Weekly Update from the Secondary School

Dear parents,
The second to last week of school is almost in the books, and the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter by the minute. 
So many exciting things are happening on campus right now. We have the grade level awards ceremonies, we just had a fantastic graduation ceremony this past weekend, and next week we have a modified “Battle of the Beasts” on the last day of school. Couple all this with the ongoing teaching and learning happening and the school is a VERY busy place. 
This is all happening at the same time as many of you are finalizing plans for the June/July holidays. Which is also very different in that now, in addition to packing and worrying about flights, you have to exactly time when you need to get a swab stuck up your nose. Fun. 
I say all this just because it’s important that we all empathize with each other, with the kids and with the people trying to wrap up what needs to be done this year. Also, we need to communicate with each other. If your situation changes in such a way that it may complicate your child leaving campus this June, or returning in August, please let us know. We are here for the kids, and our number one goal is to facilitate their learning. So, if there is anything that comes up that could affect that, let us know and we’ll try and help any way that we can. 
So, now with this, now, ultimate week of school upon us, we look forward to seeing the kids present, engaged and safe as we roll into the vacation. 
Have a great weekend!
Dr. Rick Odum

MYP Art Exhibition

Click on the link below to enjoy the awesome artwork done by our Grade 6 - Grade 10 students!

• Grade 6 created collages inspired by the art of Romare Bearden featuring activities they like to do, people who inspire them, their life in the time of COVID and rooms found in cities.
• Grade 7 wrote and illustrated storybooks inspired suitable for a G1 audience and displayed it in the library.
• Grade 8 studied Pop art and patterns and created “selfies” inspired by Roy Lichtenstein.
• Grade 9 are finishing representational graphite self portraits combined with mixed media and collage to convey their identity.
• Grade 10 worked collaboratively to make an installation in a tree of flowers, birds, mushrooms etc made from plastic waste. Sculptures from organic materials. They created a treasure hunt to entice students to find their land art on campus.

Tenth Annual Poetry and Short Story Competition Results!

Greetings AISL Community,
The judging is finally complete, and it's time to announce the award recipients and new Poet Laureate for the 10th Annual AISL-PTA Secondary Poetry & Short Story competition! 
First, I would like to thank all the students in Secondary who were brave enough to share their work through the competition. This is not an easy thing, especially when these pieces put our personal thoughts and vulnerabilities on display. There was a great variety of work submitted and we had nearly 50 entries this year. It was amazing to see and the pieces were a delight to read!
I would also like to thank our PTA for their ongoing support for this wonderful tradition. Also, many thanks to the P&SS Judging Committee: PTA member, Mr. Simon Cole; AISL’s illustrious Secondary Teacher-Librarian, Ms. Terry Maguire; our Secondary science and Physics teacher, Mr Marin Dobson; our locally famous PHE teacher, Mr. Wayne Thompson; our dedicated Diploma Program Coordinator and Language & Literature teacher, Ms. Monica Murphy. And last, but certainly not least, Mr Tony Potts for his ongoing technical support and expertise.
All the award recipients and their winning entries can be found by accessing the link below or scrolling down the embedded document. 
All the best with the rest of the school year and wherever your travels take you in June.
Trevor Mrak
View the entries HERE on your personal device or in the document embedded below.

DP Grade 12 Update

Class of 2021: Congratulations, Graduates!
A HUGE congratulations to the Class of 2021!  These students have graduated in what is likely the most challenging year of AISL’s history, and we commend them for their dedication, resilience, and good humour through it all.  We are happy to share a beautiful photo gallery from graduation, as well as the formal graduation portraits of our Seniors.  If you weren’t able to join us in person or via the livestream, you can watch the recording on AISL’s youtube channel here​or click on the link below.

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DP - Class of 2022: Virtual TOK Exhibition

This year's TOK Year 1 teachers, Mr. Trevor Mrak and Mr. Lionel Honnorat, are delighted to announce that the Class of 2022 TOK Exhibition is live and online! The TOK Exhibition is a new mandatory component for TOK, worth 33% of the final course grade for full IB Diploma candidates. The task requires students to explore one TOK question from a list of 35 prompts, by finding and discussing 3 objects (physical or digital) that are relevant to the question. 
In the fall, we are also planning on having an on-campus exhibition to benefit the next batch of Grade 11 students entering the DP.

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Grade 5 Parent Session from 1 June

Thank you so much to all the Grade 5 parents who joined Dr. Odum, Ms. Smith, Ms. Turner and Mr. Hoffman on Tuesday for an informational session aimed at the parents of incoming Grade 6 students. You can access a copy of the presentation on the following link: Grade 5 Parent session