The town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze mobilized so that “the republican school is also that of children with disabilities”

Keylia et Betthany participent à l’atelier jardinage de Mon école B à Jules-Ferry, un dispositif “essentiel” pour l’élu Christian Baume. C.B.

Pour la première fois, le dispositif Mon école B de Bagnols-sur-Cèze s’ouvre aux enfants porteurs de handicap qui participent à des activités pendant les vacances. Une première étape vers l’inclusion scolaire.

During school holidays, the Jules-Ferry and Célestin-Freinet schools, located in a priority district of the city's policy, welcome little Bagnolais free of charge to participate in various activities, some of which are run by city associations, as part of "My school B".

This system, first called the truant school, was launched in 2020 by the town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the end of Covid to allow schoolchildren to make up time school and return to school. At the time, truancy inspired the national learning vacation program.

School inclusion

While each first week of the short vacation, more than 180 children aged 6 to 11 participate in these activities, the city decided this April to open "My B" to young people with disabilities. "Christine Muccio, education assistant, and the educational team have been investing for more than a year to ensure educational inclusion comes to fruition" explains deputy Christian Baume, who came this Thursday, April 11 to take the pulse of this system at the Jules-Ferry school.

To this end, the city works with the IME (medical-educational institutes) Les Violettes and Les Hamelines. "It’is a political will. We want these young people with disabilities to be integrated into educational establishments and not marginalized. The Republic school is the school of all children"recalls the chosen one.

"No judgment or inappropriate glances"

"This week, we received six children from the IME des Violettes, who came with their educators, and it went very well& ;quot; testifies Audrey Roubaud, coordinator of My School B. "They mixed with the other children. There was no judgment, no inappropriate looks. Already in February, a first experiment was carried out with adolescents during sports sessions as part of the "winter quarter"program.

Inclusion of children with disabilities which would not be possible without "the support of facilitators, agents and teachers" underlines Christian Baume. In order to best welcome these young people, training will be launched for facilitators and Atsem (specialized territorial agents for nursery schools) from all Bagnolese schools. Staff will also benefit from learning sign language in partnership with the hearing and speech rehabilitation center (Crop) to support hearing-impaired children.

Specific classes planned for
children with severe disabilities

Apart from these reception times during the holidays, inclusion in school time is also a desire of the city. "Children with a mild disability, accompanied by an AESH (accompanying a student with a disability) are quickly integrated into classes, but for those who have a more severe handicap, we are considering setting up specific classes in schools" announces the chosen one. "The children will meet in the courtyard with the others".

"There are more and more children with disabilities" notes Nathalie Ledoux, director of the education and sport department, who deplores the lack of AESH (accompanying students with disabilities) during school time. "Before there was one AESH for one child, today it is one for two or three children. Children with disabilities can only come to class for an hour or two.

My B school, for all Bagnolais schoolchildren

The My School B system is open, free of charge, to all Bagnolais children from CP to CM2 level. The activities take place in the Jules-Ferry and Célestin-Freinet schools, two establishments located within the scope of city policy.

My B school is also offered for three weeks in July and the last week of August, before school starts.

For older children, aged 11 to 17, there is another system, Teenagers come to life.