Message from the Principals 8/21/2026

Today's Topics:

1: Important Reminders

2: House Points

3: Learning Highlights

1: Important Reminders

• September 7 - NO SCHOOL (Labor Day)

• September 23 - Open School

• October 12-16 - NO SCHOOL (Autumn Break)

2: House Points

Dragon: 356

Basilisk: 338

Hydra: 325

Phoenix: 316

3: Learning Highlights!

As we begin the school year, our learners have been busy thinking about how they learn, getting into new units and meeting new challenges head-on!

Brainwaves

To start off the school year, learners dove into their Brainwaves units and focused on developing their metacognition skills. Across the elementary school, students explored what it means to think about their own thinking, how learning happens, and how the way we approach a challenge can affect the outcome.

Grade 1 Blue created a large network of neuron connections around their classroom using blocks, with each block representing a neuron. Through the activity, they learned that long-term learning develops through making connections, practicing, and focusing. Meanwhile, Grade 1 Maroon learners created brain replica helmets, labelling each part of the brain, to discover more about how the brain works.

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Grade 2 Blue worked together to create a large mind map about metacognition and considered what it means to “think about our thinking”, and just a floor above them, Grade 4 took a different approach with the Marshmallow Challenge. Working in teams, they had 20 pieces of spaghetti, one marshmallow, 30 cm of tape, and 20 minutes to build the tallest freestanding structure. Some teams planned carefully before beginning, while others tested ideas, adapted their designs, and tried again. Their reflections brought the focus back to how we respond when things do not go as planned and how we can learn from the approaches of others.

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Preschool

Our preschool learners have been settling into the school year through activities that encourage observation, creativity, and working together. They worked collaboratively to build towers with wooden blocks, thinking carefully about how to make their structures stable. They also drew portraits of their friends, paying attention to details such as smiles, eyes, and hairstyles as they practiced observing and appreciating one another.

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Prep Class

Prep began the year with their first unit, “Who Am I.” The learners made personalized First Day of School headbands and took part in an “All About Me” activity, sharing their interests, favorite things, and personal characteristics.

They also worked with partners to draw one another. By observing their partners and taking turns, they practiced listening, communication, cooperation, and social skills while getting to know their new classmates.

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Grade 1 Blue

Grade 1 Blue launched their new Buildings unit by turning the classroom into a construction site. Working as decorators, planners, engineers, and builders, teams designed and constructed buildings using only cards.

There were no instructions from the teacher. The learners had to work out how to make their buildings strong enough to stay standing. When structures collapsed, they went back to their ideas, made changes, and tried again. The challenge gave them an early opportunity to practice collaboration, problem-solving, communication, creativity, and resilience.

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Grade 1 Maroon

Grade 1 Maroon also began the Buildings unit with a construction-site Entry Point. Learners took on the roles of engineers and architects and worked together to build houses using materials such as straw and chopsticks.

They also discussed different examples of buildings and what they are used for. When some learners were unsure about the word “building,” the class connected the idea to the Japanese words “tatemono” and “biru,” which helped them expand their understanding and give their own examples.

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Grade 2 Maroon

Grade 2 Maroon began their learning with team-building challenges outdoors. The groups had to work through some difficult moments and find strategies that would allow them to succeed. Communication, collaboration, and perseverance were important throughout the activities, with the biggest success being the way the learners came together as a team.

In Art, the class also began their “Paintings, Pictures and Photographs” unit by learning about Pointillism, the technique associated with Georges Seurat. They practiced by creating Pointillism color wheels and seeing how primary colors can be combined to create secondary colors.

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Grade 3

Grade 3 launched their “Pictures, Paintings and Photographs” unit by working together to piece together puzzles of famous artworks. The activity gave them an opportunity to share their first ideas about the unit and consider what they wanted to learn.

For their Knowledge Harvest, the learners visited Baba Park and the Sea Wall to look for different forms of art and think about what those artworks might be communicating. Back in class, they explored the question, “What is art?” and discussed a range of examples. Their different opinions led to further questions and some lively discussion as they considered what makes something art.

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Grade 4

Grade 4 launched their “Mission to Mars” unit with a spaceship porthole challenge. Learners imagined what they might see while looking through a porthole and then designed their own using a range of craft materials. As they worked, they shared what they already knew about space, from planets and astronauts to space missions and Mars rovers. Their finished portholes are now displayed in the Grade 4 hallway.

The class also explored teamwork through a “Mission to Mars” challenge in which teams of astronauts had to cross a simulated Venus surface using special pads. Their first attempts did not go as planned, but rather than giving up, they changed their strategy and began working together more effectively. The activity gave them a chance to see how mistakes can provide useful information and how communication, encouragement, and listening can help a team move forward.

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Grade 5

Grade 5 learners took their learning outside as part of Action Ambassadors, visiting Baba Park and the beach to collect rubbish left behind by the typhoon. Braving the drizzle, learners managed to collect a significant amount of rubbish and enjoyed taking action in their local environment.

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Grade 6

Grade 6 began their learning with a review of Personal Learning Goals (PLGs). Later, they took on a challenge to discover the best way to safely land an egg. The activity required learners to think carefully, communicate their ideas, and work together as collaborators. Their Big Idea for this unit is "Discovery".

In Health and Wellbeing, learners were introduced to IMPARTS and used dictionaries to investigate the meaning of each part and find synonyms. This led into conversations about the developing teenage brain, including why emotions can sometimes feel stronger than our judgement.

In Geography, Grade 6 became mapmakers. As part of their Knowledge Harvest, they mapped their surroundings and added legends, while also attempting to create maps of places they could not see by relying on memory. The activities challenged them to think like cartographers and adapt when they had incomplete information.

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Grade 7

Grade 7 began their “Curiosity” unit with an I-Spy Tide Pool activity. Before exploring the tide pools, learners predicted characteristics of sea creatures and considered how those characteristics help animals survive. They then explored real tide pools, encountered unfamiliar organisms, and came away with new questions to investigate.

In ELA, learners explored the Big Idea that “The desire to know drives exploration and aspiration.” They investigated key vocabulary, worked together to respond to a guiding question, and interviewed classmates to discover something new about them. The activities gave them plenty of practice asking meaningful questions, listening carefully, and responding to others.

In Geography, Grade 7 began their River Model Diagnostic by creating river profiles showing the upper, middle, and lower courses of a river. They labelled landforms such as waterfalls, floodplains, and river deltas, while researching the river landscapes of a country of their choice.

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Grade 8

Grade 8 began their new unit of "Identity" by creating personal avatars and self-introduction slides. They explored how their personalities and identities can appear differently depending on their moods and circumstances, giving them a chance to learn more about one another.

In ELA, the learners became “identity detectives,” investigating the life of Sandra Cisneros and identifying experiences that helped shape her identity. After sharing their findings, they created identity maps connecting the ideas they had discovered.

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Grades 9-12

Grade 9 Global Perspectives learners began exploring the difference between perspectives and issues and how global ideas and events can be examined through the STEEP framework: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political. As they worked through the activity, learners began making connections and supporting their ideas with evidence.

In Music, Grades 9-12 learners considered the question, “What is Music?” and explored the musical concept of the crescendo. They then used a variety of materials to create their own piece of music inspired by a rainstorm.

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All in all, it has been a wonderful start to the school year, and we are looking forward to seeing our learners continue to grow, question, create, and learn together in the weeks ahead!

-Mr. Brandon