Middle Years Programme

It is hard to believe that we are already at the winter holiday, and a third of the way through the school year! While Ms. Brabant has returned to work full-time, the role of MYP Coordinator continues to be shared with Ms. Selier. Since the start of the year MYP students have engaged in lots of learning, and also in various activities across the year groups including outings, sport studio, art studio, participation in the RLO musical production, Model UN, STEM Club, Purple Friday and various fundraisers and bake sales. The participation of MYP Student Representatives in our recent IB authorization made us all very proud and resulted in many compliments by the IB visiting team; they were open, articulate, happy and helpful in communicating their experiences at ISRLO to the team. Thank you again!

In the new year, MYP 4 students are looking forward to their language and cultural trip to Malaga and Nice in March, and MYP 5 students are working hard on their careers planning and looking toward the World of Work Week in March. After the holiday, MYP5 students will begin work on their MYP ePortfolios in PHE and Visual Arts, which are part of the eAssessment process and are part of the overall program assessments which take place in May.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful and restful winter break!

Marja Selier, MYP 1, 2, 3 coördinator
Annelies Brabant, MYP 4 & 5 coördinator

MYP 1, 2, 3

The start of the school year 2023-2024 was full of excitement, especially for the new students that had to adapt to the ISRLO after having left their previous schools. To make the transition from one school to another as smooth as possible, we organized several activities in order to give the students the opportunity to get to know their classmates, the building, the teachers and the MYP system better. We hope all these activities made them feel at home and welcome. Also, the not-new-MYP2 and MYP3 students had to get used to their groups because their previous groups were re-arranged into different ones, plus new students joined.

Besides the introduction, the students did a lot of other fun and interesting activities, like a Halloween Party, the Sinterklaas party and some field trips organized by subject teachers.

In this newsletter students and staff members give insight into some activities that took place throughout the first half of the year.

We hope you enjoy reading about these highlights and wish you a wonderful Christmas break. We look forward to welcoming you back in January 2024.

Marja Selier,
MYP 1, 2, 3 coördinator

MP1 students Tikhon and Diniz give their account of the following events:

School Party

On the 3rd of November the Rijnlands Lyceum had a party that was packed with fun activities, drinks and a disco. This school party was from 7 to 11 in the afternoon. There were games such as throw the bean bags or axe throwing additionally there were drinks and snacks. However, the main event was the disco where a DJ performed his performance. There were also many vivid lights and fun music. Most people enjoyed the experience and participated in most of the activities. (By Tikhon Dubynin)

On Monday 4th December, surprises were brought to school by all the students.

During tutor hour in the MYP1 classes we gathered round and celebrated Sinterklaas. Everyone there got epic surprises, presents and poems which were carefully thought about at home. Some of the surprises were animals, pianos or even just books with presents and poems inside. When the surprises were being opened Sinterklaas and his helpers came and spread sweet joy with their kruidnoten. (By Diniz Bernardo)

MP2 students celebrate Sinterklaas

On the 7th of December, the MP2 Dutch Language Acquisition class celebrated a late Sinterklaas! Why in the Dutch class? Well, because it is a Dutch tradition and these students happen to love the Sinterklaas tradition…like the teacher!

Since the Dutch language and culture was the focus, the students didn’t have to make a surprise, but a poem from about 4 lines was mandatory! Nevertheless, most students made a surprise anyway!

The poems were beautiful as well; small but meaningful! To keep it all short: it was a morning to remember…!

Wednesday 11 October – MP5 Middle Years Programme Certificate Ceremony

Students who finished the MYP in the 2022/2023 were the ninth cohort to participate in the global MYP eAssessment process. ISRLO was a pilot school for these end of MYP exams in 2014, and continues its committment to the programmes of the IB by all MYP5 students participating in the full offerings of the eAssessments. Students sit these exams in May, results are received the first week of August and are then shared with students at the start of the new school year. To celebrate the completion of the Middle Years programmes, and the achievement of the MYP eCertificate, students were invited to celebrate in an informal ceremony where they collected their certificates which were handed out by Ms. Brabant, and toasted their success with cupcakes and refreshments. Over 95% of students have stayed on at school to study the IB Diploma Programme.

Masterclass on Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam
– an overview by Tanvi Sharma in MP5b

Recently, I attended Masterclass on Sustainable Chemistry organized by the University of Amsterdam. It was a 2-day program that included interactive lectures on various topics such as Carbon capture, dye-synthesized solar cells, and molecular photoelectrochemical devices by Ph.D. professors. Chemistry is one of my favourite subjects in school, and the topics covered by this Masterclass seemed a perfect opportunity to explore my future career choices. I believe this final year is all about looking at all possible career choices and finding your passion in a field, or even multiple fields..who knows? In 2 days of this program, we visited University of Amsterdam, had multiple lectures, and did lab experiments on topics such as hydrogen production and making our solar cells. All these experiments were considerably simple but really helped to understand the concepts more clearly. It was also really fun to use university equipment. Later during the days, we visited 2 startup companies such as Skytree, which is a company based on carbon capture technology. We visited these companies and got to see the process firsthand. This was a great chance to learn some interesting things and ask any doubts to the company representatives. During the whole program, we were accompanied by a Chemistry major who was currently studying in UvA. She was truly amazing and provided us with insights into what it was like to study at UvA, including her experiences during college life, her workload, and some details about other courses provided at UvA. This was a great way to meet new people and get genuine advice from seniors. We also got a tour of the science section of the university, which personally was one of the most exiting parts. Overall, it was of a lifetime experience, with multiple takeaways such as meeting new people to learning and experimenting at the same time.

MP5 Photos – Let Art speak Out Gallery