Quebéc Education Program – Elementary Education

The Quebec Education Program (Q.E.P.) divides elementary education into three two-year cycles. This organizational model takes into account the need for a long-term approach in developing competencies. It corresponds better to the students' learning rate and permits more differentiated teaching practices.

The Q.E.P. is designed as a system with three integrating elements: subject areas, broad areas of learning and cross-curricular competencies. Its structure is intended to facilitate the establishment of connections among the different educational components.

Subject Areas

Within the Elementary Education Program, there are 14 programs (courses) of study organized into the following six subject areas: Languages, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Arts Education, Personal Development, and Social Sciences.

Broad Areas of Learning

The broad areas of learning help students relate subject-specific knowledges to their daily concerns and thus give them a better grasp of reality. There are five broad areas of learning in the Québec Education Program: Health and Well Being, Personal and Career Planning, Environmental Awareness and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities, Media Literacy, and Citizenship and Community Life.

Cross Curricular Competencies

Cross-curricular competencies represent goals that are common to the whole curriculum. They apply to all the broad areas of learning and are also closely linked to the subject areas. The Q.E.P. contains nine cross-curricular competencies grouped into four categories: Intellectual (to use information to solve problems, to exercise critical judgment and to use creativity), Methodological (to adopt effective work methods, to use information and communications technologies), Personal and Social (to construct his/her identity and to cooperate with others), and Communication (to communicate appropriately with others).

Français, Programme d'immersion

All elementary schools across the English Montreal School Board offer various levels of French language instruction integrated within the Québec Education Program.

As a pioneer in French Immersion education, Dunrae Gardens has a long history of developing fluently bilingual graduates. We provide a 100% French curriculum (with the exception of 60 minutes per week) for kindergarten and Cycle 1 (grades 1 and 2) students. Then, in Cycles 2 and 3 (grades 3 through 6), the curriculum is divided evenly between French and English.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our French Immersion Education program, which is reinforced by generally requiring students to use French exclusively in all French-language classrooms.

Research shows that instruction via French immersion has many cognitive benefits beyond those of language acquisition, such as heightened mental flexibility, creative thinking skills, enhanced metalinguistic awareness as well as greater communicative sensitivity.

As a further indication of the success if this program, Dunrae students regularly distinguish themselves at the Dictée PGL, a Regional Competition launched in 1990.