Five hundred students from sixty different nationalities, half of whose parents do not speak or speak little French. A sensitive environment too often shaken by the socio-economic problems of its inhabitants.
The Pierre Sémard College of Bobigny is integrated into a ZEP (priority education zone). When entering sixth grade, the students’ level places it 80th out of the 119 in Seine-Saint-Denis. Yet, four years later, BEPC results allow the school to rank among the top twenty in the department, including private schools.
At the root of this success is a motivated teaching team that constantly seeks new ways to inspire children to learn.
How to teach today? This is the question Joseph Rossetto, the principal of the school, asks himself every day. How to inspire a desire to learn in children who may, from a very young age, face a certain degree of societal exclusion? How to instill confidence in kids who are often fragile?
The answers, the teaching team at Pierre Sémard College reinvents every day by uniting students around educational and artistic projects where everyone’s participation makes the children accountable for themselves and others. Here, educational projects consider the uniqueness of each student so that none feels excluded. The team competes in reflection and creativity.
Philippe Troyon began his observation work in this school in 2002. With his camera, he quickly realized that he was participating in a rare experience. He decided to capture this undeniable reality by taking the time to live and film the students with the entire educational team.
Today, this film is the incredible and exemplary result of the success of learning and being in the republican school.
