DAY 328 - INSPIRATIONAL WEDNESDAY - JACQUELINE PINEL TREMBLAY, A VISIONARY

Day 328 

Mural made by my oldest
daughter's class last year.

I love my children's school.  The first time I visited it, I fell in love with it.  The walls were decorated with colourful art work.  At the time, I remember thinking that as a child, I would have loved to attend such a joyful school. 

What is particular about that school is that it has an artistic vocation.  From the age of three, children learn music, painting, theatre and dance.  This great school was created thanks to the vision and the passion of one woman, Jacqueline Pinel Tremblay.

Jacqueline Pinel Tremblay was born in France.  Being interested in art at a young age, she decides to study Fine Arts at the "École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris". After immigrating to Canada, she continues her studies at the Montreal School of Fine Arts.

      

In 1965, as a graduated fresco painter, Jacqueline Pinel Tremblay decides to found a preschool program that focuses on Fine Arts.  L'École Buissonnière is born.  Very quickly, the school becomes recognized for the quality of its teaching as well as its numerous realizations.  A few years later, due to its growing popularity and in response to the needs of its clientele, theater, music and dance are added to the program.  

In 1994, upon receiving a permit from the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Tremblay decides to extend the artistic educational project of the school to the primary level.

Mural made by my youngest
daughter's class last year.

Today, the school counts about four hundred happy children, from ages three to twelve.  The school's curriculum  includes the arts (music, dance, theatre and painting), the study of different historical periods as well as the traditional academic subjects.   In kindergarten, children learn pre-history, in grade 1 Antiquity, etc., up to grade six where they study the Twentieth Century.  The program integrates  the arts to the general knowledge.  For instance, when, in grade 2,  children study the Middle Ages, they will also look at styles of paintings and listen to music from that era.

Mrs. Jacqueline Tremblay had a vision of creating a program to develop children's minds through creativity.  It could have stayed in her mind... but she made it happen and the result is a school that has slowly expanded and that has now an identity and a soul.

When someone has a spark of genius and he or she takes the time to ignite it, it could create breathtaking fireworks!  That's what happened in the case of Mrs. Tremblay.