Woe to those who had not planned boots and waxes on June 6, 2025 worthy of November. Between a few copious showers and a very muddy path, walking towards the educational forest of Eugène Belgrand college in Ervy-le-Châtel (Aube) sometimes is a way of the cross not fully planned in this season.
“But we are in wet champagne, and it is nature that brings us together this morning,” smiles the mayor of the village Roger Bataille, on this day of inauguration. This forest plot was made available by the municipality in the locality, 2 km north of the college.
On site, the brand new outdoor class looks good. It was carried out by the “eco-delegated” college students of the establishment, their teachers and specialists from the National Forest Office, with the assistance of students of the Crogny Forest Lycée, to cut wood and free the premises. “It is a strong symbol, a major educational gesture, a step towards a future that we want more sustainable, more respectful of nature, more linked to the challenges of our time,” said Roger Bataille.
The “eco-delegates” and the volunteer middle school students quickly got into the game in this “out of the walls” project, with the pride of leaving a trace of their passage before going to high school. “We were there at the very beginning and we are proud to see the project arriving at the end, even if we sacrificed a few afternoons”, breathes Enzo, pupil of 3rd in the college of Ervy-le-Châtel, a good thousand inhabitants between Troyes and Auxerre.
It must be said that everyone got their hands dirty to bring this class in the open-air, well helped by local joinery and sawmills. “We have already started by marking the roots of all the species of trees, we brought the boards that were used to lay barriers (with the help of technicians from the ONF and their teachers) and we screwed everything. We also dug the holes for the posts, ”says Noé, 14.
SVT, techno, languages, math … there is something for everyone
For his part, Cornelius, 12, joined the project this year along the way at the start of his 6th year, “because I have always appreciated nature, the forests and I really liked this class idea outside. I put linseed oil on the benches, we sanded, we made the cutouts … “, he explains.
The college student, who knows everything about the imposing pedunculated oak who overlooks the premises, could well continue his studies in the wild. A vocation encouraged by this multidisciplinary project. “It goes further than the life and earth sciences, it is really education for sustainable development,” confirms Loïc Gorsse professor of SVT.
The Collignon sawmill gave a boost
“We associated other disciplines with it with my colleagues, such as technology for the design of educational panels, languages for the translation of different information in German, Spanish or English … The Mathematics colleague also helped us draw the furniture and calculate the angles. »»
If the students came regularly as part of the site, the first lessons should really start in September. An open -air playground for different disciplines, first of all, obviously, the natural sciences. “For me, it will be very easy in SVT. In the forest, there are tons of things to see and do. In the smallest puddle, there are tadpoles. This will be an opportunity to talk about species, salamanders, frogs … Talking about their protection and their importance in ecosystems, “projects Loïc Gorsse.
“We can imagine doing mathematics with surface and angle calculations, Pythagoras is everywhere in the forest!” We can also imagine singing there … It is really open to all teachers who desire him from the moment they have an educational project, “adds Franck Saillard, principal of the college of Ervy-le-Châtel.
All this for a relatively small investment, supplemented by a boost from the EDF Foundation. “The woods come from the forest. So the cost is that of the wood cutting that was then made on site in short circuit thanks to business patronage, such as the Collignon sawmill without whom nothing would have been possible, ”says the head of the establishment.
This project, unprecedented in France with a college, already existed in a less ambitious way with primary schools. He was driven by the National Federation of Forest Municipalitieswhose Auboise delegation is chaired by the Synans vanoli-gagin. “When I imagined and voted on an amendment to the finance law to make donations to the forest municipalities eligible for patronage (they have been taxed since 2023), I thought of projects like this … to these young people who, instead of learning between four walls, could smell the smell of wood and listen to the rustle of leaves, touch the bark of trees, discover the pace of season! Remember the elected official.
Future recruits for the wood industry?
An open, concrete, open and citizen school that meets several issues, notably economic with the need for labor in the wood sector. “We have a number of companies working in dawn, whether traditional or hyper innovative, such as Woodoo (which develops innovative and extremely solid materials based on wood to decarbonize the construction sector. The approach is that of the short circuit: the more we will produce where we consume, the better for our sovereignty in the geopolitical situation which is ours,” recalls Vanina Paoli Gagin.
An issue fully reconciled with sustainable development and environmental education, according to the senator: “In the digital age and generative AI, having young people who are interested in the living, in the forest and in the wooden trades to be able to develop know-how not far from where they were born and where they live, it seems to me to be a noble ambition than to provide qualified labor to the companies of tomorrow.”
