EIS "Heads Up!"

Dear EIS Community,

I hope this newsletter year finds you well! I would like to welcome you all to this new academic year. In this issue I would like to take a quick flashback at the events that took place over the summer and celebrate the successful start of this academic year. We have graduated our very first class, received our first IB Scores, were visited by a Chinese delegation, won awards at another Olympiad, and were even ranked as a top 10 school in Latvia!

To make it more exciting, this time the newsletter is coming out in a new shape of a video. Happy watching and happy reading!

Edition September 2023

Artūrs Piļkēvičs

This is the premiere of our first HeadsUp Newsletter video featuring Artūrs Piļkēvičs.

In the beginning of July we were thrilled to announce an unprecedented success at Exupery International School when our very first graduating class has surpassed the world average in the IB DP exam session. Apart from scoring above average in the world, an impressive 44% of our diploma recipients earned a bilingual diploma, and one of our students also attained a perfect IB score, marking a historical milestone for Exupery International School. Achieving a perfect score in the IB DP is no small feat, as it is typically accomplished by less than 1% of students worldwide. Even schools with years of IB DP experience find it challenging to reach such a pinnacle. We sincerely congratulate and are proud of all our students and of course the teachers who contributed to these excellent results. For further insights go here.

On August 4 we had a visit from students and teachers from WESP Qingwa International Camp in Shanghai. Curious to explore international education in Latvia and learn about the IB DP program — the students and teachers took a campus tour at EIS and participated in an exciting cross-cultural experience. The guests discovered Exupery’s science labs, libraries, spacious classrooms, sports hall, but most importantly connected with our students and staff.

The visitors and some of our students also participated in an intercultural exchange project about cultural heritage. They created a drawing "Under the Same Blue Sky" that shows two cultural heritage sites from Latvia and China together — the Cat House and Suzhou Gardens. The drawing was then submitted to the "Colorful World" International Youth Painting Invitational Exhibition competition.

Even if the drawing doesn't win, the simple yet bonding activity has helped create new friendships. Also, this visit was highlighted in the article by one of the major news providers in China - the Nordic Chinese Times.

Our alumna Olita won a silver medal at the 16th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2023, where she was among the 250 participants from 50 countries. This achievement also marks Olita's final school Olympiad before she begins her studies at École Polytechnique in Paris. This news has resonated in the local media as it is the very first time the Latvian team is participating in this competition with the full team of 5 students and the first time there are two medals. Congratulations to Olita and a big shout-out to our physics teacher, Sergey Bratarchuk!

On Saturday, August 26, we hosted a meeting with Anna Starobinets — the author of one of the most popular children's book series entitled "The Beastly Crimes" and both a laureate and finalist of numerous international awards. Anna shared a sneak peek into her upcoming and still-in-progress work called "Beastly Encyclopedia of the World". The audience was engaged in active listening and brainstorming of some new ideas. It was a successful Saturday afternoon at EIS, so - thanks to all participants and thank you, Anna!

Hooray!!! Exupery International School came in TOP -10 best schools in Latvia in the independent "Star Rating" of Ata Kronvalda Foundation. And we are the only international school in the TOP -10 ranking.

Students' achievements in local and international Olympiads, as well as in scientific conferences and creative competitions, are also taken into account when creating the ratings. This is a huge achievement. Those familiar with international education will understand - it is very rare that an international school can compete and score in the local school rankings. We have done it by... offering a variety of subjects, hiring devoted and passionate teachers, providing robust mother tongue programs for all ages and supporting our gifted and talented students! Hurray!

Congratulations to students, teachers and parents!

Internal assessment is an integral part of each IB course. It is one of the compenents that makes the IB program special. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge in a different setting and to pursue their personal interests without the constraints that are associated with written examinations. In English this the internal assessment consists of a task in the form of an individual oral assessment.

Students are required to deliver a response to a prompt, using an extract from one work and an extract from one non-literary text to focus their analysis of how perspectives on a global issue are presented in them. This way students perceive literature in its true form – as a tool for understanding, expressing, and addressing global issues. At EIS it is all done in a very cool setting – in our recording studio, and our amazing teacher, Ms Zane is making sure students have some sweets and some toys to play with for emotional support! Good luck, seniors and Ms Zane!

Who are our teachers? Some of them are actually true scientists — Cristina Bajo-Santos, our DP Biology teacher is also a Junior Scientist at Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre and PhD candidate in Molecular Biology at the University of Latvia. On Tuesday she received an L'Oreal UNESCO «For Women In Science» Young Talents Program – Latvia award.

Our Biology Teacher Receives L'Oreal UNESCO “For Women In Science” Young Talents Program – Latvia award!

For 25 years, the Fondation L’Oréal and UNESCO have worked together to empower and promote women in science through the For Women in Science program. This visionary partnership has placed the issue of gender equality in science firmly on the international agenda by highlighting the work of many outstanding female scientists, accelerating women’s pathways to leadership in science, and inspiring the next generation of female researchers. This particular award recognizes the value and significance of her project aiming to contribute to the development of blood and urine tests that can diagnose, predict, and monitor prostate cancer more effectively. This new non-invasive approach can serve as liquid biopsy, holds tremendous potential for cancer screening and could lead way for targeted therapies and strategies to enhance patient outcomes.

We are humbled to have Cristina as one of our science teachers. At Exupery we have always believed in hiring professionals who are passionate about education and can be role models for our students with their hands on experiences in their field of study. We are so excited about Cristina's award and we congratulate her wholeheartedly on this significant achievement! We want to wish her to make further strides in this significant research as she keeps inspiring the young minds at our school, in Latvia, and around the world».

"Food for thought"

In the iconic love song "Without You" Harry Nilsson, and later also Mariah Carey, heartbreakingly proclaim: "I can't live, if living is without you". What if I told you that learning is as much of a social phenomenon as love is? In this post I explore the concept of the social brain and its implications for teaching and learning. The compound term "social learning" has been recently used and explored in cognitive neuroscience. The bottom line is that we are created to learn in a social setting and our brains are wired for social development. We are starting to understand our natural and life-sustaining interdependency and scientists have begun to view human intelligence as a collective rather than individual phenomenon. The implications for teaching and learning are indeed profound. Does loneliness hinder learning? Does social interaction promote it? Read more here.