It’s the Friday before mid-term break at Tour Sainte, and there’s a giddy mood in the yard as the children file out past Stéphane Thiébaut, the school principal. “Bonnes vacances,” he calls out to the parents and teachers milling about in the spring sunshine.

Tour Sainte has some of the best views in Marseille, its hilltop perch giving a wide panorama of the city and the Mediterranean. Birds are singing from the trees in the yard, while the glare of the warm sun against the peach buildings accentuates the calm. ‘We have built ourselves a little oasis of peace,” Thiébaut remarks. He is referring to the school’s location, in the middle of Marseille’s northern suburbs, considered the poorest and toughest part of the city. The street that leads to the heavily fortified school gate is known as a spot for drug-deals; at a nearby underpass two people were shot dead in a gangland dispute last year.

Read the complete story(Some news sites require registration)