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I know it’s going to make some of you envious, but I’ve been invited to the Middle School Dance tonight. As I grew up in France in the 80s, memories of the movie La Boum are rushing back. It’s going to be a cold and rainy weekend, so if you’re tempted by this extract you could check it out. It’s by no means a cinematic masterpiece, and certain scenes will definitely make you cringe in 2023, but in my opinion, no other film comes as close to capturing what it means to be 13 years old.

When Andria was a 1st Grade teacher in Taiwan (AND Communication Officer AND English Coordinator AND Assistant Director of Primary school AND something else I am surely forgetting), I used to stop by her classroom quite a lot. I have a very clear memory of one little girl who was working on math while simultaneously doing cartwheels during one of my visits. That mini-event sparked a flexible learning spaces project that ignited our entire team for several years—I left just before it was completed in every classroom.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the scolding I received during my last p’tit-déj. The reason for the scolding was my far too intermittent presence at the Maternelle Building and the feeling that a few misunderstandings could have been avoided or better managed had I been there in person (an impression, which may be giving me too much credit but may also not be entirely wrong).

This week, The École could easily have been mistaken for a school from a movie set: between 22nd Street being taken over on Monday and Tuesday to film a movie or a TV show or both (no one can really say for certain), the UN World Water Day documentary today, and of course the Hollywood star-style Picture Day yesterday – when every single student dazzled – these last few days have been cinematic, to say the least!

If I had to describe my week at school during February Break, I would compare it to the NYC subway on weekends: the trains run, of course, but there are fewer of them and they go more slowly. I was like an express train making local stops, lingering at every station, and taking my time to cross the city.