École Bilingue Notre-Dame de Sion

The first Sion school was created in Paris in 1843 by Théodore Ratisbonne, descendent of a family of Jewish intellectuals. He and his brother became Catholic priests dedicated to creating schools for both Jewish and Christian children—schools that would emphasize the religious connections between these two communities. The work of these two exceptional men gave rise to the Congregation Notre-Dame de Sion, an order devoted to teaching and battling discrimination in all its forms. The Congregation founded its first North American school in 1894. École Bilingue Notre-Dame de Sion, Montreal, situated in Ville St. Laurent, was founded in 1963. It is an elementary school which has a teaching permit from the Minister of Education, Recreation, and Sports (M.E.L.S.) in both official languages, English and French. Our students benefit from the theories and techniques developed by the late Dr. Wilfred Penfield, who studied the amazing ability of young children to learn languages. In 2004, École Bilingue Notre-Dame de Sion was expanded to accommodate more students.