ERAMET has sponsored Apféé, a French association for equal opportunities at school, and its Coup de Pouce Clé programme since 2010. The Groupe has renewed its commitment for a further year in 2014.

Coup de Pouce Clé stems from cooperation between the French Education Ministry and Apféé that began in 1994.  The free programme is designed to prevent early literacy failure. It’s based on clubs for schoolchildren aged 6 and up who are identified as literacy-challenged by their teacher at the start of the year.

Run by professionals, the clubs provide educational support in addition to school lessons. Since 1994, the clubs have helped 90,000 children including 10,000 during the 2013-2014 school year alone.

ERAMET is supporting 14 Coup de Pouce Clé clubs in Grenoble, Dunkerque and Le Havre (France) for the school year 2014-2015.

Outstanding results for a unique method

The method’s success is based on the involvement of every participant in educational success, starting with the parents. The clubs achieve excellent results as more than 75% of pupils who joined the programme at the start of the year are ranked “good” or “average” readers at the end of the year and more than 90% are “out of the danger zone”.

In addition to improving skills, the method helps children acquire the factors needed for successful schooling: self-confidence, motivation and an interest in written language. The children’s relationship with the school is also much better as a result.