News & Weekly Letters

Becoming a head of school means having to adjust to not being at your students’ sides for all of their achievements. For that to happen, you need to be in class with them all the time. Learning to read, for example, doesn’t happen overnight: it’s a journey strewn with obstacles, signs to decode, and churlish letters that a child may recognize one-by-one but when coupled together, make an entirely different flummoxing sound.

I mentioned to you a while ago that one of the challenges The École faces is preserving our identity despite an everchanging demographic–there is a constant flow of families that join us and families that leave. Last year, those arrivals and departures were coupled with my wish–as a newcomer myself–to bring a fresh perspective to the school.

As I was putting on my Clark Kent/ Superman costume this morning, I remembered how, when I was younger, I took issue with traditions. I couldn’t stand the rhythm they seemed to impose on my life and I shirked them whenever I could. Then time passed and through education, I discovered a universe where traditions are in fact important milestones in children’s learning. My grudge against them softened.

I had the good fortune to sample some delicious hot chocolate and scrumptious freshly baked madeleines during Noémie Tessier’s visit yesterday. Noémie, Executive Pastry Chef at Angelina Paris, New York came to meet our 7th and 8th graders as part of the World of Work (WoW) program, masterfully coordinated for eight years now by Franck Le Martelot with the assistance of Gayle Hampton.

The World of Work is back for its eighth season at The École in 2021-2022! We are delighted to be welcoming a variety of industry experts to meet our 7th and 8th Grade students in their classroom—either virtually or in-person—and share their professional experience, values, background, and knowledge with them.