This Week's News from the Upper School

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Friday, 27th April 2018

Upper School Newsletter

Upper School News

The summer term is the one that often showcases some of the best of our students' progress as the year builds to a crescendo of academic and co-curricular activity. By the third term, all the efforts of our hardworking staff throughout the year pays off resulting in increased student confidence and we genuinely see some amazing examples of student success and deep learning. This week was packed with such events before we settle into a quieter period of exams and assessments.

Why not start by watching the work of the new Tuesday activity Dwight TV Club which captures the students own take on the week with some serious and some funnier news items! They're developing their media skills week by week.

The highlight of the week for many of us was the Personal Project Exhibition of M5 students as it showed exactly why an IB education takes students to places no other curriculum can compare with. With a huge variety of interesting products based on hours of in-depth research and analysis on display, the students had honed their presentations at the exhibition into fascinating talks. M5 students should be very proud of this culminating IBMYP experience, all of them reached their very best and parents who came were genuinely amazed. Congratulations to Ms. Villate, Ms. Mather and all staff who supervised projects and guided the students to this point. As we said at the start of the year, this is what IB is about, not standard national tests but academic brilliance and diverse interests on full display from confident students who have learned the skills they need for the future.

We were also treated to two performances in the last week from both our junior and senior students. Last Friday saw the drama club of younger students present the original and witty Interviews with internet Cats directed by Ms. Krohn. The student actors were confident and witty as the chat show hosts, Noah and Ana, led us through a series of feline interviews in an ironic and bizarre portrayal of the social media world.

With great performances (my Oscar would go to James in M2!) and slick organisation, it made for a fun evening. Well done to all involved and thank you Ms. Krohn for leading this activity and delighting the audience.

On Thursday, Ms Kennedy's Diploma 1 theatre group presented two plays covering mental health issues with some physical and Brechtian techniques. The first play with Portia, Serena and Costanza took us back to the cruel treatment of sufferers in the 1950s while Ion, Eleonor and Carla explored the causes and impact of schizophrenia. The audience discussed with the students their progress in drama and they are clearly improving as they go and I imagine we are in for a treat as they get into D2 assessments next year. Thanks you Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Done for your dedication and guidance of this group and to the many students who supported backstage and at the front of house.

On Thursday evening we had 16 students from M1 to D1 for the first Spark Tank session. We went over how the Incubator sessions work and had lots of questions about the kinds of things that were possible. It was really exciting to see the enthusiasm and range of innovative ideas starting to form. A key thing to remember here is that no one in the Tank has to work alone and even if students do not have an idea for a product, service or business themselves, they can come along and join in on a group one. Next Thursday we are expecting the Tank to grow to over 20 students and we have some support coming in from parents as well.

I believe well over 105 families came to our Upper School student teacher parent conferences mid-week to have conversations about academic progress across all our year groups. I hope you found the organisation worked for you and that some meaningful conversations reflecting back and looking forward helped the students find ways of improving. If you missed the opportunity and wish to see the tutors and teachers, do call or email the school for appointments. If you can help us improve the system or the experience, do send us ideas but I think it works well for all.

Many thanks to Ms. Ross, Ms. Kraft, Ms. Allen and Ms. Delgado for leading this project which is all about preparing Year 6 for a smooth start next year.

We are already thinking about our new M1 students for next year and last week saw a joint Year 6 and M1 art trip followed by a workshop in the Lower School. Finn from M1 writes, On Friday, M1 students went with the Year 6 students to the British Museum. We went on a tour to see Greek statues, Egyptian jewellery and African Kangas. Then, on Monday we went to the Lower School and worked in groups to make our own paper Kangas - African clothing worn on special occasions using our own ideas and designs.

Staying with the art department, this week sees the announcement of the winner of our mural competition. We challenged students to come up with a design for the plain walls between the science labs and the classrooms, a corridor that needs some cheering up! The winning design above is from Rozhina in M3.

In sport, we are excited to announce a new Baseball/Softball club. Training sessions start next Wednesday, 1st May and take place at the school field from 4.15pm-5.15pm. The club will run until the second last week of the school year (Wednesday, 27th June).

I want to finish the main section this week with a congratulations to one student who has grown so much in confidence and maturity and who has displayed an amazing array of talents. Tess in M5 as you may have noticed has been leading on many projects this term. Her personal project on Monday was a fascinating study about transgender youngsters which led her to lead our recent diversity assembly.

She is also the leader of the Dwight TV club that produced the video at the top of this newsletter and, in her spare time, I discovered she, like Herbie last week, is a poet! Her poem has been chosen for publication in this year's Young Writers book The Poetry Games - Immersed in Words – well done Tess and thanks for all your contributions to Dwight.
Finally, we wish our Diploma 2 students all the very best for their IB exams which start next week. The hall will be a peaceful haven for you to show your best efforts before graduation in three weeks time.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Andy Atkinson
Upper School Principal

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Termly Magazine
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Important Dates in the Calendar for May

A reminder to parents that on Friday May 25th, there is no school, as all our staff have their third term professional development day.

Events next week

ISA Ski Championship
DP1 Geography trip to Dorset
Mandarin Cookery Trip

On Wednesday, 2nd May the M3 French students will leave school after their period 1 lesson to go to the National Gallery where they will be engaged in a French activity relating to impressionist paintings. This is linked to the unit we are presently doing about the French impressionist movement.
For lunch, we will be going to Covent Garden to taste some delicious pancakes at La Creme de la Crepe. The students will be offered a crepe (savoury or sweet) and a drink. If they think they will want more to eat, they can either bring some snacks or a small lunch, or some money to purchase more food to complete their meal. After lunch we will do another French activity about searching objects in a park. We will return to school for 3.30pm.