HIGH SCHOOL

Dear Parents and Students,

As we wrap up semester one, we will provide you with your son and or daughter’s report card. Our initial date to send these out was today, February 4th, we will have to push this date to Monday, February 8th.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Reflecting on semester one, we can look back and see how far we have all come.  This semester is starkly different from last year when teachers and students needed to quickly adapt to fully remote learning.  We had to learn how to be blended teachers and learners.  In short, blended learning is tough. Tougher than when we were all remote as we were all ‘in’ the same learning space.  

Blended learning pushed us to rethink how lessons would be crafted to ensure equity of high quality learning for the students both at home and in the classroom.  We stand back proud of the accomplishments both of our staff and students who had to re-learn classroom norms and teaching and learning strategies such as in-class students working on tasks with partners at home.  

Agility and perseverance enabled us to successfully complete this first semester and look ahead to the second semester stronger and with a toolbox of strategies to ensure all students are provided a high quality learning environment. 

We hope you have a restful weekend,

Tammy Jochinke

High School Principal 

We are approaching our Higher Level, Service and Careers Week here in the High School. This year, it takes place from Sunday, February 28th - Thursday, March 4th. Information will be sent to students and parents shortly which will outline the offerings. 

Grade 11 and 12

Students in Grade 11, who are not in HL or AP classes, as well as students in Grade 12 who are not writing Mock IB Exams, will be given class work in their core classes. In addition, students  will be encouraged to find a ‘Virtual Work Experience’ opportunity within the community or sign up for work experience with a parent if possible. More information and full schedule to follow through MEA. 

During our HSC week our grade 11 IB students will be involved in HL week classes. This involved the students seeing their HL classes everyday for the week enabling them to dive deeper into the HL content. Students during this week have their 3 HL classes each day and 1 study hall. We are inviting all G11 HL students into school this week for face to face lessons, however if you wish to continue online learning the teachers will provide the Zoom links. Further details of the schedule and timing will be provided to the students over the next week. 

IB Mock exams for Seniors will take place from February 21st-March 4th.

Please be aware that students are expected to be on campus for exams since this is practice for the Final IB exams in May, which must also be taken in person.

The school is working diligently to ensure that we have a safe environment for our students to take these exams. We are in full accordance with DHA guidelines. The exam rooms will have limited seating capacity and desks will be spaced over 2m apart, rooms and exam papers will be fogged before and after each exam session. Proctors will hand out exams wearing masks and gloves. Students will be expected to wear masks throughout.  

The mock exams count for 50% of the semester grade, this is outlined in our HS assessment policy. This communicates to students the importance of the exams and prepares them for the final IB exams which can be worth up to 80% of their final IB grades. Should a student not be able to attend a session, a Doctor’s note must be provided. 

Please find the Mock Exam schedule here. This must be opened as a Google Document to see the latest updates.

Should you notice a conflict between two exams occurring at the same time please contact Ms. Sheffield the IB coordinator and she will organize to reschedule one of your exams.