Thursday, 29th March 2018
Upper School Newsletter
Upper School News
We are finally at the end of the Spring Term but I cannot say it has yet felt like Spring with the awful weather! Today we had our last assembly of term where we celebrated the good times, awarded groups and individuals for their contributions to learning and school life as well as reflected on how the term has been together. It genuinely brightens up the grey days outside! We have lots of great memories of trips, concerts, matches and campaigns but let us not forget the huge amount of learning, our core business, that has taken place every day thanks to our hard working teachers. It has been a good term.
M4 visit to Picasso, 1932 Exhibition Love, Fame and Tragedy
The Spanish M4 group had the opportunity to enjoy first-hand the retrospective exhibition that Picasso himself curated in 1932 after learning about his main paintings in class. Some students, such as Adi and Tom, shared their knowledge, understanding and own personal interpretations on Picasso's style and could not take their eyes off the paintings.
That really made an impression on the teachers! Soon after the half term they will themselves exhibit their own piece of work inspired by Picasso. Watch out for our classroom displays! They also had time for a deep immersion in the new art project called One, Two, Three swing! by the Danish artists' SUPERFLEX collective! Thank you Ms. Delgado.
This is a message from the IB parent self-study group who met this term "Thanks to the parents who participated in the IB parent study by completing the recent survey. The parent workgroup collected responses, analysed findings and presented the report to Mr. Atkinson, Ms. Mather and Ms. McCaffrey this week. Overall the feedback was positive - parents feel there is a strong commitment to the IB philosophy, the Learner Profile and the curriculum promotes student awareness of world issues. However, the report highlighted areas of improvement for the school such as communicating leadership roles more clearly, promoting the IB qualifications of staff and reviewing facilities and equipment. The workgroup were reassured that the leadership team already has work in progress to address these areas and we'll be hearing about developments throughout the year. Thank you to Mr. Atkinson and his team for being so open to receive the feedback" (Zemar, Mirjam, Sonia, Lucy, Toni & Azeem) The students and staff are also finishing off their contributions to the wider study and we look forward to our IB visit in October when we get feedback on our progress.
An Evening of Indian Dance and Music
Last Friday a group of D1 students held a WOHAA fundraising event with Indian dancing and food in Jubilee Hall. I heard the evening went well and the pot continues to grow for funds for a great cause of education in Malawi and India. Well done to Ishani, Ion and the whole team for leading this.
International Women's Writing Competition
Good luck to our seven magnificent participants, Alma, Arian, Finn, Iria, Sammy and Yusuke, in the Penguin's Writing Competition on International Women's Day. Our students had the difficult task of writing just 150 words about an extraordinary and inspirational woman in their everyday lives and draw a picture of them. Ms. Delgado and Ms. Marquez were very touched by their beautiful words and admiration to their great role models.
Cookbook for WOHAA reminder
The four of us - Ran, Maria, Megumi, and Kie - are currently participating in WOHAA, a student charity, as the group Roarin' Kitty. We have published our major project for WOHAA, which is a Japanese cookbook on Japanese style lunch boxes. It's sold online at Rakuten Kobo, and the title of the book is The Japanese Lunchbox. It also has a Japanese vegan lunchbox option included as well. This is the URL to the cookbook https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-japanese-lunchbox
If you would like additional information on our activities,or would like to see what kind of lunch boxes we are talking about, please check out our facebook page Roarin' Kitty through the URL: https://www.facebook.com/WOHAAPROJECTkitty/
Drama Club Production
The Dwight School Drama Club is delighted to invite you to their production of Brief Interviews with Internet Cats on Friday, 20th April at 6.30pm. In this comedy by Patrick Greene, celebrity interviewers Alan (Noah) and Amela (Ana) have a dream line-up for tonight's episode of the World Wide Window: a veritable litterful of felines whose internet antics have catapulted them to fame. In this fast-paced series of hilarious interviews, Alan and Amela uncover the story behind Tuffy's (James) first dramatic foray into a cardboard box, learn just what makes Nelson the Grouchy Cat so very, very grouchy, scratch their heads over Skinny Jean the Sarcastic Cat's (Nelly) ambiguous musings, and contend with the diva-like antics of Kitty Purry (Ariana) and her entourage. We look forward to seeing you in the audience!
Wishing everyone a very happy Spring Break and see you all back on 16th April for another learning filled term and hopefully some sunshine!
Andy Atkinson
Upper School Principal
Reminders
Change of Date for the Diary!
Due to upcoming theatre productions, the MYP Personal Project exhibition evening will now take place on Monday, 23rd 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.
IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT EXTENDED ABSENCES COMMON CLOSE TO THE HOLIDAYS
We understand that from time to time families need to take the children out of school during school time for exceptional circumstances. For your reference, it is in our school's policy (https://www.dwightlondon.org/about/policies) that parents send a written leave request to your child's principal, Mr Atkinson (aatkinson@dwightlondon.org) preferably with a week's notice, for any plans involving taking the children out of school during school time. We kindly ask to please write your reason/s for taking students out of school and be aware that if we do not receive a reason for their absence their attendance will be marked in the school register as unauthorised absence.
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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