News & Weekly Letters

As announced at the end of the last academic year, we will relocate The École Elementary and Middle School to the building next door. After hashing out the plans and with many not-always-fascinating minutiae involved, we now intend to write to you every second week to keep you up to speed as best as possible.

One of the advantages of growing up in a small town was definitely being able to leave school alone from a young age and bike home (picking up a baguette for goûter on the way). No need to sign a nanny up on Focus or to call a friend panic-stricken because you’re caught in an interminable meeting or your train is stuck in a tunnel. No need for an air tag to track your child and make sure they’re moving in the right direction.

When I was growing up in a small town in the Ardèche, my parents signed me up for football and tennis. It was the trend at the time for children to do one team sport and one individual sport. By doing so, parents felt they were checking all the boxes in terms of character development–children learned the art of teamwork and discovered the joys of solitary victories (or, in my case, the despair of solitary losses, which I, of course, blamed on everyone else / the wind / my racket–take your pick).

I always say that once the Back-to-School Picnic has passed (and what a spectacular picnic it was this year, from the sheer number of guests to the cinematic closing deluge), it’s time for me to shift my attention to planning for the next school year (in this case 2025-2026.) It might sound like an exaggeration, but it is, in fact, quite accurate.

It was such a pleasure to see so many families today, as students discovered their new teachers and classrooms and parents stopped by the Parent Association’s uniform swap–thank you to the PA volunteers. After a slow start to August and the gradual return of colleagues since the 19th, it was revitalizing to feel the children’s energy in the buildings today – their presence adds meaning to the work accomplished behind the scenes this summer.