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. Traditionally, the weeks following the back-to-school busy-ness tend to be comparatively calm and allow time for reflection. During this period, I usually concoct new, occasionally half-baked, plans that may or may not see the light of day, all of which nourish our vision for The École of the future to varying extents.
But obviously, we do things differently at The École, and I’ve learned over time that there is no such thing as comparatively calm weeks here— something is always happening! Our growing popularity has led us to open our admissions season earlier and earlier every year. We held our first Open House for 2025-2026 back in May, and we enrolled our first two students for next year this week: Adrien and Jibran—Samuel from 2nd Grade and Jahan from 1st Grade’s little brothers respectively (giving priority to siblings continues to be crucial for us.)
And for a school that is constantly metaphorically moving, it is time for us to prepare to really move! Philippe and I announced the exciting news at the end of June, and I’ve had the opportunity over the past two weeks to show parents the exterior of the new building and clarify a few points. We are moving our Elementary & Middle School Building next door from 111 to 115 East 22nd Street – the Maternelle will remain at 206 Fifth Avenue – where we will occupy two and a half floors—twice as much space as our current Elementary & Middle School Building. Let me reassure you that twice as much space does not mean twice as many students! We will continue to have no more than two classes per Grade with a cap of twenty students in each class, but those twenty students will enjoy larger, more comfortable classrooms. It’s an exciting project for the entire team, as you can imagine, and it takes up a lot of our time and our energy (yesterday, for example, we started our weekly construction meeting bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 2 p.m. and finished it mind-boggled and worn-out at 8 p.m.)
Philippe, Laurence, and I want to keep you informed every step of the way, and we can’t wait to have some concrete details to share with you. We presented the initial plans to school staff during In-Service week, but those plans will be slightly modified, and most of the conversations we are having at the moment are very technical. We’re taking mechanics, scope, POE, data, cables, permits, and regulations. It doesn’t make for pretty photos or elegantly written letters, but that time will come, I promise.
What we can say for now is that we are very happy with our collaboration with the architects, who are proving to be excellent listeners with a knack for finding ingenious solutions to any obstacles we encounter (or any whims that take our fancy). Another positive takeaway is that we are perfectly on schedule to move during the summer of 2025 (our objective is to hold the Elementary Summer Camp in the new building) and to start the school year 2025-2026 calmly and serenely at 115 East 22nd Street on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
I don’t know if it’ll be all that calm when the time comes, but one thing is certain: with every September and every back-to-school picnic that passes, I am more and more convinced that saying yes to joining The École was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Wishing you an excellent weekend—looking forward to seeing some of you at 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the Elementary & Middle School Building for my first P’tit déj of the school year!