Fond memories!

And so Upper Primary finally says goodbye… After a long and bumpy road we can say that we really have made the best of our last time together. With some more exciting memories to look back to, everyone is now finally ready for a well-deserved summer holiday. We have a lot of pupils starting new adventures, and while they are certainly ready for it, we also know that we will all miss each other a lot.

Luckily enough, we have been able to do more outside school again the last few months. As part of our IPC-unit, we cycled to a village near Ghent, Drongen, and we visited STAM, the city museum of Ghent, whilst further exploring the history and architecture of our beloved city. We also spent a fun sports day at the Blaarmeersen and at the end of the school year, UP participated in the all-school event, the ‘ISG Wacky Olympics’. We are so happy that we were able to do these things together!

In the classroom we have further investigated many aspects of architecture and city planning during the IPC-unit ‘Building a Village’. Pupils enjoyed making concrete, testing properties of materials (fair testing in focus) and researching different aspects about life in a village. They both looked more closely at remote villages as a part of their geography learning, and found out more about the history of Ghent. They had fun when they presented their history research in front of their classmates with a role play.

In Dutch class, pupils have prepared themselves as much as possible for the future. We wish all the best to the students starting in a Dutch school and for the students moving to another country, we hope that they will find a way to keep in touch with Dutch. In their assessment portfolio, pupils have a small booklet in which they look back at the Dutch class this school year: their classmates, teachers, their favourite class activities (Weerwolven!), etc.

At the end of the school year, all students have taken home their learning materials. Pupils have finalised workbooks and have also taken the end-of-year test in different subjects and handed in their last pieces of work for marking. They have their Assessment Portfolio with some important work and also the compliments they gave each other. It is really nice to browse these portfolios and see the progress since the start of the school year.

One of the last things Upper Primary pupils put in their Assessment Portfolios was a poem. Pupils chose to write different types of poems for this task. Some focused on writing rhyming poems, while others thought more about syllables and rhythm. Some chose to write their poems in the shape of a house, others again to write more symbolic poem where a house represents other things in life. Regina shared her poem during graduation at Senior Assembly, where her house poem encouraged us to use Adaptability when thinking about changes that await us all in the future. All year 6 participated in the beautiful graduation ceremony – decorating the hall, welcoming parents, hosting the event, playing the violin and making sure everyone could hear what was said. We mustn’t forget the presentation about the Pear Comics! All year 5/6 pupils sang in front of parents to wave off. Many things taking place, and there was an energizing buzz around the school that was lovely to see! We hope to have more of these events like this next school year!

We hope you enjoy the pictures attached. Again, we have so many fond memories of every pupil. Also for teachers, it is not easy  to say good-bye to so many special pupils, but we treasure all the good memories and hope to see you all in the future!