There are many ways to gauge a school’s good health. Some are more subjective or harder to define than others. You can mention, for example, how happy our students are when they arrive in the morning or when we see them skipping along the corridors (they never walk; they only skip). You can feel the sense of community at events like last night’s apéro, when we toasted the start of 2026 over a glass of champagne. You can listen to the stories families share about their experiences at The École, from those who have been with us for years to those who joined only a few weeks ago. Each individual account is deeply personal, but pieced together, they sketch out a collective experience. Even though these indicators may seem intangible, I find them invaluable, and I was glad the inspectors felt the same way when they were here in December.
The good health of The École can also be gauged by more easily measurable data. Obviously, we’ve just moved into a brand-new building, which reflects our confidence in the future and is a clear sign we are doing well. Our students’ MAP Growth Test results speak to our top-notch teaching and are a fitting reward for the dedication our students and teachers put into learning every day. And, along the same lines, we welcomed alumni and their parents for the High School Placement info session this week, so they could share with our current families the excellent reputation The École has earned among the city’s leading high schools as well as the exceptional range of possibilities open to our teenagers once they complete 8th Grade with us.
Another key indicator of a school’s good health is staff retention. I say it every year: my most important responsibility—the one that allows no margin for error—is to ensure that our students are learning from the very best teachers. The work doesn’t end with recruitment; it is vital that the school environment allows our teachers to fully express their talents and reassures them that our school is the best fit for them now and in the years ahead. In this respect, even if it is still a little early to say, the vast majority of our team has confirmed that they wish to continue at The École next year, and we are therefore looking at a team that will remain largely unchanged.
A final sign of our good health is another type of retention—that of our students. Our re-enrollment period closed yesterday, and I am delighted to see that a great many of our families have chosen to stay with us, and I know that those who have to leave are doing so with heavy hearts. We are in touch with a few families who are still unsure of what the future holds, which is entirely normal at this time of the year. With 314 students currently re-enrolled for next year, we are already well ahead of where we have been at this point in the past. Diving a little deeper into the data, two figures make me particularly happy, especially because of the amount of time and effort we have put in recent years: the transitions from Kindergarten to 1st Grade and from 5th to 6th Grade are now almost automatic for our families, with a retention rate of 92% (which could be even higher in the coming weeks).
I write to you about The École’s good health every Friday, often through anecdotes and reflections that are not always very tangible. It was therefore reassuring for me to spend time looking at some objective data, to confirm that I am not kidding myself: The École is remarkably dynamic, and it truly is an exceptional school.
Wishing everyone an excellent long weekend!
P.S. I also know that many of you kindly took the time to complete the parent/staff satisfaction surveys before the winter break. I will share more detailed results with you soon, but I can already tell you that The École’s Net Promoter Score is 72%, which ChatGPT tells me is an exceptional—world-class—score.
