The town hall-school

Mont-Cauvaire is home to a school that has endured through centuries and revolutions. Since the end of the 17th century, generations of children have learnt to read, write, and count within these history-steeped walls.

It all began with Sieur Vaultier, a schoolmaster and clerk, who in 1746 received a wage of 20 livres to educate the village youth.

Seventy years later, in 1828, the assembly of churchwardens granted Sieur Jean-Baptiste Hélouis the sum of 40 francs from the Treasury as a mark of their attachment. He also provided instruction to the destitute. At that time, the school was likely situated in a thatched cottage near the "Tree of Remembrance", not far from the church.

In 1833, the Guizot Law mandated that communes with more than 500 inhabitants maintain a primary school. Mont-Cauvaire had only 423, yet the parish council decided to set the schoolmaster’s salary at 200 francs and sought assistance from the prefecture to pay his housing allowance. School fees were then the responsibility of families, based on their wealth, and 15 children were admitted to the class for the indigent.

As the schoolmaster's house was too small, unsanitary, and falling into ruin, the municipality purchased a small farm from Sieur Lemonnier in 1840, on the current site of the school. In 1844, the building was restructured into the first combined town hall and school: a new classroom on the ground floor, along with a kitchen for the teacher, and the council chamber on the first floor.

The school was co-educational, but attendance remained low, as children left to work in the spinning mills or the fields from the age of 10.

The Jules Ferry Laws of 1881 and 1882 made education free and compulsory for both girls and boys aged 6 to 13. The school became secular and modernised. The secularisation of teaching staff and the curriculum followed these two laws.

During the first years of free schooling, Monsieur Capelle taught the young Placide Alexandre—the future mayor and departmental councillor—to read.

It was not until 1885 that the current roadside building was constructed, with a classroom at the rear— a brick building featuring two bays of windows.

In 1913, the classroom was extended by one bay. It was in 1923 that electric lighting was installed. 1938 saw the creation of a second teaching post, but the war delayed the construction of the second classroom. This led to a decade of disruption in the premises: one class was held in the village hall, then in the town hall, and eventually, a classroom was split in two by a partition wall, resulting in two cramped spaces.

The town hall also stands as a witness to darker times.

It has not only been a place of celebration. During the Second World War, the body of Gaston Levasseur, a young Resistance fighter murdered by the Waffen-SS in August 1944, was brought here (see the "Maquisards" panel).

It was not until 1950 that the new classroom and cloakroom were inaugurated, the latter serving as a canteen from 1958.

Central heating was installed in 1964.

The canteen, built in 1970, was brought up to modern standards in 2021 and subsequently enlarged in 2023.

In 1976, the nursery class was established. Later, in 2014, a fourth classroom was built.

By 2024, the primary school comprises five classes: three junior and two infant classes, for more than 110 pupils.

Mont-Cauvaire school has successfully adapted to changes in society and pedagogy, while retaining its charm and authenticity. It is a school with a soul—the soul of all the children who have grown up and learnt within its walls.