Part Two

Issue 5
Vol 8
Part Two
Now that the exams are over, our Grade 1 to 9 students can
officially stop eating so many sweets, watching so much TV and
texting their friends night and day. Sounds rather strange, I
know, but all will become clear as you read through this month’s
post-exam issue of Da Vinci News. It’s also clear that our
PTA certainly knows what’s good for us when it comes to giving
us a pre-exam brain boost and the students also know the best
way to let off some post-exam steam.
Whilst the post-exam relief still echoes through the Grade 1 to 9
classes, we must not forget that Semester two marks the official
exam season for our Grade 10 to 12 students who will be
taking their IGCSE and A-Level exams over the coming
months. Our Grade 12 students are also eagerly awaiting their
university offers and face the exciting challenge of deciding which
offers to accept and which to decline.
So, as we move into the second part of this school year, I would
like to wish you all much success. And whether you are working
towards Checkpoint, LAMDA, IGCSE or A-Level exams,
don’t forget that Grade 5 are always on hand with a rather
unconventional batch of revision trips, our PTA will be armed
and ready with more free brain boosters and the Student Council
is working hard to make sure that plenty of steam can be let off
when the exams have all finished.
Have a great second semester!
Mr Stanley
Toys of the past
Post-Exam Skate-Off
Unusual Revision Tips
Theatre in Dutch
BBC Public Speaking Awards
(Fruit) Salad Days
January 2013
Toys Of The Past
What an exciting morning Grade 1 had on Friday the 18th of January... For weeks they had been
learning about toys from the past. They read books, talked about photos and found out lots of
interesting facts using the computer before finally getting the chance to see them in real life… and
even have a play with some of them! They really couldn't wait for their trip to the Toy Museum in
Mechelen. After a bus and train ride the tour started with old dolls, puppets and teddy bears before
moving on to popular toys. Do you remember Monchichis, Viewmasters or Slinkies? Or maybe
Beyblades, Gogos and Pokémon all ring a bell? If you would like to see an amazing replica of Pieter
Bruegel's 'Kinderspelen', the Toy Museum is definitely the place to go. You can actually step inside the
picture frame and experience how children played back in the 1500s.
Revision Tips
This month’s Middle School assembly was held by Grade 5 who offered all the other students a rather
unusual selection of revision tips including watching TV and YouTube clips, consuming lots of sweets
and sugary drinks, phoning friends and texting whilst studying. With good guys and bad guys, the aim
of Grade 5’s pantomime-style assembly was to get the Middle School students to think carefully about
the kind of distractions that can prevent them from preparing well for exams. Thankfully, the good
guys won the day, consigning these tips to the list of all the things you shouldn’t do when trying to
revise properly. Middle School assembly is also an important occasion for celebrating success and
personal achievements. Many congratulations to Zoë , Anudar, Rushvi, Abhishek, Shikha, Luis and
Lukas for receiving Middle School Commendation certificates.
Da Vinci news
BBC Speaking Awards 2013
Four of our Upper School students are currently
working hard to prepare for the first round of the
BBC Public Speaking Awards which will be held
in Ghent on 23rd February. The competition
gives students the opportunity to express their
opinions to a young audience, who like
themselves, are facing questions about their own
lives and their hopes for the future.
The students meet every Monday after school to
write, practise and review their presentations. Ben
Vaughan’s speech attempts to define happiness and what exactly it is that makes us happy. Heer Shah
is exploring the more materialistic issue of why having more makes us want to have more whilst Luka
Mazzanti is taking on the meaty issue of globalisation. Jake Vaughan will also be participating in this
year’s competition following his narrow defeat in the semi-finals last year. Jake has his sights firmly set
on a place in this year’s final and is going all out to prepare his speech about happiness.
We wish all four students much success in the first round and look forward to publishing more
updates in following issues of Da Vinci News.
Post-Exam Skate-Off
What better way is there to mark the end of exams than an afternoon of fast-paced sport! This is
exactly what our Grade 5 to Grade 9 students did after they had handed in their very last exam papers
for the Semester 1 exam session. The students headed off to the ice rink in Deurne where they had a
great afternoon of skating and not having to think about anything more than staying upright! Like the
exams, some students coped better than others, but practice definitely paid off and by the end of the
afternoon, just about everyone managed to keep their balance and have a lot of fun.
Da Vinci news
Theater in het Nederlands
Two students on their own in a class— a girl and a boy. Each in a
separate corner of the room wearing a set of donkey ears. But what
exactly is this strange situation all about? Are they angry? Are they in
trouble with a teacher? And where are all the other children?
Grades 3 to 5 went in search of answers to all these questions when
they went to see Fast Forward’s recent production of ‘Hi Ha’, a play
in Dutch produced especially for children who are learning Dutch as
an additional language.
For many of our students, this was the first theatre production that
they have seen in Dutch and many commented about the fact that
they understood so much.
(Fruit) Salad Days
Everyone knows how important it is
to prepare well for exams… study
carefully, plan well and take enough
breaks...
However, the Da Vinci PTA wanted
to go one step further and make sure
that the students had plenty of
vitamins in the run-up to the exams
by offering free fruit salad packed
with plenty of brain fuel!
Winter Disco
Forthcoming Events
11 - 17 Feb
8 Feb
19 Feb
20 Feb
26 Feb
4 March
A great way to keep warm when it’s cold outside!
Da Vinci news
Spring Break
Carnival
Valentine’s Day
Free Film Forum
PTA Free Soup
KG3 trip to the garage
MS Cultural Day - Mechelen
US Cultural Day - Liège
LS Nature Trip to Kalmthout
More information about these events
will follow closer to the date.