Dear Parents,
We’re back! New timetables, new notebooks, new expectations, new possibilities. It has been wonderful to see students returning to school, reconnecting, and beginning to find their rhythm again. And yes, we already have a four-day weekend coming up! A gentle start perhaps, but we are definitely underway.
In French, the year has started with purpose:
Grade 9s are opening their travel unit by looking beyond holidays and destinations to ask how travel can shape identity, perspective, and the way we see our own lives.
Grade 10s will first explore the MYP eAssessment environment simply to understand what it looks and feels like, no stress, no stakes, before moving into our unit on teenage mental health.
Grade 11s are getting to know the Diploma properly, unpacking the expectations of each paper and the structure they will need to thrive.
For Grade 12s, the pace is already picking up, with an intensive month of preparation ahead for their final Individual Oral.
I am also really looking forward to seeing many of you at our Parent Information Evening, where I will be sharing more about the MYP, how it works, what makes it distinctive, and how we can work together to support students through it.
And that brings me to the thought I would love us to carry into this year:
Choose to ask questions and explore the unknown
What if success did not begin with knowing the answer, but with having the courage to ask the question?
“I don’t know yet.”
“Why?”
“What if?”
“Could there be another way?”
Those are not signs of weakness. They are the beginnings of learning.
As MYP Coordinator, that is what excites me most about being back. The MYP is not designed to create students who simply collect answers. It asks them to notice, question, connect, challenge, reflect, and act. Curiosity takes courage because sometimes it means admitting we do not know, changing our minds, or getting something wrong before we understand it better.
So this year, I hope we encourage our students to be brave enough to wonder out loud. To ask the extra question. To follow an idea a little further. To stay curious even when learning becomes difficult.
Because we cannot possibly know yet what questions they will need to answer in their future.
But we can help them become the kind of people who are not afraid to ask them.
Enjoy the long weekend, and I look forward to seeing many of you very soon!
Warm wishes,
Miss J