News from the School

In der P2 wurde es tierisch weihnachtlich. Heimlich wurden für die Eltern zu Weihnachten Ornamente aus Holz gebastelt. Jede Schülerin und jeder Schüler suchte sich ein Waldtier aus und schrieb dazu einen Bericht, der später sogar vertont wurde. Die kurzen Aufnahmen wurden mitsamt einer Tierzeichnung und einem selbst gestalteten Plakat auf einen QR-Code übertragen, welcher auf das Ornament geklebt wurde. Das von den Kindern gemalte Tier wurde später mit dem Brandmalkolben auf das Holz gebrannt. Damit die Ornamente auch unter dem Weihnachtsbaum hübsch aussehen, haben die Kinder weihnachtliche Geschenktüten gebastelt.

On November 22nd, the students of the classes SEK3-G and SEK3-P visited the Berufsmesse Zürich together with Ms Engstler. It was an informative convention and my colleagues and I were able to learn a lot. It was exciting to get to know the different professions better. Although you may already know what you want to become, it is possible that this career fair can change your mind again. A whole building was filled with different companies stands therefore it was possible to get to know different job fields. On each stand there were people you might talk to and ask about their work life and experience. They let us know what’s exciting about working at their place, showed us some technology and informed us about their job position. All in all we received a lot of valuable information. Unfortunately my preferred job field was not well represented therefore I did not get all the information I hoped to get but I still had a great time and hope the others did too.

On the 16th of December the IB students hosted a Winter Formal dance for the College students. With close to 100 of our 130 upper college students attending the dance it was definitely a huge success. The students seemed to love the idea of a fancy-dress evening and went out of their way to get as dressed up as possible. Several of the boys even rented suits for the evening so they would look their best. 

“The school dance we had planned turned out to be a really fun and successful event. The students seemed to have needed some event at school for interacting with the other classes and this was the perfect opportunity for this.” –Linus IB year 2 student 

The dance was an eagerly awaited event. Some of my students have been asking for a school dance for the past 2 years and once the IB students announced it were constantly asking questions. In preparation for the dance, a group of boys even asked for an extra sports lesson devoted to dance. In 17 years of teaching, I have never heard a fifteen-year-old boy ask to learn dance during their sports lesson. 

The dance committee, led by the IB students, worked furiously throughout the day to transform the school library into a Christmas themed dance club, with disco ball and light show, and the hallway just outside into a festive lounge with tables for the snacks and drinks.  

The dance kicked off at 18:30 and as is typical with most high school dances the students were hesitant to dance at first. This is completely understandable since, for many of them, this was their first opportunity to dance in front of their peers. After a little encouragement from some of the female students the dance floor slowly began to fill up. It was a pleasure to see the students come out of their shells, and although hesitant, take a risk and start dancing. There were times when almost all 100 students were on the dance floor at the same time. When the dance finally finished at 22:00 the students were begging for it to keep going. It was an enjoyable evening for all. 

Although the experience was done as part of a student project, experiences like this are not like ones you would normally find coming from the classroom. The winter formal dance was one of several CAS experiences the IB students initiated this year, with many more to come.  

CAS is a core of the IB program and stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service. CAS allows students to undertake experiences they wouldn’t have in the normal classroom. The students are encouraged to try new things and gain experiences in the broader world.  

This event was a huge undertaking for the 5 students who initiated, planned, and implemented the dance. Before the dance could even begin the students had to collaborate and make decisions and divide up the work on every aspect. They began by surveying the student body to see what type of social event would be best. Then they had to set a budget, and plan fundraising events to rent material and buy decorations, food and drinks for the dance. They had to create a dance committee of volunteer students, without whom they could not have prepared everything on time and manage these students on their own. The students are guided by a teacher along the way, but all final decisions and organisational methods are left to the students.  

“I think the school dance was a great success. Even though we were a little under time pressure when it came to the organising and planning and building up of the whole thing, we made it work and gave the college students a great experience.” – Nora IB year 1 student 

The dance was a huge success because of the hard work of the IB students and all their volunteers and I can’t wait to see what the do next. 

Having the Christmas Concert at Fraumünster in Zürich was – I admit this – my dream. But I could not imagine how wonderful it would be. Thank you for being there and being such a great audience for your children and the staff of SIS Zürich. Keep your fingers cross we will have our concert there again this year and the years to come.