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Artists taking the Grade 12 Visual Arts course recently completed a unit on “Changing Meaning”, where they explored the concept of recontextualization by taking a magazine clipping and altering its original meaning to tell a new visual story or present a new perspective. The final compositions had to be 2D artwork on paper, using collage, gouache, coloured pencil, pencil, pen, or markers (or a combination!); students incorporated shading, colour, movement, and lines to reframe the meaning of the image they started with.

Here’s a sampling of the results of the project, which encouraged creativity, critical thinking, and an understanding of how images can be manipulated to convey different messages.

Prior to the official start of the school day this morning, our Head of Library and Information Services Ms Mustard ’03 welcomed readers in Grades 3-6 and their parents/caregivers to the Hooked on Books Club! This Junior School co-curricular brings fans of a chosen book together for an engaging discussion over a light breakfast.

This morning’s meeting of Hooked on Books centred around the novel Winnie’s Great War by Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut. It’s an extraordinary wartime adventure seen through the eyes of one of the world’s most beloved bears: Winnie the Pooh! Winnie was a real bear; he was rescued by Captain Henry Colebourn, a Canadian veterinarian, on his way to World War I. Harry named the bear Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. When Harry was sent to the front lines, he left Winnie at the London Zoo for safekeeping; there, Winnie became a favourite of a little boy named Christopher Robin Milne – who inspired his father, A. A. Milne, to create the beloved stories of Winnie the Pooh.

Members of the Hooked on Books Club tied this novel to their learnings about Remembrance Day and discussed the meaningful themes in the book, which include friendship, kindness, courage, bravery, and sacrifice.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our recent Pathways to Primary: Step Inside Grades 1-3 event! This was an opportunity for prospective families to get a sneak peek inside our Junior School classrooms. The event offered a snapshot of the foundational learning our Grades 1, 2, and 3 students engage in daily, as well as a preview of the knowledge and skill development occurring across Grades 4, 5, and 6.

Taken through the classrooms by our Junior School leaders in Grade 6, guests were encouraged to notice and ask about specific areas of learning, such as:

-Grade 1 students using math materials to represent their thinking and engaging in math conversations
-The Grade 2s working on their literacy skills including specific sounds or spelling patterns and using tools such as a sound wall or blending boards
-The Grade 3 class describing their bridge building techniques, including what makes the structures strong enough to hold a heavy load and how they may have adjusted their original designs to make them more stable
-The Grade 4s connecting posture and movement to music; and also describing some of the problem solving required when coding robots
-Grade 5 artists reflecting and giving feedback to their peers as part of their hands-on work, while highlighting their use of varied materials and space within the art room

This all made for an inspiring and engaging morning, as the Junior School showcased the deep learning that occurs each and every day at SCS!

This morning, the full school came together for our Remembrance Day Assembly where we honoured and paid tribute to the Canadians who have served and sacrificed for our freedoms, and those that continue to do so today. Following a moving rendition of In Flander’s Fields by the Senior Choir, students taking the Grade 10 Canadian History course shared several of their classroom learnings with the community, including a closer look at the inequalities faced by Black and Indigenous soldiers. We were also lucky to hear firsthand from Theresa Sapara, who served with the Canadian Armed Forces for 14 years. She reminded us of the human stories behind service - the friendships formed under pressure, the importance of community and having one another’s backs, the sacrifices made often without recognition, and the enduring hope for peace. To conclude, Margaret P. ’29 played The Last Post which was followed by a minute of silence and reflection.