L'excellence et le doute

The St. Alyre school is a former Ursulines convent in the heart of a town in central France. Today, there are 2,000 students, 150 teachers, a secular principal, primary, junior high and high schools and a preparatory school. A hive of activity in a huge space which was founded in 1808 by a group of teacher nuns. There were 60 of them in the 1930s; today there are only 13, and only 2 still teach. There are signs of their presence everywhere, even if most of the young people now live off site. The world has changed a lot over the past two centuries and the St Alyre school has had to face up to these changes.