News

When it comes to leading a school, there are several indicators that a head must keep on their radar. These indicators vary according to context; in many schools throughout the States, one of the most crucial gauges is the amount raised through fundraising. Michael, Coco and Gala’s dad, told me recently that the majority of my counterparts in New York (aka fundraisers-in-chief) spend their evenings soliciting fat checks from families—I don’t envy them for a second.

I mentioned last week that I haven’t been spending enough time in Maternelle lately. And yet wonderful things are happening there and it is always a huge pleasure—as Laurence will concur—to drop into the classrooms and watch the children learning, playing, and growing. 206—as insiders refer to it—is a unique place where kindness, generosity, and respect are imbued with a special meaning.

Léman Manhattan Preparatory School, a leading PreK-12 independent school and IB World School, and The École, a leading French-American Pre-Nursery-8 independent school, will launch a new French bilingual high school program at Léman starting September 2022.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing on the next school year. After opening a Pre-Nursery class in September, and announcing a High School track that will allow our students to extend their unique bilingual education beyond Middle School, there’s no denying that The École is dynamic and agile when it comes to providing the best options for our students and families.

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.