“It’s great, especially the gymnasium: we can play football and basketball!” Essan is won over by the Joséphine-Baker college in Vouneuil-sous-Biard (Vienne), where he will enter sixth form next year. With his father, he came to visit the establishment on the occasion of the open doors, organized on Saturday April 2. Just out of the ground, the college will welcome the 650 students of the Henri-IV high school in Poitiers from the start of the spring holidays next May. From September, sixth-grade students from Vouneuil-sous-Biard, Chasseneuil du Poitou and Migné-Auxances will also return to school there.
– Ninnog Louis
– Ninnog Louis
A state-of-the-art college
“It’s big and modern”, observes Adèle, a little impressed. It is true that the building does not leave indifferent. One story high, the college is built entirely of concrete, wood and glass. In the lobby, huge bay windows overlook the leafy courtyard, and the soccer field and greenhouses behind. The ceilings are covered with wood, to limit noise. Each of the 42 classrooms is equipped witha digital screen, desktop and laptop computers, tablets and a very high speed connection. The college also wants to be a pioneer in terms of the environment, with a wood-fired boiler room and light sensors to avoid lighting when it is not necessary, for example.
– Ninnog Louis
– Ninnog Louis
Transportation Concerns
The only downside for several parents: the journeys from Poitiers to college. The carrier Vitalis has set up several new school pick-up lines, which will provide one round trip per day. “We don’t have a car”, worries all the same Salimata Sylla, mother of a pupil installed in the district of Bellejouanne in Poitiers. “The college is magnificent, there’s nothing to say, but what bothers us are the buses. How do we pick up a sick child, for example? It doesn’t really suit us”
The future students are rather happy to follow the lessons in the middle of the fields. “Of course there will be less things to do than in the city center, but that’s not really a problem”thinks Florentin. “I prefer the countryside to the city, there is less noise to follow the courses”, agrees Lena. The teenagers of the town, they are delighted. “We are right next door, it’s convenient”rejoice Anissa and her mother. “For once it’s not up to us to take the bus!”