L'École arménienne Sourp Hagop ('' Saint James's Armenian School'') is a

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily design ...

semi-private secondary school located in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. The

Armenian-Canadian Armenian Canadians (Western Armenian: գանատահայեր, Eastern Armenian: կանադահայեր, ''kanadahayer''; ) are Canadians, citizens and permanent residents of Canada who have total or partial Armenians, Armenian ancestry. Accordin ...

school has around 1,100 students, excluding the children in the nearby, closely affiliated pre-school. Education begins in

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

and ends at Secondary 5, after which graduating students continue their education at a

CÉGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it origin ...

. The current director is Lory Abrakian. According to a study made by the

Fraser Institute The Fraser Institute is a Canadian Conservatism in Canada, conservative public policy think tank registered as a Charitable organization, charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has ...

in 2005, L'École arménienne Sourp Hagop ranked 10th amongst best secondary schools in Quebec with Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School being first. It is the largest Armenian school outside of Armenia, surpassing even the Armenian schools in Lebanon and Syria. The school, which has a student body composed entirely from the Armenian community, teaches in French with English as a second language and also offers Armenian heritage classes. The Ministry of Education for Quebec provides a partial subsidy for the school.Maguire, Mary H., Ann J. Beer, Hourig Attarian, Diane Baygin, Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, and Reiko Yoshida (

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

). "The Chameleon Character of Multilingual Literacy Portraits: Researching in "Heritage" Language Places and Spaces" (Chapter 7). In: Anderson, Jim, Maureen Kendrick, Theresa Rogers, and Suzanne Smythe (editors). ''Portraits of Literacy Across Families, Communities, and Schools: Intersections and Tensions''.

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, May 6, 2005. Start page 141. , 9781135615536. -- p
152

History

Foundation

The foundation of an Armenian school and church in Montréal was initiated by an executive committee presided by Yervant Pasdermadjian. Armenian education was laid when an Armenian Saturday school opened its doors in 1959. Later, in September 1973, the

Armenian Relief Society The Armenian Relief Society (ARS) () is an independent, nonsectarian, philanthropic society serving the humanitarian, social and educational needs of Armenians and non-Armenians alike. It operates as a non-governmental organization and has enti ...

opened a pre-school for Armenian youngsters from two to five years old. In 1974, the Sourp Hagop Armenian School was founded on Parthenais Street, starting with 37 pupils from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

first grade First grade (also 1st Grade or Grade 1) is the first year of formal or compulsory education. It is the first year of elementary school, and the first school year after kindergarten. Children in first grade are usually 6–7 years old. Examples ...

. The prelacy of the Sourp Hagop Armenian Church established an executive committee in order to fulfill the educational needs of the growing Armenian community of both Laval and

. The ARS pre-school now had to prepare the

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

for future

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. The number of preschoolers of the ARS pre-school augmented, and went from 60 to 160.

Development

In 1975, the school moved to a new building on Victor Doré Street. The school grew each year, first by becoming a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, and later on, by obtaining the authorization of opening its secondary classes. In 1987, Sourp Hagop moved to the former

Malcolm Campbell High School Malcolm Campbell High School was a high school in Montreal operated by the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal The Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM, Commission des écoles protestantes du Grand Montréal, CEPGM) was a P ...

, a much larger building that was part of the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

public school system. The building is located next to the Sourp Hagop Armenian Church. The school had to develop progressively, in order to reach its current size of more than 800 students. The Armenian Relief Society has given a substantial amount support to the school. In fact, the school's

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and

computer lab A computer lab is a space where computer services are provided to a defined community. These are typically public libraries and academic institutions. Generally, users must follow a certain user policy to retain access to the computers. This usua ...

have grown extensively thanks to the ARS's efforts.

Education

L'École Arménienne Sourp Hagop is a French school, and most of the classes are instructed in French such as

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. However, some classes such as

Armenian language Armenian (endonym: , , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenians, Armenian people and the official language of ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

are taught in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

Armenian literature Armenian literature (), produced in the Armenian language, has existed in written form since the 5th century CE, when the Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots and the first original works of Armenian literature were composed. Prior ...

and

are taught so that the Armenian cultural identity is preserved in the newer generations of the

Armenian Canadian Armenian Canadians (Western Armenian: գանատահայեր, Eastern Armenian: կանադահայեր, ''kanadahayer''; ) are citizens and permanent residents of Canada who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. According to the 2021 Canadia ...

community.

and

are taught in addition to Armenian and French. Extracurricular activities, such as

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

are encouraged. In January 2018 the first Geogra-bee contest took place.

References

External links

École Arménienne Sourp Hagop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Armenienne Sourp Hagop Elementary schools in Montreal High schools in Montreal Educational institutions established in 1974 Private schools in Quebec Buildings and structures in Ahuntsic-Cartierville Armenian-Canadian culture Armenian schools 1974 establishments in Quebec 1970s in Montreal