive classes in order to prepare for their departure to a humanitarian semester abroad in their last year.(Secondary V)

DéfiSports, in which students have up to 8 hours of Physical Education and intensive sports per week, such as rock climbing, triathlon, gymnastics, badminton, tennis, swimming, athleticism, introduction to scuba diving and life-guarding, etc. As of secondary IV, students can select one out of three sports programs for their last two years.

Académie Sports et Arts Elite: This program is for students who are in a provincial, national, or international level of competition in sports and arts, and who have to take time off school to compete outside of the region. These students attend regular classes with students from other programs, but have complementary intensive classes and study sessions in their own classrooms.

Dance concentration: Although this program is open to boys, mainly girls select this program in which they have three compulsory dance classes (Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary) in their weekly schedule. Students in this program can also choose extra curricular dance classes such as Hip-Hop and House.

Music concentration

Reputation

It is now widely regarded as one the best and most prestigious secondary school in the province of Quebec (ranking first continuously for many years).

External links

• Official web page