What are you feeling most passionate about right now?
EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion), our building purchase and the possibilities of an outdoor covered space – field house

What’s the most challenging/enjoyable/difficult part of your work?

Challenge – the pandemic’s impact on our parent community – very few opportunities to connect with each other

What is one good thing that has come out of COVID for you?

COVID has made us stronger and more versatile and ultimately better educators as we are challenged to differentiate for all learners.

What’s your teaching philosophy?

It is not so much what students learn, rather that they learn to think.

Do you have a favourite pet story?

While living in Dubai we had many “desert dogs” (strays) become part of our family and one was very much like a fox. I would come home from work and find that she had burrowed deep under our house and I was constantly filling in these amazing tunnels that she would dig.

“Things Teachers Say” – what’s your word?

Energy!

How to you feel about Mondays at Island Pacific School?

Mondays are the most important day of the week, without them we cannot fulfill our mission

Tell us about the value of school excursions

Excursions and expeditions are truly my favourite part of the IPS experience. Learning in nature and experientially is so powerful.

What’s your experience at report card time?

Report card time is a time that I always need to remind myself that students are so much more than grades or numbers. I am also reminded that our current grading and reporting systems are inherently flawed and I long for the day when we are not bound to such arcane practice.

The post Feel Good Friday: Scott Herrington appeared first on Island Pacific School.

What are you feeling most passionate about right now?
Starting a sustainability task force for IPS and hoping to get alumni, parents, students and staff to help put together and take part in an action plan to decrease our ecological footprint!

Tell us about the most challenging/enjoyable/difficult part of your work?
Most enjoyable: connecting with the students when we are on excursions, expeditions and outdoor activities – hearing about their lives and sharing stories.

What is one good thing that has come out of COVID for you?
Spending more time with my family and growing much closer to them – I feel so lucky to have them in my life!

What’s your teaching philosophy?
Figure out how to get kids engaged and excited about learning. Show them how magical and fascinating the world is.

Do you have a favourite pet story?
Happens every day when Luna comes to school with me. The kids adore her and she has become a part of the fabric of the school – did you know our sports team is actually the IPS huskies?

“Things Teachers Say” – what’s your word?
“you can’t do that” “get down from there” (pretty much every day).

How to you feel about Mondays at Island Pacific School?
Love Mondays

Tell us about the value of school excursions
School excursions – opportunity for deep learning about their community, environment, themselves and each other. Good things happen when kids have new experiences – they are hard!! But they give us a chance to share how much we really know about each student to the parents.

The post Feel Good Friday: Pam Matthews appeared first on Island Pacific School.

The middle school years were difficult for me and my classmates were trying to figure out who we were and what it was all about.

Many of us lacked confidence and those of us who had an apparent outer confidence lacked self-awareness and what Ted Spear calls ‘warranted self-confidence.’ It was so powerful to feel that our teachers were our co-conspirators in our education. To be able to call them by their first names and feel how much they cared about us as individuals was a great jumping off point for learning. We had a much greater degree of psychological safety than is experienced in most classrooms; our teachers cared about us, our classes were small, and we had such incredible opportunities to bond with our classmates. Bullying just didn’t really manifest itself in an environment where everyone’s humanity was validated and valued. One of the things I am most grateful for are the friendships that I made at IPS, many of which are still going strong 20 years later. Also, at IPS our intellectual curiosity was nurtured. For our Masterworks, we were able to pursue any topic of our choice (our class had a very wide range!). Adults from our community mentored us on our work. It felt like we mattered, and what we cared about mattered.

We needed different things to help us not just survive the middle school years but to thrive. IPS did that for each of us.

As a middle-schooler, I was really motivated by external validation and had an intense fear of failure. IPS gave me the opportunity to look inward instead of outward to develop a sense of self worth. I also had the chance to experiment with different aspects of myself in a safe space. Ted had us write essays with our impressions on excerpts from great writers. One was an excerpt from John Steinbeck. I submitted a really cynical analysis saying that I saw no merit in the excerpt. Instead of receiving a failing grade, like I might have in a traditional educational setting, Ted gave me thoughtful, individualized feedback. He provided me a gentle warning about cynicism and invited me to look deeper at the work I was analyzing. To this day, John Steinbeck is one of my favourite authors.

For me personally, the critical reasoning, philosophy, community service elements of my IPS education helped me decide that I wanted to be a lawyer.

I felt a connection to the written word, a passion for justice, and a desire to gain a skill that would help me give back. The things I learned at IPS gave me a sense of my privilege; we volunteered at a soup kitchen in Vancouver, and we learned about our ecological footprint and how it compared to that of people in other parts of the world. I was interested in other cultures and in forced migration. I was able to pursue those interests through my Masterworks project and through the opportunity to help organize events that highlighted the struggles faced by people fleeing Tibet and Afghanistan. These educational opportunities led me down the path I followed to eventually work as a non-profit immigration lawyer – a career which has given me endless opportunities for personal growth, intellectual challenge, and fulfilment.

One key turning point in my life was the competitive application process to attend Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific. I think I stood out from other candidates because IPS had given me the opportunity to have a much better sense of myself and what I cared about than many other kids my age. IPS had also given me the chance to demonstrate what I was capable of and to take on leadership roles in a safe and supportive setting. That came across in my application and in my interview. Being admitted to the United World College was what launched me into everything that came next, and my IPS experience was what made me a competitive applicant. When I later studied law at Oxford, I was faced with a highly competitive environment that pushed me to the limits of my intellectual abilities and brought me face to face with my own limitations. The resilience I learned at IPS helped me stay strong in the face of that challenge and to come out the other end alive… with my degree!

The mantra of ‘wisdom, courage, and integrity’ that I learned at IPS still serves me.

In my current professional role as a non-profit director and my personal role as a mother, I have to make many difficult decisions. Now that I have a child of my own, I am so hopeful that she will have an opportunity like the one I had at IPS to develop her intellectual curiosity, to explore her creativity, to experience her full humanity, to create deep friendships, and to learn the importance of giving back to her community.

Cristina dos Santos
February 2021

The post Alumni Connect: Cristina dos Santos (class of ’01) appeared first on Island Pacific School.

Kirsten has called Bowen Island home for over twenty five years. She moved here with her family in the late seventies then returned to start her own family in 2004 and hasn’t looked back.

Kirsten started her career in graphic design in 1998 with an award winning interior design agency in Vancouver and ventured out onto her own in 2006. Her design portfolio consists of companies such as Whole Foods Marketplace, Capers Community Markets, Landis Hotel, Bosley’s Pet Food Plus and countless airport retail/food and beverage spaces around the globe.

Kirsten is the proud mama to two beautiful children, wife to a fearless rock climber and the caregiver to a vast menagerie of furry friends. She loves to surround herself in nature, create heirloom art dolls and knit by the fire.

Welcome to Island Pacific School Kirsten, we’re fortunate to have you join our team!

Read more about Kirsten’s work here.

The post Meet Kirsten Degner, Graphic Designer appeared first on Island Pacific School.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17th 7 – 8 PM

RSVP HERE and we’ll be able to send you the Google link.

Meet our teachers and students. See how excited our students are to share their Science Fair experiments.

Science Fair Showcase

Have you ever wondered if different types of bread will go moldy at different rates, or what activities can affect your sleep? Or which masks are the most effective at filtering viruses? These are some of the questions our middle school students in Grades 7 and 8 are asking. Science Fair has become a favourite project for many students (and their teacher) as it gives them a chance to learn about things that they are interested in. By conducting experiments, students learn that they can find the answers to their own questions and it sparks a sense of wonder and curiosity that transfers to other aspects of their lives. Every year the students become excited about their topic. This is a busy time of year, the enthusiasm is infectious and the learning is genuine for the students and their teacher!

Science Fair can be a challenging project as it requires middle school students to complete many steps over a long period of time. It may also be complicated and require some higher level thinking and problem solving.

Some of this year’s topics include: testing the strength of duct tape, the effects of energy drinks on focus and energy, lucid dreaming, the quality of sleep and its effect on well being, the effectiveness of the school sanitizer on the presence of bacteria, and the effects of stress on test scores. Wow – those are some creative and interesting topics!

While the 7’s and 8’s are conducting their experiments, the Grade 6’s will be creating Rube Goldberg machines which they will present via videos at the virtual Science Fair Open House on February 17th.

While our Science Fair will look a little different this year, as it will be held remotely — families, friends and visitors will still be able to see all of the students’ presentations on the evening of February 17th. We are all looking forward to celebrating the creativity and ingenuity of the students.

Which Presentations Will You Choose?

We will be offering two sessions so guests can see a few of the showcase presentations. Take a look at the topics and decide with your family which groups you’ll join during the two sessions. We will share the Google Meet links with everyone who RSVP’s before the Showcase starts.

Session 1 (7:15 – 7:35 pm)   I   Session 2 (7:40 – 8:00 pm)
 
ROOM 1: 
Sam & Ethan – The story of spores: measuring the growth of bread mold.
Matthias – Train of thought: investigating maglev trains.
 
ROOM 2: 
Hannah & Lukas L. – Against the tide: a study of herd instincts in middle school children.
 
Isaac and Cole – The good, the bad and the stressful: Stress and its effect on a skill based task.
 
ROOM 3: 
Finnsson – Noisy kids: an investigation on how to reduce background noise for remote learners.
Cyrus – Skiwaxing: studying ski wax performance on snow.
Finn – Prrrfect experiment: Do cats affect human’s mood?
 
ROOM 4: 
Arthur – Your attention span is worse than a goldfish: a deeper look at how focus can be trained.
Oliver – I forgot my topic: investigating how sleep affects short term memory.
Chloe – You are not always right: Testing the accuracy of brain dominance tests.
 
ROOM 5: 
Adam – A good night’s sleep: a deeper look into the factors affecting sleep.
Max – Until it snaps: a duct tape experiment.
Nicholas – Typical types of toilet paper: investigating the strength of toilet paper.
 
ROOM 6:
Kalan – The school’s dirty secret: investigating the effects of sanitizer on cleaning surfaces.
Vera – Monsters vs monsters: The effect of energy drinks on children.
Olivia – A new gas: a good alternative to a dirty gas.
 
ROOM 7: 
Lukas H. – Have you acid seen the rain? A study of the best way to protect potted plants against acid rain.
Hayden – Coughs for thought: examining the masks we wear today.
Ela – A bubbling question: what makes the best lava lamp.
 
ROOM 8: 
Jenny – Jamming with the plants: is plant growth affected by music?
Anika – To dream or not to dream? Can someone learn to lucid dream?
Eilidh – Hyper-focusing: investigating the effects of ADHD on task focus.

The post Virtual Open House & Science Fair Showcase, Wednesday, February 17, 2021 appeared first on Island Pacific School.

In March, when schools closed their doors and went online, Island Pacific School’s students were in ‘class’ within two days. Through Google Meet and Google Classroom, students had face to face interactions with teachers, their classmates and, in the beginning, an introduction to everyone’s pets!

Throughout the spring, we adapted the schedule to allow for more movement breaks and personal projects, decided on and reported on, by each student. At IPS, the month of June is usually full of celebrations and excursions. We were able to adapt our grade 9 Masterworks presentations to be live streamed and give the students the audience they deserved, complete with a question period from the viewers. Our school wide, three day kayak and camp trip to Gambier went local with kids sleeping at home but hiking and kayaking from Bowen. Rites of Passage was a different celebration than years past, but a car parade and distanced ceremony made our grads feel special.

What does IPS look like now? Similar, but different. We’ve created two cohorts of about 30 students each. Each grade has their own classroom and subject teachers move to them for classes. In common areas and when cohorts mix, like for Morning Stretch and Announcements, all students are masked. Our grade 6 and 9 students kept the mentoring alive and carved pumpkins together for Halloween.

The reality of course, is that more students are staying home for health reasons. We have enabled them to continue with their academics and they can attend classes virtually if need be. Personally, I have had to teach class virtually with my students at desks and myself projected in front of them. Interesting times! If we do need to return to an online or hybrid model, we – both students and staff – are well equipped to do so.

As the song goes, the “times they are a changin”. Island Pacific School is changing too. We will continue to equip and inspire students to become the very best of what it means to be human.

~ Jennifer Henrichsen, Assistant Head

The post The times are changing and so are we! appeared first on Island Pacific School.

While our school history spans over 25 years, I just want to go back three months to the beginning of March 2020. COVID-19 was not yet declared a “pandemic” but it was clear there was a strong likelihood we would not be returning after spring break. In anticipation, we revised and updated our contagious disease policy, created a new exposure control plan and developed our first distance learning plan.

Our first Distance Learning plan (1.0), launched April 1 following the provincial shut-down of schools, was very similar to our pre spring break class schedule with a few modifications: homeroom classes shifted to begin and end the week and we instituted a mandatory quiet, screen-free time during the lunch break for students and teachers. The expectation was that students and teachers could interact and communicate at a scheduled time but students could also do work at their own convenience. After four weeks we conducted a comprehensive survey to see how we could improve our new world of distance learning.

Distance learning 2.0 launched on April 27 and lasted five weeks. Academic classes took place before noon and were reduced from three to two classes as we wanted to reduce screen time, workload and stress. Off-screen breaks throughout the day became mandatory because we recognized screen fatigue was rampant. A daily study hall was introduced and physical and health education classes were scheduled twice a week. We also introduced “Passion Pursuits” as we understood that physical distancing presented an amazing opportunity to grow and learn in individual and innovative ways. Finally, this phase introduced online social and interest clubs on Fridays.

As B.C. flattened the curve and the province allowed in-class learning, next came distance learning 3.0, launched June 1. We now had to operate simultaneously in two worlds: providing distance learning and in-person instruction. We also had to meet the stringent Worksafe BC Education Protocols for returning to operation. Our survey to parents indicated over 90% were ready for a return to school (most other schools saw a return of approximately 30% of students).

June 1 to 5 saw each class in the school for one day a week. It was an exciting opportunity for students to reconnect and became a reference for the school as to how to manage distance learning, in-person instruction and all the related safety protocols. As per tradition, the second week of June is dedicated to the grade nine Masterworks presentations. Only the grade nine class, the presenters family and the advisors were able to watch the presentations live due to gathering restrictions. However, others were able to watch a YouTube live stream. It was amazing to watch the 18 ninth graders present and defend their topics and we all noted that there was not even a slight dip in the quality of the presentations.

IPS begins the year and finishes the year with whole school camping and adventure programs and this year will be no different as we have an exciting week of safe outdoor fun for all the grades next week that will include camp games, kayaking, wall climbing, hiking, and even the traditional “solo” camp for the grade nines.

Over these past 12 weeks the IPS faculty and staff have worked extremely hard to ensure that we were fulfilling our mission to equip, inspire and cultivate the humanity of our students on a daily basis.
Just some of our accomplishments include: conducting more than 700 Google Meets, including whole-school assemblies. Creating weekly whacky workouts. Writing French job resumes and conducting accompanying virtual job interviews. Creating French cooking videos. Creating “up-cycling” projects using recycled or unused materials from home. Making musical and visual parody videos, creating COVID shopping outfits and designing an instrument in art class. Designing windmills and experimenting with kitchen chemistry in science. Debating over Google Meets for PR and seminar classes. Creating an Earth Day video campaign. Investigating Biomimicry in design class.

I am so pleased with the way our small, independent school has managed this pandemic. Early on, I read a quote that “A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” I do think our school has done a remarkable job taking advantage and learning from this experience and I am confident that we will actually come out of this stronger, more versatile and better able to meet the needs of our students.

Should you have an interest in learning more, please contact us as we are still accepting applications in all grades for the 2020-21 school year.

Scott Herrington
Head of School, IPS

The post A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste appeared first on Island Pacific School.

A short story by Hannah F., Grade 7 IPS Student

Gwennie couldn’t sleep. She had felt someone watching her for the past half hour, but she knew the room was empty. She decided to do what she always did when she couldn’t sleep and climbed out of her bed to sit in the window seat and count the stars. As she tiptoed past her older brother’s bed, she could just make out the carved wooden bed end with his name in swirly letters—James, surrounded by fairies and magical beasts. In the top left corner there was an elf maiden held captive by a fearsome pirate, and across from her a boy with slightly pointed ears, a pixie, and a sword was speeding to her rescue. Peter Pan of Neverland.

Gwennie smiled. Each Goldenstar child had one—her, James and little Annie-Marie who was only two. Ever since she could remember her parents had entertained her and her siblings with tales of the half-fae hero of the world where children never grow up. A floor board beneath her feet twinged and creaked and James turned over in his sleep. Gwennie froze. She did not want to wake James and Annie, for she knew her parents would find out and be unhappy in the morning.
Once she made it to the thick drapes that covered the window-seat, she pulled them back and gasped. A boy stood outside. He appeared to be around thirteen or fourteen and had tousled red hair, tanned skin, a green tunic, leather belt, brown leggings, surprised green eyes, and a knife in its sheath. A small gust of wind buffeted him and Gwennie almost shrieked. He wasn’t standing—he was floating.
The wind had picked up some of his hair, and for an instant Gwennie had seen. Slightly pointed ears peeked out behind his curls.
Gwennie cranked open the window.
“I think you had better come in.” she said.

☆ ☆ ☆

Some time later, Gwennie and Peter were sitting on the edge of Gwennie’s bed and talking about their lives. Gwennie had heard all about Neverland from her parents but was astonished to hear about it from a person who had lived there.
“—and they have pirates and mermaids and elves and fairies.” said Peter excitedly. “There’s also me and my gang of boys who roam the island and hunt stuff. We live in and under the Wild Willow tree, and hunt and fish and gather berries and nuts. Once, Nibs caught a fish twice as big as he was! It made such a feast we had food for days!”
James stirred in his sleep, and Peter, unaware prattled on.
“I’ll take you there, if you like.” he said. “To see the mermaids, Elves and pirates and have great adventures.”
James sat bolt upright.
“Nobody’s taking my sister anywhere without telling me first or taking me with him.” he declared.
His loud announcement had woken Annie, and she sat up in her cradle-bed and began to cry. Gwennie rushed over to comfort her and tripped on a small figure sitting on the rug.
“Shhh, Annie,” Gwennie said, picking herself up and dusting herself off. “It’s all right. Peter here was just telling us about a place called Neverland. There’s mermaids and fairies—oh! I do believe I just tripped on one.
“We are all thinking of going there—Peter James and I, that is— would you like to come too?”
Annie had stopped crying by now and was rubbing her eyes with her little fists and nodding her head vigorously.
“Alright!” Peter crowed. “We shall leave at once!” and he ran to the window, jumped out and disappeared. Gwennie rushed after him and was just in time to see him soaring off into the night with a small glowing light following him and ringing furiously.
“Oh,” said Gwennie sadly. “I guess he didn’t mean to take us with him.”
Annie started to cry and Gwennie tucked her back into bed. James stretched, yawned and lay down in his bed again. Gwennie stood for a few minutes and watched out the window as the speck that was Peter disappeared into the night.
A few minutes later, just as Gwennie was starting to fall asleep, Peter came back.
“What are you all doing in bed?” he asked. “I have come back to take you to Neverland. I am very sorry I forgot to give you the pixie dust the first time. I just couldn’t believe I had new friends to bring to Neverland and play and adventure with. Please forgive me, I really didn’t mean to.”
Gwennie, who was the only one still up, put a finger to her lips and motioned him to sit on her bed.
“James may not want to come again,” she whispered. “But I will do my best to convince him. Surely, he will regret it if he doesn’t come. Wait on the window-seat and I will wake him and Annie up.
“James,” Gwennie murmured. “Peter’s back, and he is willing to take us to Neverland now. We shall have to be quick and quiet.”
“Tell him to go away.” James said angrily. “If he’s going to leave abruptly, then pretend it was all a mistake, he can buzz off. Permanently.”
“James,” Gwennie scolded. “I’m sure you will regret not coming. You’ve wanted to go to Neverland for years, so swallow your pride, apologize—properly!—and come with us. Think of it this way,” she said. “If you don’t come, you’re going to have to be the one to tell Mama and Papa where we are.”
James caved. “Fine,” he said. Then he turned to Peter. “I am sorry for being rude.” he said. And then he paused. “So, where’s this pixie, and how will we get dust from her?” he asked.
“I don’t know where Tink is,” said Peter, alarmed. “But if I shake her over your head, her golden dust will rain down and all you have to do is think of one happy thought, then you can fly.”
“Tink?” said Gwennie. “Is that what your pixie’s name is?”
“Yes,” Peter replied. “Although she’s a fairy. Male fairies are called pixies and females are called fairies. And,” he added thoughtfully. “Her full name’s Tinkerbell. I should look for her so we can leave. Tink? Tinkerbell? Where are you?”
A small chiming sound that sounded like a thousand tiny bells being rung came from Annie’s tightly closed fist. Annie laughed and shook her hand up and down vigorously. More chiming came from her fingers and a small glowing light began to squeeze through her fingers.
“Tink!” cried Peter. “Let her go! If you crush her I’ll never be able to get back to Neverland again, and I will be stuck here and forced to grow up! Let her go, I say! Let her go!”

Read the full story: Gwennie goes to Neverland

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