St. John’s was one of four schools invited to a North Atlantic Council simulation at NATO HQ in Brussels. Our 2015 Model NATO team represented the ministers of Estonia, Poland, Italy and Norway. Communiqués were on many topics, including the threat of ISIS, Russia’s recent activity, the Mediterranean refugees issue as a cover for terrorist entry to Europe, the security for NATO countries of energy flow, and cyber security. The latter being a St. John’s Communiqué, and one of only two that passed. The crisis situation was focused on an incident in Estonia so our team found themselves the center … Continue reading High School students shine in simulation at NATO Headquarters

Vendredi dernier, la classe de Français de Mme. Richard est allée au Carrefour pour acheter des timbres et faire les courses de nos mamans. C’était très chouette parce que  c’était différent d’une classe normale et nous avons pu pratiquer notre français. L’expérience a été super  intéressante. Par Les Sixièmes     Continue reading Practicing French outside of school

Hanna and Momoko, 11th grade students and members of the St. John’s golf team, are organizing a golf training for grade 4-6 students this spring. The training takes place on Mondays after school, from March through June. This project is part of Momoko and Hanna’s International Baccalaureate (IB) CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) activities. After the successful launch of this CAS golf activity last fall, the students decided to organize a second session this spring. The training is aimed at beginners or children who have already started playing golf. The golf training is supervised by the proette Naima Ghislain at Golf d’Hulencourt. Thank you … Continue reading High Schoolers introduce younger students to the game of golf

This past Monday, our High school parents had the opportunity to get a hands-on experience of the research skills their high school children are developing in the Middle/High School Library Information Literacy Program. Parents commenting on the workshop found the experience very informative and structured and left packed with information and solutions  regarding the process of writing the extended essay, but also, most importantly, with the confidence of  making a step forward into understanding the International Baccalaureate (IB). Here in the MHS Library we target the development of the research skills necessary for students to meet not only the demands … Continue reading MHS Library Research Workshop Enthusiastically Received by High School Parents

Last weekend, 22 teams of students, staff and alumni played in the annual Tom O’Donnell charity indoor soccer tournament. This tournament is held in memory of former St. John’s student Tom O’Donnell. Tom became ill in March 1997, at 17 years old , with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His ability to use laughter was remarkable during his illness and the pain. The first Tom O’Donnell Cup was organised by his friends fand took place at St. John’s in March 1998. On Friday night, students from grade 5-8 enjoyed the Junior Tom O’Donnell with 8 teams, all having great fun and displaying excellent sportsmanship. … Continue reading Students, staff and alumni raise funds for cancer research through soccer

On March 13, High School students took part in a presentation and workshop led by Youth Ambassadors from ONE, an international NGO of more than six million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease. The question of the day was: “In what world do you want to live in 2030?” The goal: to involve young people in development work and show that they have a voice that should be heard. Lucy Hunt, ONE Youth Ambassador, said of the day at St. John’s: “It was really interesting for us to hear what the students think about development and … Continue reading HS students discuss “In what world do you want to live in 2030?”

MS a célébré l’ouverture de la semaine de la Francophonie en animant l’assemblée du vendredi 13 mars.  Ce fut un franc succès. Les 6èmes ont charmé le public par quelques scènes du Petit Chaperon Rouge de Charles Perrault.  Les 7èmes ont créé des morceaux de slam qu’ils ont déclamés en musique ; ils ont également joué sur les mots de la langue française.  Les 8èmes ont interprété des dialogues en jouant sur la salutation « ça va ? ».  Sans oublier la chanson française partagée par tous et accompagnée par un orchestre live. Bref, un grand moment de Francophonie, bien … Continue reading La Semaine de la Francophonie

This is the trip we make with our more senior advanced students.  Not only have they studied Dutch on an advanced level  for the past three years but they also got acquainted with the Dutch culture.  It is actually the end of a cycle. In 8th grade, they practice Dutch in Leuven.  In 9th grade, they organize a day trip to Brugge in Dutch and the last part is a cultural trip to Amsterdam.  We went to the Rijksmuseum, cycled all over Amsterdam, visited het Vondelpark, went to the smallest house along the canals, saw the Anne Frank house, went … Continue reading Dutch students take cultural trip to Amsterdam

Each year, the European Central Bank (ECB) organizes an economics competition for International and European schools in the 19 countries of the euro area. St. John’s fielded two senior teams this year and both teams passed the first round in November.  Out of 120 teams, 60 made it through to the second round. We have just learned that one St. John’s team (Rémi, Adrian, Simon, Elise and Alexander) has passed the second round and has been invited  to the finals at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt mid-April.  Only 6 teams have made it to this third and final round. The students are … Continue reading St. John’s team one of only six to make it to final of the ECB competition!

Our sports teams are preparing for the end of season International Schools Sports Tournaments (ISSTs) which take place tomorrow through Saturday. Our swim team travels to The Hague, our girls basketball team to Vienna and our boys basketball team stays on campus for a home tournament, hosting 7 teams from across Europe. Our boys basketball team is going for the championship and could really use your support so come and cheer them on: Thursday at 9:30 and 13:30, Friday at 10:45 before the quarterfinal stage starts on Friday afternoon. We know our teams will represent St. John’s very well and … Continue reading Good luck to our sports teams this week!

Last spring five of us traveled to Luxembourg to complete our Gold Award Expedition. We hiked around Luxembourg for 4 days, camping and cooking for ourselves. For Gold Award we had to decide to do our expedition outside of Belgium, we chose Luxembourg thinking it would be flat however this was not the case! Although it was a beautiful countryside, we often compared it to The Shire, there were a lot of steep hills which was very challenging when carrying our 20kg packs. However, this challenge taught us to persevere, and make the best out of a bad situation. Everyone … Continue reading The International Award teaches students perseverance and teamwork

The Global Issues Network, or GIN, is an organization founded in 2003 at the International School of Luxembourg. It is based off of a book called High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them. Since its founding it has spread to over 500 schools around the world, including St. John’s. At St. John’s, the club works to combat global issues at a local level. The past few years the club has worked to make the school more sustainable. To do this, the club has started many projects. Some of these include trying to get a spider plant in … Continue reading Global Issues Network club combats global issues at a local level

St John’s High School students are currently involved in a darts tournament. There are four leagues of five players – each featuring a teacher and a seeded player. We are near the end of the league matches and should be starting the quarter-finals next week. Simon is one of the organisers and here he is modelling the posture of a darts player. Darts really took off with financial support from the Boosters Club – without whom this would not have been possible. A trophy will be awarded to the winner – watch this space to see how the completion develops. … Continue reading The dart league for teachers and students reaches its final stages

The Kindergarten students created their own gym circuit in Physical Education class. They drew the circuit and coached their class peers with clear instructions, modelling and safety rules. Here are the comments from the students after the class: Jessica: “J’aime bien jouer dans le tunnel parce que il est très longue.” John: “I like the round blocks, wheel shape, because I like to roll in them. I like to make some soup with the coloured balls. I like the jungle.” Samantha: “I like the orange blocks because it has the shape of a car.” Enzo: “Moi, j’aime bien jouer avec les ballons.” Myrthe : “Moi, j’aime … Continue reading Kindergarten students create their own gym circuit

On Friday, the teaching staff and Mr. Lowney presented Character Strength Certificates during an Assembly to the Middle School students at St. John’s.  Over the past term, the Middle School teaching staff were intentional in observing and recognizing specific positive character strengths in their students. Your character is what makes you the person you are. It is about how you relate to other people and the world around you. In Advisory the discussion of character strengths are being explored. Character strengths are different from talents or skills or knowledge.  Character strengths include curiosity, bravery, kindness, humor, hope and modesty, and … Continue reading Middle School teachers recognize students’ character strengths

Tamira Gunzburg is currently Brussels Director at The ONE Campaign, an international advocacy & campaigning organisation fighting extreme poverty. Tamira came to St. John’s last Friday to speak with 12th grade students in IB Economics about economic development challenges such as debt, overseas development assistance that confront less economically developed countries.  She also spoke about the “good news” coming out of developing countries and how young people can get involved to effect change. By Victoire D’Agostino, HS Social Studies Department Coordinator and IB and AP Economics teacher   Continue reading Students learn about economic development challenges