And they’re off!In January our Grade 7 studentscompeted in the first-ever PinewoodDerby competition at The York School. As part of the IB Middle YearsProgramme, Technology and Design, the Derby challenged students to address the question: How does designimpact performance? Students designedand built their cars and had a fun day ofracing. Thanks to your support the 50 foot aluminum track and championshiptimer were purchased allowing this event to continue for years to come.

Right: Students show off their cars

Literary Night and e-books Our students love reading and there are more books on our shelves and in our‘digital library’ than ever before! Thanks to our Annual Literary Night, our librariesreceived over $2,000 worth of new books.The students are also benefitting fromyour donations to the Academic Fund thisyear. Monies from the Fund have beenused to install our first ever e-book systemin our libraries. This system, OverDrive,allows students to check out digital bookson the school’s iPads, laptops, and theirown personal computers. With an expandedlibrary, that now includes e-books, yourannual fund donations support ourcommunity of readers!

Right: E-books made easy!

TEDxIB@YorkNovember saw our second annualTEDxIB@York, modeled after theworld-renowned TED conference. This year the theme was Passion,Purpose and Perspective. It was an incredible day, filled with 23inspirational speakers, music, art,poetry and videos. Students from over 20 IB schools were in attendance,some from as far away as Shanghai!More than 8,000 people tuned in on the live stream of the event onYorkNet. Your donations supportedspeakers’ travel, accommodation,speaker gifts, and event seating for 350!

Inspiring speakersWhen Grade 5 student Dyson Hagueheard author Hugh Brewster speak tohis class about World War II, he becameso inspired that when he got home hephoned his grandfather who had livedthrough the war. They ended upchatting about the war for two hours.Dyson’s parents, so impressed by howan author can bring a complex issue tolife, decided to make a donation to theAnnual Fund. This gift enabled us tobring Hugh back to speak to the grade3, 4, and 5 students about the Titanic.

Left: Dyson Hague and his grandfather Justice Dodds

The Mac lab and thebirth of York TV If you build it, they will create: and they have. Sometimes they’re editingtheir skateboard footage into a YouTubevideo, sometimes they are stitchingtogether the various components of their science lab. In either case, the toolshave been provided for our students to be creative and successful in bothcomputer platforms. The Annual Fund has also brought blue screen technologyand equipment to the weekly York TV,filmed in-house and edited in our Mac lab.

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The York School community is generous in its support of our many programmes and improvements. Thank you!

This report highlights some of the recent improvementsmade possible by donations so far to the Annual Fund2011-2012.

I hope you enjoy reading these stories and take pride in the knowledge that your support provided these opportunities for our students.

Conor JonesHead of School

York athleticsDonors to the Athletic Fund helpedsupport our student athletes at theLower and Upper Schools. Soccer,basketball and volleyball (ten teams in all) benefitted from experiencedcoaches brought in to lead theseteams. We even have a current CanadaNational Team Beach Volleyball playercoaching our Girls Under 13 and Under14 Volleyball teams! This expertise is a valuable addition for the studentathletes who learn about team work,perseverance, and leadership whiletraining with these coaches.

Left: The Under 14 Girls volleyball team strikes a pose

Artistic expressionOur Lower School students love the art programme—during the first semester, they experimented with paints, stamping, clay, tie-dye, found art, molds and much more! The students are able to explore theirartistic side through many differentmediums. Now, thanks to yourdonations, we have made severalimprovements to the art space. Alongwith new furnishings that adjust forour little Picassos, we have purchasedan amazing wire system to display thechildren’s artwork in the hallways, andthe School’s first ever pottery wheel!

Left: Grade 2 students working with clay in the art room

Staying dry andseeing colourA new addition to the JK and SKlearning space are two new Boschclothes dryers. When students come infrom recess, their clothes can sometimesbe wet and cold, so the new dryers areused to dry the clothing so that thestudents are more comfortable and have something warm to change into for the next recess or after school.

Thanks to your support, we were able to replace the aging black andwhite photocopier at the Lower Schoolfor a new colour copier. These are great improvements, from the Area of Greatest Need of the Annual Fund, to the daily experience of our students.

Right: SK students: now drier!

You &YorkAnnual Fund Donor Report

Winter 2012

In early February, music students at the Upper School were treated to a visit by one of our talented alums, DanielJamieson. His quintet, DanJam, performedand conducted an in-depth workshop with our music students. Daniel, now busy working as a professional musician,recently released his debut recording thatincludes a composition for which he wonthe American Society of Composers,Authors and Publishers Young JazzComposer award. Inviting accomplishedartists and performers like Daniel toconnect with our students is a powerfulprogramme made possible by yourdonations to the Arts Fund.

Upper school alumnus gives back

Our plans for your future donations are:• An integrated Mac Lab at the Lower School

• A new sound system in the Upper School gym

• A visiting artists programme to support creative writing, visual art and music

• Improved ability to transform our spaces for theatrical productions

And we hope, with your support, much, much more!

ANNUALFUND