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This week at The École, we all made a long paper chain of unity. Inspired by the House Captains, our students decorated the links with a word, a sentence, a drawing, or stickers expressing their love for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. On Wednesday, we all wore a touch of orange to show how much these values mean to us. Thank you to everyone for your participation – Unity Day is becoming quite the tradition at The École.

Those who follow our Facebook page will have spotted that yesterday’s Throwback Thursday was dedicated to last year’s kindergarteners when they met the 1st graders for a preview of life in the Elementary and Middle School Building. It was a timely throwback because those same students – now in 1st Grade – had just won the Best Falcons award at the October assembly. In reality, only a few school weeks have passed between those two moments – when the shy, uncertain students who were our kindergarteners in June first discovered their future classrooms and when our confident, brilliant 1st graders won the award for their excellent adaptation to Elementary life yesterday.

I’m writing to you this week from Chicago,* where Benoît and I are attending the annual AEFE (French Government Agency for French Schools Abroad) seminar in the company of heads of schools and directors from the other 61 AEFE-accredited schools in the USA and Canada. Some highlights include a speech by the French consul, a progress report on the joint strategic plan, and a wide range of workshops, particularly one about keeping a network like ours relevant when its schools have such diverse backgrounds and identities.

The return of After-School activities means the return of conversations in the lobby of the Elementary and Middle School Building with parents who are waiting to pick up their kids from drum class or Capoeira. It’s a chance, as the day is winding down and I’m preparing to head home, for me to catch up with moms and dads I don’t see that often. During one of those catch-up conversations, Ilkka (Cato from 2nd Grade’s dad) recommended a podcast that had really made him think.

A quick glance at my agenda this week confirms my suspicions – The École is well and truly back! The languid days of August at school, when the hours stretched out endlessly, uninterrupted, and silent, are a distant memory. And happily so! It’s a delight to be back in the swing of things – even if the alarm going off at 5:30 a.m. in the morning feels a little like a poke in the eye.