News & Weekly Letters

As the first part of the school year draws to a close, it’s time to take stock of how things are going so far. With that in mind, I set time aside this week and last to meet individually with colleagues that are new to the school this year. First impressions are always invaluable and provide us with a fresh perspective on our identity and our way of doing things. In the same ‘taking stock’ mindset, we also sent a questionnaire to parents of newly enrolled students at The École– I will undoubtedly discuss those responses with you in a future letter.

Transparency has been a hot topic this week. Primarily due to news of a positive COVID-19 test–a result that turned out, as we now know, to be a false positive, with the subsequent tests being negative (the flipping of values that makes a negative result a good thing and a positive test a nightmare continues to perturb me).

At the Lycée Chateaubriand de Rome, where I had the pleasure of teaching for three years, there is a slang that is spoken only by those who have passed through its walls: Chateaubriannais.* At The École, we seem to be going down the same path–we will soon need to compile our own glossary of untranslatable terms that only The École insiders understand. After last week’s “Les afters schools” come, quite naturally, “Les curriculome nights.” A great many of you attended, and I know that the teachers put a lot of time and effort into preparing their presentations, which managed to be concise yet informative and will enable you to confidently navigate the school year ahead.**

Yesterday we marked the end of Ramadan with the feast day of Eid. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my best wishes to all of the families in our community who celebrated Eid yesterday and to thank Fawzia who delighted us on Wednesday with delicacies prepared especially for the occasion. We are proud to be able to use our academic calendar to highlight the importance and respect we have for the diversity that is intrinsic to our school community (for our Catholic families, yesterday was also ascension day).

Usually, I start a new diet every Monday morning. I do it in the hopes of getting rid of the surplus of calories I consumed over the weekend. Since I am a real gourmand, and I don’t have any willpower, I fell off—what am I saying, I leaped off—the diet wagon this past Monday. I devoured the breakfast that was served in the staff lounge, offered by the PA as part of Teacher’s Appreciation Week. It was as plentiful as it was delicious.