Headmaster's Weekly Newsletter -- Week 10

When Captain Barbossa of the pirate ship Black Pearl holds Miss Turner hostage, she complains that what he is doing is against the pirate code. He retorts that not being a pirate, the code does not apply to her and that “the code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.” Since 2003, this line from the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean has stuck with me.

We are living in a time of guidelines. There are some strict rules to follow, of course, but the reality of life is that no Public Health rule book is big enough to govern every single situation.  We must use our best judgement and follow the guidelines given to us.  This week, the actual rule from the federal government is that cadets may not assemble and observe Remembrance Day. However, even though almost all students at KES are cadets (some are too young), we are a school first, and we operate as a bubble on campus.  By adhering to public health guidelines, we were safely able to assemble by our cenotaph and honour those who have fallen and those who continue to serve and sacrifice. 

As there was no service at the Windsor cenotaph this year, we remained on campus and paraded in our Number One KES uniform. For the first time in KES history, we live streamed the service. We did so on Facebook and, as I write this, there have been more than two thousand four hundred views (!). Typically, Remembrance Day in Windsor features a Canadian Forces aircraft fly-by. This year at KES, a large flock of Canada geese flew overhead. Their iconic chorus and V formation added a uniquely Canadian dimension to the choir’s anthem “Keep the Home Fires Burning”.

It was gloriously warm and still for the ceremony and thus it could be heard for miles around.  In the absence of a service in town, many local families gathered in the cemetery below the School to honour their relatives who had served. It touches my heart to know that they could hear the whole service, including Callum Lovelace’s (2021) trumpet and Sean Hurley’s (2023) bagpipes as they echoed across the hillside. The choir’s singing and Lennon Rutledge’s (2023) superb solos of O Canada and God Save the Queen added welcome notes to their observances as well. Reverend Curry was informed how much our service was appreciated, how it made for a real Remembrance Day, “wonderful and profound”.