Letter from the Head of School
A NEW YEAR
A NEW BEGINNING
A NEW WORLD SCHOOL
T
he sun rises every day, but it appears
in the east only once in the life of
a day. New schools are formed and
founded all the time, everywhere, but
there is only one first year in the life
of each school, and only one founding
group of teachers and students. The
glory and the joy of such a dawn is
breathtaking and enlivening.
Is it a risk joining a brand new school?
Yes, of course it is. Is it exciting joining
a brand new school? Yes, you bet it is. In
actuality, there are few if any educational
experiences quite like it, both for
students, teachers, and even parents.
Speak to any graduate student who
has had the remarkable good fortune
of being part of a ground-breaking,
innovative school in its first year and you
will witness this rosy afterglow in the way
they look back on what they learned, the
formative experiences that they enjoyed,
and the skills that they developed for the
rest of their lives.
Of course, this has something to do
with moving into brand new buildings,
purpose-built, and never used before.
There is a freshness in this, a sense that
all this has been made just for me. But
the feeling is much deeper than this. The
Keystone buildings are only a symbol of
something more profound. For sure, they
reveal the generous resources behind the
project. But, much more important, they
show a commitment to getting it all right
both in Year 1 and in Year 100. Keystone
Academy is a school for tomorrow and
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The Keystone Magazine
for the future. Here are a few aspects
of being a founding member of a new
school that simply cannot be repeated,
ever:
• The sunrise effect: the beauty and
the power of a dawn that will never
be repeated;
• The empowering sense for both
children and adults, including
parents, of being part of a
collaborative, small, special team
that is setting out to build something
great, and that will endure and
prosper as it grows;
• The sense of joint exploration and
discovery that flows from this;
• The resilience and spiritedness that
is generated by the force that feeds
a novel enterprise and the drive to
ensure its success;
• The unusually strong care and
attention that teachers give to
students in a new and growing school
community and the camaraderie that
students offer to each other;
• The awareness that every day is a
new day, a new exploration. This is
something that simply does not exist in
the same way in an established school;
whether the risk is worth it. How do you
know that your child will succeed where
there is no previous record of success?
The best way in which we can answer
that is by asking, in all humility, that you
consider the records of the people who
have been attracted to get this project
going. We are serious educators, with a
huge range of experiences in different,
high-quality schools on different
continents. We have given ourselves
a lengthy lead-in and planning period.
We have all committed ourselves to
Keystone for at least five years. We know
what it means to work in world-class
schools, and we know what true quality
feels like. We are serious about what we
are undertaking, and we will use all our
experience and many connections to
make Keystone Academy a huge success,
next year, in five years, and into the
future. We bring this richness to a focus
here in Beijing. We are all attracted to the
special nature of the Keystone project,
to create a world school here in Beijing.
You and your child will be joining a most
memorable and uplifting enterprise. We
welcome you eagerly and with assured
confidence that Keystone Academy will
be a meaningful and thrilling experience
for you and your child.
• The unrivalled necessity for invention
and the power of creation;
• The absence of tradition that is
liberating, and the responsibility for
creating the foundations of brand
new traditions that is awe-insp