I never tire of remarking on (and loving) the number of fascinating events that take place at The École. It makes things difficult when I have to travel somewhere for a few days (like Orlando, where I am writing to you from today) because it means I’ll miss something. Occasionally, I decide to turn down prestigious invitations so I can stay at school and keep my FOMO at bay.
In December, we’ll host two French inspectors who will visit The École to make sure we are still worthy of accreditation by the French Ministry of Education, so there was no way I could skip the annual conference for heads of French schools in North America. Although I realized that this trip to Florida meant missing the opportunity to put on my tux and attend the L’Alliance gala last night, I had no idea that the deputy minister for francophonie would honor The École with a visit. Thanks to the parents from TÉPA who joined the welcome committee in my absence, and to the French Consul General and the Cultural Counselor of France for organizing the visit. It is always such a pleasure for us to show off our beautiful school and the incredible work our students are accomplishing with their teachers.
Next week, I’m going to Toronto for another conference, which entails postponing an Open House and cancelling a Petit déj with parents, something I didn’t do lightly, but it is very important that I make time to exchange with colleagues, stay up to date, and continue to consider the best ways to continue improving The École. Between these two trips, I will be present and correct at school on Tuesday for a very important moment: our annual Introduction to Middle School meeting – for Elementary and Maternelle families who would like to learn about life at The École in 6th to 8th Grade – everyone is welcome!
The École’s Middle School is a very special place and something that we have worked on extensively. As soon as I arrived in 2020, I recognized the enormous potential of the Middle School and began working with the team on an ambitious project to bring that potential to life. Thanks to the colleagues who embraced our challenges with a level of commitment that continues to impress me, and to the trust of the families who choose to enroll their children in our Middle School, our numbers have grown. We now have 68 middle schoolers at The École, and thanks to our new building, we will be able to welcome a little over a hundred in the coming years. Our growing Middle School is one of the main reasons why we decided to move into a new purpose-built school twice the size of our previous building.
In meetings, I sometimes jokingly ask a colleague, out of the blue, who their favorite student is—they’re startled and bothered, because of course no one has a ‘favorite.’ The same goes for me, I don’t have a favorite, but when I see our middle schoolers arriving in the morning, when I hear them laugh, when I catch snippets of their conversations, when they give me a little wave to say hello, all of that gives such meaning to my work and makes me incredibly proud of everything we are putting in place for them. Our middle schoolers are wonderful, and I am quite simply happy to be here with them every day (when I am not travelling!)