Inside King's-Edgehill School
Dear KES Family:
While I am interviewing prospective students I always ask if they have any questions. Over the years I have discovered that the questions I am asked vary according to age. Older students want to clarify their internal vision of what our School is like and so their questions are generally about the daily schedule, food, roommates, sports and clubs. On the other hand, I have found that the younger a student is, the more personal the questions are. Younger students ask questions older students wouldn’t. This week two different girls applying for Grade 7 wanted to know how old I was. They wanted to know what I love most about the School, whether I have any children, and are the teachers nice. Whether the teachers and students are nice is a common concern. Liking their teachers and having friends are the most important considerations for our youngest students.
Yesterday I interviewed a Grade 9 girl who lives two hours outside of Kampala, Uganda. She has not had proper school for almost two years. There is no internet at home. She has never been on a plane, never left her country, never spent time with people from other countries, and never seen snow. She hopes to arrive after Christmas. I cannot imagine what will be going through her mind after departing equatorial Africa and arriving in Nova Scotia and Canadian winter after long trans-continental and trans-Atlantic flights.
It is incredible to think that out of all the schools in the world this girl and her parents have chosen King’s-Edgehill School. So much will be new that I told her she will probably learn as much outside the classroom as she does in her lessons. Dorm life, sports, clubs, Canadian food, winter weather, or the different people she will meet, everything will be new. She says she is excited about all of it.
It might all be very overwhelming for her. However, for all the changes she will face I am confident about one thing that will make all the difference in the world for her: our teachers and students are nice.
