News & Weekly Letters

This morning, I had the pleasure of welcoming parents for our first p’tit déj – a breakfast event that will take place every month until the end of the year. It was an excellent opportunity for me to take the pulse of the school and to identify the issues that matter to our families – what they worry about, what they are happy with, what disappoints them, what they like, and what they like a little less.

Reading is a friendship, according to Proust, and I am very grateful for the friendship so many of you extended to us this week by coming into our classes and reading to our students. The children loved listening to you, and I hope that all the readers – parents and colleagues alike – enjoyed the experience too!

It’s enrollment season at The École, which means my schedule is teeming with meetings with prospective families who wish to enroll their child(ren) in our school. As you know, there are fewer spaces available this year than last, but we have just as many applicants. As we say in admissions lingo, it’s tough! The question that I am most often asked at the moment is “What type of children are you looking for?”

I began my teaching career 20 years ago in a middle school in the South of France. To be perfectly frank, it got off to a shaky start. My teaching wasn’t quite up to scratch, my students weren’t exactly enthusiastic, the university classes I attended twice a week were grueling and my tutor, although lovely, was demanding; by the time the weekend rolled around, all I wanted to do was decompress and think about something else.

A year ago to the day, we announced our partnership with Léman. We had a twofold aim – to offer our students access to a reputable private high school in New York that systematically sends its alumni to the best universities in the US and around the world, and to extend our students’ bilingual learning experience by proposing an American high school program that allowed them to keep their connection with French language and culture.