News & Weekly Letters

Today, Sophie and I had the pleasure of welcoming Olivier Quénis–a very important figure for us–the inspector responsible for all French primary schools in the United States and Canada. His role involves, among other things, ensuring that reforms devised in France are implemented here, supporting primary heads in their pedagogical leadership, and making sure that teachers receive regular training, including visiting their classrooms to provide guidance on their teaching practices. Today, Olivier had the opportunity to see the 1st graders working with Sarah, the 4th graders with Adeline, and 2nd Grade during bilingual class with Nicolas and Catherine.

The reception at the French Consulate last night in honor of Philippe receiving the National Order of Merit medal gave The École community an opportunity to once again gather–under an ornate chandelier–over a drink to celebrate a project that belongs to each and every one of us.* At the heart of this project, as we know, lies bilingualism and biculturalism and the desire to give our students access to a double culture where they can draw from the best of two education systems that will equip them with unique skills and abilities.

An update on our new building is long overdue!

Those of you who drop off your children at the Elementary and Middle School Building in the morning, in particular, will know it’s been pretty busy next door: trucks carrying material, workers coming in and out, and a general flurry of activities.

Last night, I attended a reception organized by our friends at Léman Manhattan to welcome–or make one last attempt to win over–the parents of students who have been accepted into their high school for 2025-2026. Our partnership is going from strength to strength; I clinked glasses with many parents from The École (which, I’m not afraid to say, remains the gold standard when it comes to hosting social gatherings!) because all of our 8th Grade students who applied to Léman have been accepted.

I am writing to you today from Nashville, where this year’s NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) conference for heads of school is taking place. It’s an important annual event that I have wanted to attend ever since starting at The École, but there are always so many other things to do that it was complicated to imagine not being at school, so I kept postponing it—until this year, when I finally took the plunge.