During summer vacation, there was a big change in our school: the 6èmes that were normally on the top floor of the collège building, shifted places with the 3èmes that were on the ground floor of the lycèe building. This didn’t only affect the 3èmes and the 6èmes, but the whole collège. It is thus a very important change.
But why did this change occur? We asked Mr. Janin for the answer and he told us that there were a lot of 6èmes this year, and they couldn’t fit in the classrooms of the floor that is normally for them because of the lack of space. This is the reason why the collège’s layout completely changed.
Now that this big change has occurred, how do the students and their teachers feel about it? Does it have an impact on their daily life? Different students from each collège grade gave us their opinions.
Both the 6èmes and the 5èmes are quite happy about it. The 6èmes get many benefits from this change: they don’t have to climb the stairs to go in their classrooms and the building is near the canteen and the school playground, which are very important places for them. As the 6èmes are new to the school and need to integrate themselves to the collège, we asked them if they felt left out, but, surprisingly, it is not the case at all. They actually seem really happy and proud to share their building with the lycée students and this doesn’t have an impact on their integration.
Concerning the 5èmes, they like the fact that they don’t have to climb the stairs, at least not as much as the other students in their building: they only have one staircase to climb to access to their classrooms. Apart from this, nothing really changes in their daily life and they don’t feel particularly concerned by the new layout.
However, everybody is not so fond of this change. Indeed, we asked the 4èmes then the 3èmes for their opinion and it was not so positive. It has been two years now that the 4èmes are on the same floor, instead of going down one. Thus, they have 2 staircases to climb each morning. For them, it is the hardest thing to do because of the weight of their bags.
The 3emes were not enthusiastic either. First of all, they have the most staircases to climb, and they are not happy at all. They were supposed to be in the ground floor of the lycée building, it is a big change they were excited to make. When they learned about them switching places with the 6èmes, they were irritated. Nevertheless, there is one person that is happy about this change: Mr.Chalmandrier, the headmaster of the 4èmes and the 3èmes. His classes are on the 3rd and 4th floor, which makes it easier for him to reach them both quickly.
Although the 6èmes and the 5èmes are very positive about this change, the 4èmes and the 3èmes are clearly disappointed about it, both for the same reason: the stairs. This shows that the collège students are really affected by the weight of their bags and wished they could have less staircases to climb, or lockers to lighten it.
The opinions on this major change are thus very divided.
-By Camille H. and Lisa G.
The Tower Times Blog 