Post 5. Old School
This house, bought by the town of Saint-Luc, was the last to accommodate the school of Niouc in 1941-1942.
The building was constructed by the six sons of Jérome Favre, in the years 1927 to 1928. A vine planted at that time, lived until 2004, when it was replaced by a rose bush.
The school of Niouc changed locations several times. At first, in 1933, it was in a house situated below the road (near the café). Then, in a building opposite the current shelter, and afterwards in the former home of Jean Vocat at the bottom of the village.
Students attended school six months a year. Once a week, they followed catechism classes given by the priest. From the age of twelve, the students were in charge of the school’s heating, feeding the stove, and each of them swept up in the evening once a week. By way of compensation, each year, the town organised an outing. Luc Antille remembers visiting the Borromean Islands (Lake Maggiore), which was truly amazing for the time because the people he knew never travelled. In the 1950’s the three teachers who succeeded each other lived on the floor above the classroom. When the last teacher was giving lessons in the classroom, his wife taught reading to little ones, in their apartment.
The school closed its doors in Niouc in the mid 1960s when children were obliged to go to Sierre, until the opening of the Vissoie School Center in 1973. In 2004 the school was again based in Niouc for one month following the closure of the Niouc-Vissoie road for repairs. Children in primary classes, grouped in a single class, were able to sample the atmosphere of an old school.
In 1969, the sale of the garden and the stable barn located above the coffee shop, to the commune of Saint-Luc, allowed for the creation of the current parking spaces.
> Next post
Follow the road towards Vissoie and take the Ricard path, 50 m after the old school building.
The building was constructed by the six sons of Jérome Favre, in the years 1927 to 1928. A vine planted at that time, lived until 2004, when it was replaced by a rose bush.
The school of Niouc changed locations several times. At first, in 1933, it was in a house situated below the road (near the café). Then, in a building opposite the current shelter, and afterwards in the former home of Jean Vocat at the bottom of the village.
Students attended school six months a year. Once a week, they followed catechism classes given by the priest. From the age of twelve, the students were in charge of the school’s heating, feeding the stove, and each of them swept up in the evening once a week. By way of compensation, each year, the town organised an outing. Luc Antille remembers visiting the Borromean Islands (Lake Maggiore), which was truly amazing for the time because the people he knew never travelled. In the 1950’s the three teachers who succeeded each other lived on the floor above the classroom. When the last teacher was giving lessons in the classroom, his wife taught reading to little ones, in their apartment.
The school closed its doors in Niouc in the mid 1960s when children were obliged to go to Sierre, until the opening of the Vissoie School Center in 1973. In 2004 the school was again based in Niouc for one month following the closure of the Niouc-Vissoie road for repairs. Children in primary classes, grouped in a single class, were able to sample the atmosphere of an old school.
In 1969, the sale of the garden and the stable barn located above the coffee shop, to the commune of Saint-Luc, allowed for the creation of the current parking spaces.
> Next post
Follow the road towards Vissoie and take the Ricard path, 50 m after the old school building.
Useful documents
Contact
Post 5. Old School
3960 Niouc
