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.
I rather naively thought that this summer would be calmer than previous years. To a certain extent, it was true. Jan and Raul, the masters of our maintenance team, didn’t have any renovation work to do. For the first time in a long time, we didn’t open any new classes, and for once, there were no classroom relocations to organize (next year will be a very different story, though, as we move the entire Elementary and Middle School Building next door!).
The same goes for our teachers, in Elementary, the classroom teaching team remains unchanged, and we have just one new recruit in Maternelle – Kate Grossman in Kindergarten. That said, we like change at The École, so we decided to spice things up a little with the arrival of three new teachers who will be working in the Elementary and Middle School Building. Ryan Langlois will teach music to all our 1st to 8th graders (and continue teaching music in Pre-Nursery and Nursery). Arantxa Vega Llorente will teach Spanish to our 3rd to 8th graders, and Elisa Velez-Thobois will teach US Science to our middle schoolers. We also have the pleasure of welcoming some new teaching assistants to our team: Maya LePique in 1st Grade, Chinese Lysik in 3rd Grade, and Charlotte Vallée-Kimm as our French assistant in 4th and 5th Grade. Céline Fischer joins our administration team, as does Cassandre (Cassie) Zenon, who will soon become a familiar face to our Elementary and Middle School families because she has taken over Tony’s desk. You can find a short introduction to our new staff here.
In this letter, I introduced our new French STRIVE* department teachers, Camille Riche and Jean-Marc Yven. I am really excited about their joining the team. They will permit us to personalize our students’ learning experience further – tailoring it to their needs, whether they need support in certain areas at certain moments or are eager to gain deeper knowledge and understanding in others. The aim remains the same: meet our students’ needs as closely as possible. It’s with that aim in mind that we decided to offer full-time positions to our School Counselor, Katie Repman, and our American STRIVE teachers, Erika Cavallo and Lauren Vogel.
Finally, we welcomed our new Primary Head, Sophie Werth, to New York. A few weeks ago, she arrived with her husband, Jean-Marc, and their sons, Sasha and Noam. A few years ago, in another school on another continent, I recruited an extraordinary primary head named Carine Capel. We had a phenomenal working relationship (as did Andria and Sarah Corsin – our 1st Grade teacher here who was also our 1st Grade teacher there). I have dazzling memories of my years working with Carine. We worked so well together that I believed we could accomplish anything we put our minds to. In Sophie, I have found the same energy, intelligence, know-how, and the same desire to advance, innovate and inspire. Even though I keep referring to her as Carine, Sophie has already found her place on our team and in our hearts and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.
Ultimately, it wasn’t such a calm summer after all—and I haven’t even mentioned anything about the new building yet! But I will do it soon—I promise—and it will be worth the wait. The École is stronger and more lively than ever.
Wishing you all an excellent Labor Day weekend!
*STRIVE:
We Stimulate academic curiosity to its fullest potential
We Transform students’ learning experience
We Reach every child
We Identify and deploy remediation strategies
We Value collaboration between all staff
We Enrich the academic program