EFA Mission & Vision

Mission

Our mission at École Frère Antoine is to foster an inclusive Christ-centered environment where our children collaborate, explore and communicate as active learners and critical thinkers in a quality French Immersion community.

Vision

We are called to walk together in God’s love. Our vision is to inspire in our children a love for God and learning, a call to social justice, bilingualism and an appreciation of our school’s diverse and multicultural mosaic.

Welcome

We are pleased that you are considering the gift of a second language for your child. École Frère Antoine offers the 21st century competence of a rich literacy program in both French and English, within a safe and nurturing setting.

French Immersion in ECSD: Connect Through Language

Our staff are warm, caring, competent individuals who strive to help all students achieve growth. Our students are engaged in inquiry learning. They use Chromebook, laptops in grade 6s, iPads, and iPods as tools to help them express their learning in motivating ways. Christ is the reason for our school and students are encouraged to find the light of Christ in one another through kindness and social justice initiatives which are frequently led by our Student Council.

Students have multiple extracurricular opportunities of which most also encourage them to speak in French, and can choose to participate in Club Clic, Students Union, Choir, Gala Oratoire, Running Clubs and Intramurals. We have two longer recess (24 minutes) which enables students to participate in more clubs. Choir, Student Council, Journal Club and Safety Patrollers usually run year long. In addition there are many clubs change themes or membership over the course of the year (TV Broadcast, Intramurals) and to provide more variety of activities (Gardening Club, Art Club, Liturgy Club...).

Please visite École Frère Antoine Catholic on FaceBook or ecolefrantoine_ecsd on Instagram for more candid pictures of school events .

Our EFA School Council (EFASC) is very active in providing a quality experience for our students and welcome any parents wishing to participate.

First bell is at 8:07 and classes start at 8:12! Please drop off your children after 7:52 when supervisions begins.

This year the school parking lot drop-offs is for families whose oldest children are students in Kindergarten to Grade 2. Drop offs of students in Grades 3 to 6, with younger siblings in tow are to be done outside of the school parking. These mesure ensure the safety of children who require more guidance and to alleviate congestion in all parking areas. School Council has made arrangements with Kameyosek Shopping Centre for a 20 minutes window for parents to park at the begin and end of the school day.

Location

École Frère Antoine School is centrally located in Mill Woods and serves the entire Mill Woods, Meadows, and Ellerslie areas. There are eight school bus routes serving the school, and there is an ETS bus stop outside the school's main entrance.

Key Features

Quality French Immersion child-centred learning
A peaceful and productive faith environment where students develop strong academic and social skills
Technology is a learning tool for students to share their understandings in both languages
A staff who make school challenging and stimulating through the provision of co-curricular and extracurricular clubs and activities
A well resourced learning environment with strong parent support and input
Reversed Lunch a Nov 21, 2019 Global News Feature
Active Hallways

On Site Resources

An excellent Before and After School Care program is available on site
A pre-school program for 3 and 4 year olds to introduce them to French in a fun learning setting called Bouts Choux which runs independently within our site.

Our Namesake - Frère Antoine

Anthony Kowalczyk was born June 4, 1866 in Dzierzanow Poland, the sixth of twelve children of a farm family. His education ended after elementary school, and he divided his time between apprenticeship to a blacksmith and work on the family farm. As a young man, he felt the call to religious life with the Oblates, and in September 1891 he entered an Oblate community. He took his first vows and was later posted (in 1896) to St. Albert Diocese in Alberta.

Life in Canada was difficult. and had to learn both english and French. Within weeks an accident with a power saw led to the loss of one of his hands. Frère Antoine was faced with learning to perform his tasks with this serious handicap.

In January 1899, Frère Antoine took his final vows in St. Paul des Metis. He served as engineer, gardener, and swine herder. He spent the last thirty-five years of his life at St. John's College in Edmonton, now know as U of A's Campus St Jean. He would help many of the young students staying at the college and organise many sports activities.Frère Antoine was a simple man, and it was that simplicity that drew attention to him. He died peacefully on July 10, 1947 during his annual retreat in St. Albert.

His intercession on behalf of petitioners led to Frère Antoine being considered as a candidate for beatification. An investigation into the possibility of the canonization of Frère Antoine is underway and in 2013 Pope francis gave him the title of Venerable. A documentary of his life can be found in the series Living Stones father Antoine O.M.I a Production of Cornerstone Communications, Calgary 1991.

Anthony Kowalczyk est né le 4 juin, 1866 en Pologne, sixième de douze enfants de fermier. Ayant fini son instruction après l'école élémentaire il travailla à la ferme et comme apprenti forgeron.

Jeune homme il se sentit appelé à la vie religieuse comme Oblat, et en septembre 1891 il entra dans une communauté d'Oblats. Il a pris ses premiers voeux et un peu plus tard en 1896 a été envoyé au diocèse de St. Albert en Alberta.

La vie au Canada était dure. Après juste quelques semaines il a perdu une main dans un accident de scierie. Il a fallu que Frère Antoine apprenne à faire ses travaux malgré son grave handicap.

En janvier 1895 Frère Antoine a pris ses voeux perpetuels à St. Paul. Il a travaillé comme mécanicien, jardinier et porcher. Il a vécu les dernières 35 années de sa vie à Edmonton. Homme simple, on dit que c'est sa simplicité qui lui a valu l'attention qu'il a reçue. Il est mort paisiblement le 10 juillet 1947 pendant sa retraite annuelle à St. Albert.

Plusieurs pétitionnaires désirent que la cause de béatification de Frère Antoine soit présentée à Rome.