Inside King's-Edgehill School

What a great year of volunteering this has been. Our students have worked throughout the Windsor community and beyond, at nursing homes, with Mermaid Theatre, at a drugstore, with churches in their communities and with residential homes.  Our volunteers were devastated to lose the opportunity to visit all their new friends as the spread of COVID-19 cancelled school and with it, our volunteer programmes. To address this, we started two programmes from home: Cards of Caring and a Pen Pal programme.  With Cards of Caring, volunteers were given the addresses of local nursing homes to send homemade cards.  The cards were addressed to “A Resident in Need of a Smile”, popped into the mail, and were distributed randomly by nursing home staff.  These were amazing!  The bright colours, the artwork and the warm sentiments inside spread joy, for sure. 

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

With careful planning and thoughtful input from the KES Arts Faculty, Senior students   Katie Goddard, Max Cole, and Eva Redmond were able to put together a comprehensive and entertaining video presentation celebrating KES students dedicated to our various Arts programmes. Katie and Max co-chair the Arts Committee and hosted the online event. Fellow Arts Committee member, Eva is an expert film producer and she edited a flawless combination of recorded clips into a 30-minute video. Our in-house YouTube expert,   Mr. Pat LePoidevin, set up the online experience to air, and when it premiered 'live' at 7:00pm on Tuesday, there were 166 viewers. As I type this, there have been well over 125 more viewers and I suspect many more before this article reaches you. 

Topics: About King's-Edgehill School, Arts At KES, ARTS

For the past two years, we have designed a new pin for our Arts Gala. The last two designs have been different versions of the drama masks. This year, with the help of Tom Gray from International Coat of Arms, we came up with a design that would include all our Arts programmes. Here is the big reveal of the new Arts pin!

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

Dear KES Family:

I did not think I would feel this way. Despite having an empty campus this term, the familiar mixture of sadness and exhilaration is still making its presence felt. That end-of-year feeling overwhelmed me after yesterday’s final Chapel service, and I barely held it together while watching the Arts Gala on Tuesday or listening to the final Podcast this morning (hosted by grads Eva Redmond and Duncan McLaughlin).

In her Grade 9 Graduation valedictory address last night, Jessica Ugwoke spoke about coming to the School from her home in Newfoundland and finding a new home at KES. She described the sense of belonging and support she felt when she arrived, calling KES her “emotional home”. What a wonderful thing to be able to say about one’s school!

 

This sentiment is expressed time and time again in the Podcast by the graduates of the Class of 2020. Whether it is Duncan McLaughlin describing catching for his brother who was pitching during the School’s first baseball game, or Ava Benedict saying that KES has “just been like my family”, or Emily Coady expressing how she instantly felt a “huge sense of family”, it is clear that there is a special closeness which binds us. KES feels, figuratively and literally, like family. The feeling expressed by Jessica in Grade 9 is echoed by Class of 2020 grad Heavyn Beals’ recollection of when she came to campus “it just felt like home”.  

 

This is why all spring we have missed each other so much. The campus, the nest, has been empty. Our family gone, our home has not felt the same. (Just watch the Fauchers’ hilarious three-part mini-series on our YouTube channel, and you will see how crazy we have all been without everyone around.)

However, despite the distance between us, we have maintained our connection to each other. Through imaginative use of technology, we have preserved the emotional home. It sounds so cliché but, although we are not together, we have never really been apart.

 

Huge hugs to all. The KES family is alive and well. (As are the ravens, thank goodness!) Congratulations to all.

Topics: Joe's Journal -- Weekly Headmaster's Newsletter, Distance Learning

“Hast du etwas Zeit für mich, dann singe ich ein Lied für dich.”

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

On Wednesday, May 13 ^th, all Grade 7 and 8 students 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 through 12. Everyone benefits from the excellent problem-solving opportunities that these contests provide. The Grade 7 and 8 contest is the Gauss Math Contest, named after Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), the famous German mathematician. The University of Waterloo did not conduct the official Gauss Competition this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but our own math and science specialist   Mr. Kershaw  created an online KES version of the Gauss Contest from his library of past problems. We were thrilled that we could continue with this challenge for our Grade 7 and 8 students in our Distance Learning programme. The online process worked well, and the results did not disappoint. I congratulate all students who participated and challenged their problem-solving abilities. Well done! The following students finished in the top 25% of all students who wrote at King’s-Edgehill. A perfect score (150) is a rare accomplishment. In my 37 years of teaching, we have had only three students achieve this standard of excellence. This year, Grade 8 student   Lucas Martin  adds his name to the distinguished list. I congratulate all students who took part in the contest this year and commend our top-scoring students:

Topics: Academics at KES

Two things that make us all feel good are a smile and a happy tune. As we move forward from the setbacks of late and looking toward a better tomorrow, I am delighted to showcase Grade 12 student, Parker Kim's recent performance. Here he is playing a Maroon 5 tune, called Memories. It's a selection based on Pachelbel's cannon chord progression that everyone loves to begin with; however, the joy of this familiar tune is equally matched by Parker's smile and talented guitar playing. And to kick up the feel-good factor, he gives his brother a hug right after his performance while the audience cheers. Watch this and you'll feel good!

Topics: About King's-Edgehill School, Arts At KES

I hope you enjoy our virtual exhibitions. We admire not only our students' skills and creativity but also their courage in sharing their work with us. Please join me in congratulating our 2020 IB Visual Arts students on their hard work and achievements.

Topics: Arts At KES, IB Programme, ARTS

I hope you enjoy our virtual exhibitions. We admire not only our students' skills and creativity but also their courage in sharing their work with us. Please join me in congratulating our 2020 IB Visual Arts students on their hard work and achievements.

Topics: Academics at KES, Arts At KES

Our Steward Team wanted to take a minute to direct you to our   KES Steward Instagram account  that we set up a few weeks ago which has been busy. If you are looking for something to brighten your days, follow us, if you’re not doing this already. Check out the posts that our Grade 11 Stewards have made for our KES family to motivate and inspire and to bring some happiness and fun into your everyday life. They show that our KES community is strongly connected.   Thank you, Stewards!   Our Instagram name is   KESSTEWARDS.

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