Villa Sainte-Marcelline wins national phys-ed award

Last month, the Upper Belmont Avenue school received a national award for its Quality Physical Education program from the Canadian Association for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance.

The award came as official recognition of VSM’s efforts to provide exceptional compulsory Quality Physical Education, as well as intramural and extramural activities that are enhanced by many opportunities for leadership. In winning the award, VSM has become an excellent role model for all Canadian schools.

The school is already well known for the intellectual rigor of its programs, but the administration also believes that children need to develop the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and habits to lead physically active, healthy, and productive lives, both now and in the future. In order to provide its students with the adequate facilities to acquire these skills, VSM embarked on a major construction project in 2004. A year later, it opened its new underground gymnasium, which now allows VSM to host sports tournaments.

Despite its relatively small population of less than 600 students, administrators proudly point out that the school has no less than 13 intercollegiate sports teams. VSM has also developed many other programs to promote physical activity, such as a training program for promising athletes and a lunchtime sports program. .

VSM was one of the very few schools to register all of its secondary level students for October’s 38th annual Cross-Country Regional Championships organized by the Association régionale de sport étudiant de Montréal (ARSEM). Grade 10 student Valerie Sicard-Thibodeau ranked first in the midget elite category in that event, and VSM received the banner for the best school in that category.

This is VSM’s third banner since the new gymnasium was inaugurated.