Friday, 23rd March 2018
Upper School Newsletter
Upper School News
Another busy week in Dwight as we wait for Spring to actually arrive but lots of warm news below from the media club students and some items from others.
House Swimming Gala makes a splash!
By our M5 correspondent - Sterling. Photography by Tess, M5.
This Monday we had our annual Dwight House Swimming Gala held at a local swimming pool. We all headed down for the three hour event and it was great to see so many commit to the pool on a cold day. Throughout it you would have seen four different strokes; breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke. Each year group competed against each other to win more points for their House. If you were not a strong swimmer, you competed in one of the three novelty games such as the cup race, the ball race and the noodle race. This was an event with lots of school and House Spirit, everyone was cheering on their teammates to swim each length. In the end Pioneers took the win with the most points, but Visionaries and Artists were a tight second and third. We thank Ms. Mills and the PHE teachers for this great event and I already can't wait for next years!
International Day of Happiness
By Auva our M1 correspondent
This Tuesday, the 20th of March was the International Day of Happiness. People all around the world were joyful on this day, and in Dwight we not only had a day to make us happy, but to make others happy as well.
The Aztecs tutor group introduced a competition to the school, where we had to go all around and hug as many people as we could and write their name on a sheet of paper. The person with the most people hugged would get a prize. It was an extremely fun game that spread joy and delight all throughout the school!
Golf on the curriculum!
I love how in Dwight we try so many different sports in PHE and this term the students have been trying golf! It's been so popular we will be starting an activity of golf on Tuesdays. Someone in Dwight might be an Open Champion of the future!
M2 Maths Trip to the Science Museum
From our guest correspondant Nikhil, M2
The M2 maths trip was filled with many great learning experiences and awesome activities. We arrived at 11.00am and headed straight into the Wonder Lab. We saw many different things related to maths, biology, chemistry and many more. Some of the coolest activities were the rope pull up contest where two people would pull themselves up using a chair and a rope, the gravity run where we made a slide for a wood ball to get safely to the bottom, and the box with mirrors on each side to create the effect of a hundred mirrors! We all had an amazing time full with fun! .
At the end of this term the students and you will receive the interim reports for this term with indicative grades and comments on Approaches to Learning. We will be holding our Student Teacher Parent Conferences on the evening of the 24th and all day on the 25th April so you can meet the teachers and follow your child's progress.
Students moving on this term
By Herbie, our M1 correspondent
Sadly, we are saying goodbye to some Dwight students this term:
Moritz and Sara from M1, Hermine, Taku, and Mai from M3, Naoya, Hiroki and
Ryuto from M4 and Anna from M5.
We will miss them all and they have said they will miss:
"... all of my friends and kind teachers" Mai, M3
"...the people; friends, class mates, teachers and how the Dwight community is, like you know every one because it's so small. I will miss how Dwight is so international and I will miss speaking English." Hermine, M3
"… my amazing friends." Anna M5
I would like to say goodbye especially to Moritz, who has been a great friend to me in M1. Good luck to you all in your new schools and homes. Please keep in touch with us.
M5 Eassessment
A reminder to the parents of M5 that this group of students is working towards internal examinations at the end of the year so classes in term 3 will be full of learning rather than May external assessments. That said, our M5 students are entering their Personal Projects for IB assessment and participating in an externally marked IB interdisciplinary examination on-screen on May 18th.
Record Year for IB teacher training
I am very proud of our teaching staff this year for giving up time for their own professional development in IB programmes. Dwight has invested record levels with just under twenty staff attending updated training at IB workshops across Europe and the Middle East and/or online IB courses. Dwight staff are all nationally qualified from their respective countries but the Category 1 to Category 3 workshops our staff attend are vital for aligning our IB Pegagogy across the faculty. To top this off next week Alison Cobbin is attending the World IB Heads Conference in Singapore and will return with more ideas for our ongoing development as an IB school.
Have a great weekend everyone! One more four day week until the holidays!
Andy Atkinson
Upper School Principal
Upcoming Events
The Upper School photo day for our group and team photos is on Monday, 26th March.
Development Tuesday, 27th March
Please note that the last Tuesday of term is always our development Tuesday for staff training and the students will all leave school promptly at 2.40pm. School buses will also run at this time.
M4 Spanish Trip to the Tate Modern
What: Picasso, 1932 - Love, Fame, Tragedy
Where: Tate Modern
When: Tuesday, March 27th
Why: As part of their studies on Picasso's life and work.
What to bring: Packed lunch
Hat Day for Brain Tumour Research
Kiana in D1 and her tutor group are organising a hat day next Thursday, 29th March to raise awareness of this issue. All students are asked to wear a hat to try and win a chosen category and contribute £1 to this important cause.
Berlin Trip Meeting
There is a meeting about the Berlin Music Trip on Wednesday, 28th March at 4.30pm in the H1 classroom of the Jubilee building. The meeting should be finished by 5.30pm. We will address all the essential details of the trip, such as the travel arrangements, homestay, the schedule and activities for the week, meals, dress code, pocket money and communication.
Important date for the diary!
The MYP Personal Project exhibition evening will take place on Thursday, 19th April from 6.30 to 8pm in the Jubilee Hall. We will soon send an official invitation to M5 parents and teacher supervisors but hold that date to see some amazing works of passion from our students.
Dwight Parent Association Events.
April Out and About – Ocean Liners: Speed and Style @ The V&A
Join The Dwight Out and About Club (which is open to all parents at Dwight!) as we experience a unique journey through the design stories of the world's greatest ocean liners including the Titanic, the Queen Mary, and the Canberra, and find out how these impressive vessels helped shape the modern world!
Date: Friday 27th April, 2018
Meet: 9am West Finchley station or 10:00 am at the main ticketing entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum – Cromwell Road SW7 2RL
Cost: £18
***You will need to pre-purchase your own ticket via the link below. Book for: Friday, 27th April - 10:15am entrance time.
https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibiti ons/ocean-liners-speed-style
Please let Michele know when you book your ticket and plan to join - michele@seanoneill.com
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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