Boys running about on a football pitch, girls ? shyer ? standing in groups and talking (probably about Lorie?s latest song)? The playground of Sainte-Marie College looks like that of any other school? Except that girls and boys are mixed and there is a sort of cosy atmosphere that makes children feel ?at home?? And it is a private Catholic college, the first one in Mauritius.

The general appearance of the school is rather like a big house where about a hundred children have been put together. The two-storey beige and orange building is welcoming - and children always enjoy having a brand new school. After six years spent in the same primary school where everything was so familiar to them, such a school may be just what they need?.

The rector confirms this feeling. ?I believe the pupils feel welcome as from their first day at school. As we are not so big, we have time to give to each one of them; we also had a meeting with parents to talk to them about our vision of education and our programme for the year.? As pupils of Form II resumed school one day before Form I, they were the ones who welcomed the younger ones with a song by Jean-Jacques Goldman, ?Tu es de ma famille? (You belong to my family).

Parents of pupils starting their second year (Sainte-Marie was set up last year) must have felt more relaxed. With the first ?batch? of pupils coming out from Form I, they may have realised that the education the school provides meets their expectations. ?Our leitmotiv for the year is ?Learn to serve?; we want to instil into the pupils the idea that it is important to be educated to make their contribution to their family, community (school), country or even at world level.?

With its Rs 3,800 monthly fee, not everyone can afford to go to Sainte-Marie. But the rector insists. ?The child is our main preoccupation. It looks evident but I want to make it clear that every single decision we make at school takes the welfare of the child into consideration. Each time we have to take action, we ask ourselves what will have the best influence upon the child?s development.?

<B>More liberty</B>

Even if the school follows the same curriculum as other Catholic schools, it has more liberty to implement new courses or not to follow the syllabus to the letter. ?What is important is the all-round development of the children.? For example, there is no extracurricular activity at school. Every subject taught is part of the child?s education: theatre, music, Spanish, Mandarin? They are all an integral part of the curriculum and the extended school hours ? children finish at 3.15 pm ? give the establishment the means to offer more opportunities to its pupils.

In April, the school will move to Beaux-Songes where a new building is being completed on a four-acre plot of land. It will look less like a home as the school will be bigger but the rector asserts that the philosophy will remain the same?