Inside King's-Edgehill School
Dear KES Family:
In chapel this week (Yes! We have services again!) Reverend Curry described John Donne as “the poet theologian” and referred to his writings on the Good Shepherd. I too, have been thinking of Donne this week, but more specifically about his meditation about how “no man is an island”.
If this week has revealed anything, it is also that no school is an island. We are part of the human continent. We are part of the main. What happens elsewhere affects us too.
No school on the planet has remained unaffected by the pandemic. Premier Houston’s announcement this week that all COVID-19 protocols will be lifted after the March break immediately sent ripples of possibilities through the School. Not since 2019 (three years ago!) have we had a proper spring programme at the School. This announcement means that we will have a full spring season of sport, of drama and the arts, of cadets (cadet ball! church parade! mess dinner!), and we can start planning for a proper prom and closing ceremonies. Hooray! About three quarters of the students at our School have never seen a graduation ceremony here or participated in a cadet inspection. About two thirds of our parents have not attended a proper parent teacher interview day either. Good times are ahead!
This joyous anticipation is tempered by this week’s military action overseas. Our student body is diverse, hailing from nations across the globe, including Ukraine. When our students’ families live in fear, when their parents and siblings can see and hear missiles, and their families' lives back home are disrupted by violence and the preparations for war, it is impossible not to feel disrupted ourselves. This disruption is both emotional and mental. We are blissfully safe here, yet still affected by conflict 7,000 kms away. Our hearts beat for our students while our prayers and thoughts go out to their families.
Sincerely,
Joe Seagram