From Aix-en-Provence, TotalEnergies Foundation has announced a new partnership with L’École des XV, an association based in Aix that works every day to help prevent young people from priority areas of the city from dropping out of school.
Using a program that combines educational support and playing rugby, L’École des XV helps middle-school students in difficulty to regain self-confidence, make progress and build a future for themselves. Every year, some 100,000 young people leave school without any qualifications - a phenomenon worsened by social inequality. L’École des XV has branches on five sites in France and proposes a participative and effective approach in the field. The program is designed for fifth- to ninth-grade students and is based on regular attendance at school, individual support, and the values of rugby. The association is approved by the academy of Aix-Marseilles and offers intensive support from professionals. The results speak for themselves: 95% of the students obtained their middle-school certificate in 2023, 100% followed a course they chose and 94% stated that they generally felt better about their lives.
By joining TotalEnergies Foundation’s community of partners, L’École des XV benefits from support that, beyond funding, includes acknowledgment, shared values, and the same determination to create a lasting impact.
“This partnership with TotalEnergies Foundation is a wonderful acknowledgment of the work we have achieved in the field for more than ten years now. It will help us ramp up our actions for young people who need an encouraging yet demanding environment in which they can regain their self-confidence, learn differently, and make plans for their future. At L’École des XV, we believe that each young person has potential, provided that they are given the means to achieve it” affirms Grégory Vignier, General Director of L’École des XV.
“Being a public interest company means creating value for society in addition to just economic efficiency. At TotalEnergies, we have placed youth at the heart of this firm belief. By supporting L’École des XV, we once again affirm our commitment to taking decisive action where the need is most urgent - i.e. in areas where the risk of children dropping out of school is highest - by relying on sport and educational support to give them self-confidence and open new doors for them,” concluded Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, Senior Vice President, Citizenship Engagement and General Delegate of TotalEnergies Foundation.
The partnership will also contribute to the longevity of the four current schools (Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles, Saint-Étienne and Vitrolles) and extend the association’s reach by opening three further sites by 2027: Lille in 2025, Pantin in 2026 and a third city in 2027.
