Inside King's-Edgehill School

Last fall, our Recruitment Team approached me with the idea to produce a virtual reality tour of the campus which they could take on their recruitment trips. What ensued shortly after was a series of videos featuring various aspects of our campus and programmes; our Music Room being one of them. I was amazed at the technology of their expensive 3D camera but somewhat dubious of the endeavour itself. My IB Music class agreed to participate in the project, and the film crew arrived to the concert hall one morning and gave us instructions. I decided to set up our own video camera to record the process, for interest sake. If you've ever been involved in a recording process, you will know that whatever is trying to be achieved, is seldom done on the first attempt. We did our best and the crew left to assemble the various recordings into the virtual 3D tour hosted by select students. The end result is impressive, I admit, and perhaps someday you might have a chance to see it for yourself.  I hope you enjoy the opportunity to witness some of the process with this video. Be advised that with exception of the actual shoot each time, the students are not acting but behaving normally and things are as they usually are in my classroom. With that in mind, I hope you will agree that school can be a lot of fun, even under pressure.

Click here to watch the video.

Dear KES Family:

New to the KES family this year is Ms. Stephanie Filman (opening scene - far left), who has taken on the task of being our in-house vocal coach and choir director. In addition to that, her talents and abilities have made their way into the classroom and everywhere around our campus. Her enthusiasm is infectious, to say the least. To help bring in the festive season and ease the tensions of the pending examinations, Ms. Filman assembled a number of faculty, and our Headmaster, to sing Christmas carols in the cafeteria at lunchtime on Thursday. By the grins on the onlookers' faces, their efforts were successful. Here is a glimpse at their joyous renditions of a few Christmas favourites. I suspect you may find yourself singing along!  Click here to watch the video. 

On Wednesday evening, the KES Pipe Band took to the streets of Falmouth for some celebratory "chanter caroling". Thirteen students played Deck the Halls and Jingle Bells on their practice chanter, an instrument that students learn to play before they take hold of the mighty highland bagpipes. If these students keep it up, this caroling tradition is due to get a bit louder each year. Congratulations to this wonderful crew!

Click here for a preview. 

When Christmas is near and you are away from home, it feels great to find moments in which we can create and experience some pieces of our culture and traditions. All of our students and teachers from Germany, as well as Ella Brown, one of our fierce learners of German, recently transformed Mr. and Mrs. Verryn-Stuart’s kitchen into a Weihnachtsbäckerei (Christmas bakery) and our living room into a movie theatre.

We are fortunate to be in our second year of “Prep Girls Basketball” and our girls’ programme has been flourishing under the tutelage of our Head Coach and Director of Basketball, Marc Ffrench. Marc has been the driver of this Prep Programme and has seen a number of his players scouted in both the Canadian and American university basketball systems. The team continues to excel, and the girls work hard on and off the court. The team culture is one of commitment and dedication in all they do, including in the classroom.  When not in the gym with their coach, the girls have also been assisting and volunteering with other co-curricular programmes. Since arriving at KES, Marc has also been focused on his own professional development. Enhancing his personal coaching development pathway, he has been working through the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) and Basketball Canada’s highest available Coaching Certification level. Recently, Coach Ffrench has been recognized for his commitment to excellence by Basketball Nova Scotia with an exciting appointment: “Basketball Nova Scotia has selected Marc Ffrench to be the Head Coach of the 2020 Nova Scotia U16 Girls Provincial Team. Coach Ffrench brings a wealth of knowledge, demonstrated success in elite level programs, combined with his ability to teach and prepare young athletes to thrive in competitive situations. Coach Ffrench and his yet to be named coaching staff will be responsible for developing the U16 Roster to be the core players of the roster that will represent Nova Scotia at the 2021 Jeux Canada Games to be held in the Niagara Region of Ontario. BNS is excited to welcome Marc Ffrench of King’s-Edgehill School and KES Prep Basketball to our Provincial Team Head Coaches Group for 2020.”  We join BNS in congratulating Marc Ffrench on his appointment to the provincial programme.

This week our lunchtime volunteering wrapped up for the term.  It was a festive end to a term of giving.  It is true that the joy of giving lasts much longer than the joy of getting.  In fact, the excitement and smiles on the faces of the volunteers returning from Harvest House on Tuesday reinforced this idea.  Their joy was matched by the happy faces of those being served at the local soup kitchen in Windsor.