Inside King's-Edgehill School

Our Junior School has an amazing group of caring and dedicated students; evidence of this is always around us in their chatter in the hallways, their leadership in the classroom and in the volunteering that they do.  In a year of lockdowns, there were limited opportunities for our students to leave the campus to do the volunteering that they love.  No cleanups at Camp Mockingee, no pharmacy or Mermaid Theatre volunteers, no reading with elementary school children, no serving lunches at Harvest House, and no hospital or nursing home visitations.  Despite that, our Juniors have still accumulated over 1125 hours of service since September, and I’m so proud of each of them for the garbage pickups, the peer tutoring, the volunteer coaching, the chapel service, and so much more. 

Topics: King's-Edgehill School in the Community

Dear KES Family:

There is something very exciting about seeing a brilliant idea.  The creators of last evening’s Arts Gala, Toven MacLean, Jeff Smith, Sandy Stewart, Sven Dietrich, Karlee Sinclair, Stephanie Cummings, and Jonathan Cheverie had several but this one struck me as genius: rather than have the ceremony dominated by adults, why not hand it over to our most creative students and alumni. As a result, our wonderful host Victoria Dubois, invited alumni from the Class of 2020 to present the special awards. It was fabulous seeing current students and their performances recognized by our Arts superheroes of yesteryear on screen.  Hearing them speak about their experiences at KES before making the presentation to their friends and former schoolmates was magnificent. My heart leapt when Class of 2020 graduates Mya Snarr, Ella Brown, Ohemaa Ofori, Katie Goddard, Max Cole, Eva Redmond, and Annalise Emery appeared on screen. Better than at any Academy Awards ceremony, the presenters were eloquent, gracious, and hugely enthusiastic. Be it in dance, drama, music, voice, visual art, the media arts…it was obvious that the Arts programme at KES occupied a special place in their hearts and memories.

 

I also realized how much these young graduates hold a place in our hearts.

 

Mya Snarr described how fondly she remembers Ms. Sandy Stewart’s hello every time she entered the Art room. I love this. Being greeted warmly each day says so much about the connection between teacher and student, the connection between space and creativity, and the joy of feeling welcome and safe. I know that Sandy greets everyone warmly. She has made her studio a cozy and comfortable oasis separate from the high energy hubbub of the main campus. For Mya, a boarding student for six years, I am sure the Art Studio was a place not only to create but to re-create.

 

How we greet people is important. Saying hello is such a simple thing but done well it has a lasting impact. It may have seemed like a simple bit of fun for Mr. Faucher, Mr. Walsh, and Mr. Chandler to put together their own award ceremony for the morning screening, but that daily ritual for all students and staff arriving on campus welcomed everyone and never failed to put a smile on our faces. And how much fun it is to recognize Sean Hurley’s chivalry, Natalia’s daily jokes, or Mr. Trace’s perfect hair!

 

I hope we don’t have to do morning screening next year, but somehow we have to ensure that every student carries memories with them of being welcomed warmly every time they came on campus, entered a class, stepped into the theatre for rehearsal, or joined their team for practice.

 

The Arts Gala can be found on YouTube.  Make sure you watch right through to the finale – best song ever!

Topics: Joe's Journal -- Weekly Headmaster's Newsletter

The Annual Athletic Awards Banquet for 2020-21 was a great success with almost 70 awards presented. Even though we had a difficult COVID-19 year, as the slideshow depicted, we had a wonderful year filled with many memorable athletic opportunities and memories. Thanks to   Janice Kleiner  for putting together a great presentation, reflecting the various sporting environments and extraordinary moments captured in pictures. The coaches went above and beyond to make memorable opportunities for their student–athletes this year. Our coaches and athletes all deserve heart-felt congratulations for their many sacrifices and constant scheduling revisions. Everyone has an appreciation for the opportunities we had to participate during the ongoing pandemic.

Topics: Athletics At KES, Athletes at KES

The Coalition for Music Education launched Music Monday in 2005. Held annually each May, it is one of the world’s largest single events dedicated to raising awareness for music education. This year, a one-hour virtual concert featuring some of Canada's premiere ensembles was published on YouTube and Facebook. One such group featured was the National Youth Band of Canada, comprised of accomplished instrumentalists from across the country.  

Topics: Arts At KES, ARTS

Each year, Senior School English classes participate in the annual speech competition.  This April, students had the opportunity to present speeches to their classmates.  From these class presentations, 16 finalists were chosen.  Not to be deterred by the challenges posed by distance learning, the finals went online in May.  Judging was opened up to our faculty and staff and many volunteered, eager to watch the videos submitted by the finalists.  From sharing personal experiences to informing the audience about a new topic, all speeches were engaging and thought-provoking.   The top three winners will be revealed at the virtual Closing Ceremonies on June 12 ^th. 

Topics: About King's-Edgehill School, Academics at KES

On Monday, May 17 ^th, all students in Grades 6-8 took part in the final math competition of the year.  It was the last in a series of yearlong challenging University of Waterloo CEMC (Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing) contests designed for students in Grades 7-12.  Sincere thanks are extended to   Mr. Kershaw  who designed a special Grade 6 online version of the contest so that our youngest students could also benefit from the excellent problem-solving opportunities that these contests provide. 

Topics: Athletics At KES, Athletes at KES

Dear KES Family:

Surprisingly, this has been an eventful week. Here are three highlights:

 

1. Dr. Kevin Walsh, a local dentist and parent of two wonderful alumnae, has for many years looked after students needing emergency dental care.  He is a good friend and part of our KES family. This week he successfully summitted Mount Everest. His twenty glorious minutes flying the Nova Scotia flag on the highest point of our planet represent a rare accomplishment. Interviewed by CTV Atlantic from Base Camp last night, I was struck how uplifting his success is for all of us.  It is a great story for our School, our town, and our province.
2. There are only seven students left on campus. Our Canadian boarders have gone home and almost all of our international students have been tested, loaded up with official travel documents, and have made their way home already. Online courses continue but with such a diverse student population, the difference in time zones is a challenge. David Curry reported to me with great admiration that during his ToK class, Stanislav Matkovskyi and Gleb Proshkyn zoomed in from Ukraine and Ben Bednaraand Lukas Schmidt did the same from Germany, despite it being midnight their time! The continued commitment to learning is remarkable.
3. One of the reasons our campus always looks so beautiful is because our groundskeepers are so good. Be it flower beds, lawns, or our many shrubs and trees, Chris Northup looks after pretty much everything that grows. When we constructed the turf field a few years ago, Chris had Jakeman Field’s topsoil scraped off and saved in a massive pile behind Vair MacMillan House. It was a brilliant idea because every time we need topsoil we have our own supply. With the recent construction of the new Learning Pavillion, we needed to level and shape the ground around it. True to my mother’s old saying, “Waste not, want not”, this week Chris has used topsoil from the old Jakeman Field to even out and seed the ground. It seems like such a little thing, but we live in a time when everything is disposable, and few things get fixed. This kind of forward thinking seems rare. For us, even “dirt” has value and shouldn’t go to waste.

Topics: Joe's Journal -- Weekly Headmaster's Newsletter

Colin Stephens, from Windsor, Nova Scotia, began with us in Grade 7 and, over the years, he has established himself as a consistent presence in our Junior School. A reflective thinker, Colin is looked up to by his classmates both because of his physical stature and his willingness to lend a hand. On top of his stellar work in the classroom, Colin has been involved with our Cards for Caring volunteer programme, peer tutoring, and who could forget his clutch game-winning-buzzer-beater during basketball season!

Topics: Athletics At KES, Athletes at KES

Mr. Lakes  shares his weekly conversation with former KES student,   John Richmond (Class of 2000).

Topics: About King's-Edgehill School, Campus Life

The Annual Junior School Public Speaking Competition took place this past Wednesday, May 19^th during our virtual Junior School Assembly. While every student had an opportunity to deliver a speech to their classmates in English class, the numbers were whittled down to the final nine who presented their speeches to their fellow classmates, faculty, judges and family members during our Zoom Assembly this week. 

Topics: About King's-Edgehill School, Academics at KES