For one Language Arts (LA)/English as an Additional Language (EAL) period every two-week cycle, Middle School students are reading in the library’s silent room. The aim of the bi-weekly reading period is to promote independent reading among students, by giving students a chance to choose their own text, and read comfortably for an extended period of time. Additionally, supporting more independent reading time enhances literacy skills and develops academic vocabulary. We have observed that more students are reading more during their free time, talking more about what they are reading, and insisting on having more time to read in class. by … Continue reading Middle School Language Arts promotes reading

The St. John’s International School’s Model NATO team was invited to a North Atlantic Council PAC simulation along with three other regional schools. The theme of the simulation was ‘Democracy, Privacy and Security ‘. Our school was proud to represent Ministers from the U.K., Germany, Greece, Poland and Estonia and debated a variety of topics, including cyber threats and power supply security. Students had the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of NATO and International relations issues in some very exciting debates. Continue reading St. John’s team participates in NATO simulation

Each year, the St. John’s community comes together to remember Tom O’Donnell, a former student who passed away to cancer in 1998, by organizing an indoor soccer tournament in his honor. This past Friday night, the “Junior Tournament” was held … Continue reading Great weekend of indoor soccer for charity!

During Student Led Conferences the Grade 1 students had been asked to estimate, with the help of Mom and Dad, “How many cookies are in the jar?” and to record their answers. The real inquiry happened today when we had to decide how we were going to find the answer. The children collaborated in finding ways to count, prove the number they came up with, and agree on totals. They then had the additional challenge of adding all the numbers together!  It was a fascinating day full of math inquiry! Continue reading How many cookies are in the jar?

Grade 7 students have been learning about Greek mythology by investigating the roles of gods and goddesses, examining the structure and register of a Greek myth and exploring new ideas for stories. As a culminating project for the unit, students wrote their own myths, in which they invented new characters, morals and story lines related to their interests. Some of the news ideas included “how dogs were created”, “how the stars were thrown into the sky” and “how dreams came into our minds”. The students presented their stories to the class in Greek fashion, by wearing togas. By Ashleigh Meyer, Language … Continue reading Students write their own Greek myths

Join us for the opening of the IB Visual Art Show on Friday, April 15 from 18:00-20:00 in the Greene Gallery. The annual auction in aid of The Rahula Trust will start at 19:00. The exhibition features a selection of their work for the IB examination in a wide variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking, digital photography and stop motion animation, fashion design, ceramics, sculpture, model-making and work in mixed media. We invite you to celebrate their achievement and wish them well for the future especially those students who are planning to study art and design further and pursue creative and academic careers … Continue reading IB Visual Art Show and Auction on April 15

St. John’s has a very successful track record in the Generation Euro competition of the European Central Bank. St. John’s won the event in 2014 and finished 3rd in the finals in 2015. All three St. John’s teams made it to the second round of this year’s competition. It has now been announced that team Micromaniacs, made up of Victoria, Soraya, Rushil, Pierre-Louis, has been awarded a special prize for creativity: “The jury decided this year to award a special prize for creativity to Team Macromaniacs (St. John’s International School). It means that, even though they are not one of … Continue reading European Central Bank awards special prize to St. John’s

The 5th grade students have started meeting with their mentors who will be helping to guide them through the incredible learning experience of the PYP Exhibition, which will take place on April 28. The mentors play a vital role as … Continue reading Fifth graders are preparing for the Exhibition

What better way to understand a culture and a time in history than to take on a role in the first person?  This is exactly what students in 6th grade are doing in their Social Studies class.  The second semester is all about the middle ages from different parts of the world.  Currently, students are learning why the Islamic Empire was so successful and in such stark contrast to Medieval Europe by re-enacting the story of Mohammed and his message with costumes and an animating script that summarizes their understanding of the culture’s beginnings.  Here the students model some of … Continue reading Sixth graders dive into the Middle Ages

It was encouraging to see so many parents taking an active involvement in their child’s learning at the Student Led Conferences on Wednesday this week. Every student has worked on an individual portfolio of their work in order to illustrate their learning journey so far and demonstrate their progress. Each homeroom had interactive activities and displays for the students to work through with their parents. The atmosphere on the day was very positive especially as many students took the opportunity to share some elements of their special subjects such as French, Art, Music and PE programs with their parents. The … Continue reading Students present their work in student-led conferences

The writers club is an amazing way to relax and express yourself after a long week of school.  Devoted writers gather together after school on Fridays to connect, to write, to share, to inspire one another. Each session starts with some social time, and then the writers settle into their own work for a focused period of 30-40 minutes. The sessions end with sharing, celebration, discussion of the writing, and a writers’ game….that often creates interesting and weird stories. It is an hour each week where we realize how lucky we are to put pen to paper….or finger-tips to keyboard…to … Continue reading Join the Middle School writers club

Students of Food Design (a grade 6 & 7 rotation course of 12 weeks) are learning how to modify recipes and how to make classic desserts and snacks more healthy.  These students in groups of 2-3 have been shown a basic recipe for an apple crumble, and have had to make decisions about the ideal taste, texture and appearance to improve it. Some of the choices they made included changing the fruit, or adding a colourful accent fruit such as blueberries, strawberries or cranberries (dried or fresh) and changing the topping to add nutrients, additional crunch or interest.  I am … Continue reading Students learn to Design with Food in grade 6

Product Design In the first Design Tech project this year, students were asked to design a table-top container to hold art supplies.  Why did we choose to design this type of object? Students need quick and easy access to art supplies and materials, so why not have a table-top container ready for access? As opposed to the far away storage cabinets? Students worked in groups to brainstorm ideas, create technical drawings, and build prototypes for their table-top container. Building Prototypes Design Tech students are exploring the fundamentals of building prototypes. Students examined how the form and function of design objects … Continue reading Middle School students get creative in Design Technology

As part of our Unit of Inquiry “Work Systems That Work”, all about the world of work, the students have each spent a day at their parent’s place of employment finding out how their jobs are connected to other people. They have interviewed their parent’s work colleagues to discover how people work together in teams. As a grade, we have also been watching “Junior Apprentice” and talking about how teams organize themselves to carry out a task. The main idea of this unit has been to give the students ownership of a project so that they feel they have been … Continue reading “Work systems that work” in grade 4

This year, an Elementary School after school orchestra was formed. It consists of three violins, one flute, a saxophone, one trumpet and four recorders. The members of the orchestra are practicing Vivaldi’s “Spring” and a song called “Chocolate” which they will perform at the Spring concert on March 23 and at the ES Easter assembly on March 24. It has proven a great motivation for students to learn an instrument to be able to play with other children in the orchestra. Continue reading Meet the Elementary School orchestra

A group of the Elementary School student council members launched the “Relay Recess” event with a presentation at assembly to explain how every student can be part of this fun day and help to make a difference in the lives of children with cancer. St. John’s will be the first Elementary school in Belgium to hold the event. “Welcome to the new, exciting, awesome, excellent, fabulous Relay Recess event!  It’s a unique event that’s going to happen on Friday the 13th May and everyone will be there, even if they don’t want to walk or run on the track. There … Continue reading Student council organizes “Relay Recess” event

Over the past several weeks, the 6th graders have been working on a big project – the biography project. We each chose someone to study, read their biography, then did each of the three parts of the project: a short essay, a PowerPoint presentation, and an interactive oral activity called the tea party. At the beginning of the tea party activity, we were escorted by our teachers into the Audiovisual Room of the library. The tables were set with refreshments for the students, in character, to sit down, eat, and talk. At first, we each introduced ourselves, saying who we … Continue reading The 6th grade biography tea party

What an exciting 100 days it has been in First Grade!  Can you believe we are more than half way through the year? We celebrated this day by bringing in collections of 100 things.  We sorted and counted them in different ways to be sure we had 100.  We counted shapes, graphed and shared a special 100 snack. Hip Hip Hooray for the 100th day! Continue reading Students celebrate 100 days of Grade 1

At St. John’s we feel passionate about our guiding statements and what they represent. We would like to share the meaning behind our three core values of Companionship, Respect and Integrity: Companionship—the gentleness to befriend and strength to accompany True teaching only takes place when there is a strong sense of shared experience and companionship. This is true of our entire St. John’s family: our faculty and staff, our parents and alumni. Education is the joined effort of many, of home and school, of the teaching team, and of the supporting community. Integrity—being true to ourselves, to each other, and to … Continue reading The meaning behind the St. John’s values