You + York Fall 2015

YOU+ YORK

GUEST SPEAKERS

CANADIAN SLEDGE HOCKEY PLAYER AND FCD PREVENTION WORKS

GLADIATOR ATHLETICS THE YORK SCHOOL HOSTS SENIOR BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

STUDENT LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE PROGRAMME

DONOR IMPACT FALL / 2015

HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS HELP STUDENTS DISCOVER

INCUBATOR PROJECT: MATH AND SCIENCE IPAD TEACHING TOOLKIT DEEPENS STUDENT LEARNING

www.yorkschool.com

Charitable Registration # 10822 6242 RR0001

THANK YOU FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL All great institutions have great leadership. I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about you; the leadership you exemplify through your generous donations. Your contribution is a major part of what makes us a great school.

On behalf of the entire York School community, I thank you.

Annual giving funds are unique as they meet needs we cannot forsee. We pride ourselves on taking advantage of the opportunities around us in this great city, and on being progressive in our approach to education. Some of these opportunities cannot wait until next year’s budget. When my teachers ask to investigate better pedigogical and teaching practices, I’m pleased to be able to support them through the Annual Fund. When an opportunity to see a brilliant show at a gallery presents itself on a moment’s notice, our faculty are empowered to take advantage of these situations through your gifts to the Annual Fund. As we know, technology moves quickly and we have been able to stay on top of it. Now, this year, due to your donations and the Annual Fund, we are writing reviews, not waiting for them – we are leading not following.

Two years ago we created the incubator project system that allows our teachers to trial new equipment, progamming and teaching strategies – all of which are directly supported by the Annual Fund. If successful, the budget for these projects

is allocated in subsequent years. Your gifts allow us to be nimble and meet the needs of our students today.

Thank you for your generosity, as always.

Your donations directly impact the quality of education for your children today.

Sincerely,

Conor Jones Head of School

YOU+

YORK 1 | FALL / 2015 YOU + YORK

50 ANNIVERSARY was an exciting year in history: Canada replaced the Union Jack with the Maple Leaf as the official flag; the Beatles’ Eight Days a Week went to number one on the charts; The Sound of Music was the highest grossing film; Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing title; Toronto’s new City Hall was inaugurated; and The York Montessori School opened its doors.

To celebrate this milestone event, on September 26th, 2015 we hosted over 550 students, parents, teachers, school leaders, alumni and friends of the school for a 50th birthday bash. The party included activities for the whole family: carnival games, a bouncy castle, a photo booth, a pop-up York Shop, a lime-ade stand, a delicious barbeque and a very popular ice cream truck. Thanks to the Annual Fund and the York Parents’ Association for helping make this celebration such a success.

The York School

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To continue to mark the occasion, 1320 Yonge Street is now home to a 50th Anniversary gallery to display archive memorabilia as well as an iPad and LCD screen featuring moments from our history.

Thanks to this installation, 300+ people who visited our Open House events were able to learn about our history and get to know our school.

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This year, The York School launched our inaugural IB Diploma Programme Retreat. This event was held at Artscape Youngplace, a community cultural hub located in Toronto’s Queen West neighbourhood.

At the retreat, incoming Grade 11 Diploma Programme students and their parents had the opportunity to hear from recent York School graduates. These alumni spoke about their experience with the IB Diploma Programme and the positive impact it has had on their postsecondary experience.

The day had sessions for parents and students together, as well as separate sessions for parents and students alone. Our Student Services team addressed the importance of finding balance and honing effective time management strategies as an integral aspect of Diploma Programme success.

“There was a tremendous amount of encouragement and support being shared with our kids, which made me feel that they are in such great hands - less to worry about as a parent. I was left feeling less pressure on myself from having to be the motivator for my child’s success.”

- Grade 11 Parent

Our Grade 12 Student Mentors joined in and guided the Grade 11s in sessions on study preparation, organization and test-taking strategies. Grade 11 students then participated in subject-specific workshops, had an introduction to the Extended Essay and an opportunity to discuss the Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) component of the programme. The retreat closed with a guided student reflection.

This event was made possible by donations through the Annual Fund and directly impacted parents, students and alumni.

I liked that we all shared our fears and questions, and felt like we are in the same boat.

ARTSCAPE YOUNGPLACE

IB DIPLOMA RETREAT

- Grade 11 Student 3 | FALL / 2015 YOU + YORK

GUEST SPEAKERS KEVIN REMPEL After becoming a partial parapalegic, Canadian Sledge Hockey player KEVIN REMPEL won Gold at the 2013 Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships and Bronze at the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Thanks to the Annual Fund, Kevin shared his incredible story of overcoming adversity and setting goals with our Middle and Senior School students. Kevin spoke at an assembly about his perseverance and belief in himself, as well as one-on-one with interested students.

“Don’t give up – no matter how hard things are – don’t accept no for an answer.” - Kevin Rempel

FCD PREVENTION WORKS™

In October, FCD PREVENTION WORKS™ visited The York School with help from the Annual Fund. FCD Prevention Works™ is the leading international nonprofit provider of school-based substance abuse prevention services. Specialists from this organization worked with small groups of students from Grade 8 - 12 over the course of two days. They then led special sessions for parents as well as faculty.

For decades, FCD has worked worldwide to provide students and the adults who care for them with the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to make intelligent, healthy choices about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.

“I was extremely impressed by the impact this substance abuse programme had on students and parents. My children (ages 13 and 15) shared that their sessions were the best the school has had on this subject. This programme also encouraged parents to take a good look at the example they are setting, and to be consistent with their messages about substance use and abuse.”

- York School Parent 4 | FALL / 2015 YOU + YORK

GLADIATOR ATHLETICS This past November, The York School co-hosted the CAIS Senior Boys Basketball tournament with Crescent School. The event brought together 20 independent school teams from across the country competing over four days to qualify for five separate divisional finals.

Our boys enjoyed meeting and playing with athletes from all across the country, while our entire community tapped in to watch via a live-streaming broadcast. Over the course of the tournament, the York Livestream channel had over 10,000 views!

Our Senior Boys Basketball team represented The York School with pride while students, faculty, parents and friends cheered on the sidelines – the tournament was a huge success.

Through the generous support of the Annual Fund, this tournament provided an opportunity for The York School to host a national-scale senior tournament and provided excellent exposure for our growing athletics programme.

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STUDENT LEADERSHIP Through a combination of leadership philosophy, structured curriculum and hands-on workshops, The York School’s Student Leadership Institute (SLI) fosters specific skills that help our students discover who they are and unlock their potential.

SLI workshops provide engaging activities, discussion and reflection to build core leadership competencies such as creativity, innovation, self-awareness, communication and problem solving. The programme also develops essential skills such as public speaking, leading meetings and successful interviewing.

Led by internal and outside experts and supported by the Annual Fund, workshops help students improve their approach to strategic planning, effective teamwork and overcoming obstacles on the way to project success. The regular sessions also challenge students to apply their learning to their experiences outside the programme so their new abilities can be tested and refined in real life.

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INCUBATOR PROJECT The York School Incubator is an intiative for academic and pedigogical improvements which was created two years ago through the generousity of the Annual Fund. Now, every year, projects are proposed by our teachers and then go through a testing period to determine whether or not they should be adopted. After being piloted, many of these projects are implement successfully however, more importantly, many of them are discarded.

In 2014/2015, the Annual Fund provided iPads that enabled an exciting professional development and action research project in the Math and Science departments. As part of the Cohort 21 initiative, teachers across the school applied design-thinking as they explored new ways to embed technology in their classes to improve student engagement, understanding and performance. In a shared process of design, each teacher identified a learning enhancement and then developed an iPad-based solution to bring it about. Working with their students, teachers then applied and tested their solution through an iterative process of feedback, reflection and redesign.

Some of the meaningful outcomes include better integration of live interactions with digital collaboration, increased feedback on formative assessments while recording lessons for students to access later, and a flipped classroom model where students access video lessons at home and spend more time in class on problem solving and collaborating with their peers and teacher.

The iPads had an immediate impact on the quality of learning through innovative curriculum design and teacher-student research collaborations.

Learn about the audience for whom you are designing

EMPATHY

Brainstorm and come up with creative solutions

DEFINE

Redefine and focus your question based on your insights from the empathy stage

IDEATE

Return to your original user group and test your ideas for feedback

PROTOTYPE

TEST

Build a representation of one or more of your ideas to show to others

How can the addition of an iPad to The York School teaching toolkit help deepen student learning?

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ANNUAL FUND Your donation makes a difference.

YOU+ YORK

While 90% of operating expenses are covered by tuition, donor support is required for ongoing enhancements that help make The York School a leading International Baccalaureate World School. Most Annual Fund requests come directly from teachers in the classroom, often to support student initiatives, creating an immediate and relevant impact on the experience of current students.

Each year, the Executive Team allocates the Annual Fund in support of inventive solutions around the school in six ‘Impact Areas.’ These areas are: improved student spaces, experts in the classroom, cutting-edge technology, global experiences, innovative teaching and expanded athletic offerings.

Through ongoing support of the Annual Fund, we maintain our commitment to innovation while responding to the needs of our students.

Thank you for supporting the Annual Fund!

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