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I hope you are enjoying your summer and gathering plenty of “how I spent my summer” moments. This Annual Fund update is a glimpse into ‘how we spent our spring’ and touches on some of the stories you helped create with your donation to our Annual Fund. We are already busy preparing for the upcoming school year and planning new opportunities for our students to discover, create and share their stories. Thank you for your continued commitment to our students and our school. I look forward to hearing your stories when we return this fall.
Conor Jones Head of School
Inch by Inch, Row by Row After learning about plants in the third semester, the Grade 3 students brought their Junior Kindergarten Reading Buddies out to the garden at the Junior School to put their green thumbs to the test. They spent an afternoon getting their hands dirty and planting a butterfly garden, a vegetable garden, and an herb garden. The students learned about the different types of plants, tasted herbs, dug, sowed, mulched and watered to create a beautiful garden. This collaboration between the students, the Gardening Committee (made up of parents and teachers), and Evergreen, was a result of your generous donations to the Annual Fund.
Right: Students tend to the garden
Ready to Roll The Grade 9 Integrated Canadian Experience (ICE) programme culminates in a documentary film showcase of their Challenge Week adventures. This year, thanks to generous donations to the Head’s Initiative Fund, we purchased five documentary film kits. These kits include a HD video camera, boom-mic, field recorder, and all the necessary equipment for a field documentary team. These ‘docu-kits’ allowed teams of students to generate high quality raw footage which they then edit in the new Mac Lab. To watch this year’s documentary films scan the QR code.
Curtain Call The Coliseum, otherwise known as the Senior School gym, is home to many memorable moments for our entire community; from game-winning baskets to graduation and from theatre to concert hall, the space meets many needs. Thanks to your generous donations to the Annual Fund, we have improved these facilities with new drapes, sound mixer, wireless microphone kits and handheld microphones. These purchases, alongside this year’s Grade 12 graduation gift of omni-directional speakers, help us transform our gym into a space appropriate for musical performances, plays and conferences, such as our annual TEDx event. Thank you for helping us showcase our student athletes, dramatists, artists and competitors.
New Design & Technology Lab for MYP Our students’ creativity now has a new home and tools to help them transform their innovative ideas into reality. Through generous donations from the Annual Fund we acquired new equipment for sawing, drilling, cutting and gluing to encourage our budding designers and engineers. Now the work benches are filled with wooden toys bound for an orphanage, Lego robots on the way to inter-school competition and furniture made from recycled material. With the lab in place, the Design and Tech programme has great things in store for our Middle School students.
Left: Middle School students learning to use tools
Postcard Project We have access to many of the preeminent artists in Toronto and Canada thanks to our Annual Fund. This year, Middle School students welcomed playwright David S. Craig, the founder of Roseneath Theatre, which specializes in theatre for young audiences. Mr. Craig led workshops with our students and curated a short story writing contest. Students were invited to submit to a short story that fit on a postcard. Connecting professional writers and artists with our students brings a new and unique perspective into the classroom. To read the winning postcard, scan the QR code.
Right: Mr. Craig leading the workshop
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Visiting Artists In May, led by Visiting Artist Paul Butler, students from Grades 4, 5 and 6 gathered together at the Senior School to experiment with the wonderfully messy art of collaging. The students worked collaboratively to create unique artworks during this ‘collage party’. This creative and hands-on event is one of the first in our new Visiting Artist Programme, which welcomes artists into the school to implement special projects and mentor students in all of the art disciplines. This initiative nurtures our students’ creativity and gives them the chance to discover different art forms.
Right: Students enjoying the collage party
Tickling Ivories The Junior School Music Department can always be counted on to bring lovely melodies and enthusiastic spirit to the halls of the school. It is now also home to a beautiful new digital piano! The piano will be used in daily music classes, at assemblies and special events. This new addition to the Junior School Music Department is a result of your donations to the Arts Fund.
Left: Using the new piano to teach
Annual Benefit The York School hosted our first Annual Benefit on May 11, 2012. It was an incredible evening with over 320 York parents and friends in attendance, and $90,000 raised to support the Annual Fund. This event would not have been possible without the generous support of parent volunteers and partners in our community. Partners like Sole Power Productions, the incredibly generous entertainment sponsor, brought amazing dance acts and lively music to get our parents out on the dance floor! To see images from the event, scan the QR code.
Getting Energized This year’s Grade 11 students took on an ambitious project; they created new and improved Energy Profiles for the Province of Ontario as part of their investigation. The Annual Fund made it possible for students to tour the wind turbine on the CNE grounds and participate in workshops on solar and wind power. Special thanks to York Alumnus Andy Keith, President of Solray Energy, York Parent Greg Kiessling, Chairman of Bullfrog Power, and York staff Chuck Wiley and Jamie Holcomb, Nuclear Chemists and TREC Education Facilitators, whose expertise as guest speakers in the classroom was essential to the project’s success.
Left: Alumnus Andy Keith, President of Solray Energy, speaks to students
The Courthouse Art Project On May 31, a group of Junior School students, their parents, representatives from the Board of Directors, and administration were in court. Fortunately, they were there to unveil the artwork The York School donated to the Superior Court of Justice, Family Court. Individual pieces from Grades 2 and 3 now decorate the courthouse walls. In addition, a donation to the school’s Annual Fund supported the creation of an original work. This large mural of acrylic paint and modeling clay, made collaboratively with our Junior School students, brightened up the hallway. This permanent display showcases The York School and our young artists while also giving back to our community.
Summer 2012
You &York Annual Fund Donor Report