École de la Pointe-Rocheuse

In September 1949, the Congrégation de Notre-Dame convent opened its first branch school in the town of Caraquet’s school district number 5. This school, named Pointe-Rocheuse School, was made up of two classrooms and was located less than a kilometer away from the convent. Sister Sainte-Marguerite-des-Séraphins (Léona Frenette) founded this mission. She worked under the direction of the convent superior, Sister Saint-Georges-de-Thèbes (Mary Esther Landon). On September 6, the school received some forty students. A lay teacher taught the class of Grade 1 to Grade 4 girls and boys while Sister Frenette taught the class made up of Grade 5 to Grade 8 children. The convent superior asked a second sister, Sister Saint-Cyrille-d'Alexandrie (Julia May White), to accompany Sister Frenette to school every day. In 1951, at the request of the sisters, the School Commission installed running water and toilettes in the school for purposes of hygiene. At the end of that year, violent snow storms prevented students and teachers from getting to school. If a class was cancelled due to the teacher’s absence, she was required to work on Saturday to make up that day’s salary. In February 1952, all schools in New Brunswick were closed for the death of His Majesty George VI. In June, a Grade 8 student was awarded first prize from Gloucester County and the province’s second prize for her French essay on cancer. The little school was in the spot light. In September, a poliomyelitis epidemic postponed the beginning of the school year. The following year, two Grade 8 students were accepted in Latin Studies at Université du Sacré-Cœur in Bathurst.

Simultaneously, as recommended by the Department of Education in Fredericton, the Gloucester County superintendant of schools suggested that Sister Frenette obtain a teachers licence from the province. With the authorization of the Congregation’s General Council, she prepared to pursue one year of studies in order to obtain the licence. A few months later, the Department of Public Instruction of New-Brunswick granted her the licence in view of a reciprocity agreement among provinces regarding licences. In January 1954, the boys requested permission to smoke at recess time. The sisters submitted the request to the superintendent of schools who encouraged tolerance in order to avoid issues of disobedience. In March, Education Week commemorated the bicentennial of the Acadian deportation. The activities that were held focused on the love of the French language, the respect of the Catholic religion and the history of Acadie. In 1957, a Grade 4 student was awarded the Gloucester trophy for his first place in the French exams of the Association acadienne d'éducation. Some years later, the town’s police department inaugurated the school patrol. Some of the school’s students were made “brigadiers” and “sergeants.” In 1964, a campaign to stop tuberculosis was held at the school. Two nurses vaccinated the children. In May 1965, a vaccination campaign to stop poliomyelitis was held. In October, the manager of the company, Lounsbury, offered the school a television set to enable the students and teachers to follow the visit of Pope Paul VI to the United States. This was the first time a pope visited the Americas. The following year, a new method of teaching English was put to the test. The manual English This Way was distributed to Grade 3 and Grade 4 students. The school closed at the end of the 1966-1967 school year.

NB: This text was written using documents found in the archival holdings in our possession and does not constitute a complete administrative history of the teaching establishment.