100% success in the brevet, 43% fewer sanctions… In Chanteloup-les-Vignes, everyone applauds the orchestra class

In this classroom with firecracker yellow walls, the chairs scrape the floor. Cases open, guitars are tuned. Brass, percussion, pianos: everyone prepares for music class, in joyous disorder. Once Professor Adalberto Barbosa Da Silva is seated at the desk, silence falls. A few seconds later, the first notes sound.

This Tuesday afternoon, the Magellan middle school students play the soundtrack to the 6th grade play, based on a play by Molière. Another way to learn.

8 at the start… 63 today

Today, there are 63 students, from 5th to 3rd grade, who have registered in this system called orchestra class as part of the Cité scolaire label. When it was launched in 2022, there were only 8. Three years later, the program showed the results: 100% pass rate for the first class, and a 43% reduction in disciplinary sanctions from the second year. Here, demanding instrumental practice seems to act as a behavior regulator.

In the room, tongues are loosened easily. Leila, a 5th grade student, says with a smile: “Sir honestly, the majority of us are here because the option adds 20 points to the certificate! “. After a collective laugh, Louise nuanced it: “We see it more as a hobby, an activity to have fun”.

The option that is worth gold

Here, music softens morals and is used as a means rather than an end. Adalberto Barbosa Da Silva, known as “Barbosa”, has led this project since its beginnings. The professor, who has established a partnership with the Montansier theater in Versailles, speaks about it with enthusiasm: « From 5th grade, our goal is to channel our students. For two hours a week, they must be calm and attentive.” The method is progressive: in 6th grade, students discover music theory, in 5th grade they test and choose their instrument, then stick with it until 4th grade.

According to him, the choice of instrument is often revealing of the student’s character: “the most introverted often go for the brass and the piano; the most dynamic prefer percussion ». The ensemble forms an orchestra learning music collectively and intensively, with no necessary prerequisites.

“More autonomous students, more supportive”

The benefits of these specific lessons go far beyond the music class. Madame Fascelli, a physics-chemistry teacher, took up the trumpet herself to accompany her students: “There is a different synergy with them, a special bond. Their practical work goes better, the students are more independent, more supportive of each other. »

The college Olympics, won three years in a row by the orchestra classes, illustrate the success of the system. Juliette, a 4th grade student, gives a reason for this cohesion: “For three years, we are with the same classmates, we must learn to live together.”

The system was also designed to respond to a concrete lack: access to culture and artistic practices remains limited for a large proportion of students at the college, located in the city’s priority district (QPV).

For Léa Viso, leader of the Chanteloup-les-Vignes educational city, music serves here as an “anchor point for the initially most fragile profiles”. The principle is to make education a collective affair. At Magellan, this resulted in funding between the town hall, the State and the Vie Éducative Chanteloup association (AVEC).

A success that makes people envious

The cost is not negligible: instruments, speakers, coordination time. But Mayor Catherine Arenou, sponsor of the project since day one, made her decision from the start : “The lack of resources is not going to stop us, I have wanted to do this project for years,” assures the various right-wing elected official re-elected in March before adding rather proudly: “This class is becoming a criterion for parents.”

Victim of its success, the Magellan college (350 students) had to open a fourth 6th grade class at the last school year. It even makes people envious since René-Cassin, the other college in the town of 6,000 inhabitants, is interested already closely involved in the system, according to the mayor. “The students talk about it outside…” concludes the elected official.