Branksome Hall News

Launching “Virtual Branksome,” the school’s first-ever distance-learning program, was only one item on Branksome Hall’s “to do” list last week.

Quick, look at this photo, then present a five-minute “persuasive speech” in French on that topic. Undaunted, Senior School students Christine and Dalia placed first and second respectively, in the new Impromptu category at the 36th annual Concours d’art oratoire at Havergal College on February 28.

It was an evening the Branksome Hall community won't soon forget. World-renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky shared a stunning overview of his life's work. Starting with his earliest landscape images—close-up tangles of bramble in Northern Ontario—he presented an unrelenting one-hour catalogue of human planetary devastation, mesmerizing the hushed audience of 400.

Bravo to both our Grades 9 and 10, and our Grade 8 Band classes, who earned silver medals on February 12 and 13, 2020 at the Ontario Band Association’s Provincial Band Festival in Thornhill, Ont.

Claiming top honours in the final event of Spirit Week, the Raptors-themed troupe performed an inventive, pumped-up version of a basketball game on February 13 in the Senior School gym. (Two students even wore cardboard backboards on their heads and used their arms as nets in which team-members could “score.”)

Widely considered the defining issue of our time, solving the problem of climate change was the weighty theme for this year’s Future Prize Challenge, a design-thinking competition for Grades 7 and 8, co-hosted by the Conference of Independent Schools (CIS) of Ontario and the Future Design School.

When learning a new language, it’s inspiring to see it come alive on stage. Experiential education was definitely the point of an eagerly anticipated excursion when Branksome Hall French teacher Nadia Talaat took her Grade 11 students to the Théâtre Français de Toronto, in collaboration with St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School on December 12.

In order to learn big concepts, Grade 8 Math students are shrinking things down. By walking around campus with measuring tapes and using 3D modelling software, students are taking the numbers off the page and thinking in 3D.

A mix of fashion, dance and talent always makes for a high-energy performance. Synthesis, the annual student presentation of culture and fashion, was held on Friday, January 17 this year and was no exception.

What do women’s pants and the Caribbean Unity flag have in common? They were both chosen as “personally meaningful” objects, thoughtfully selected by Grade 11 and 12 students as part of the second annual Theory of Knowledge (TOK) exhibition, held at Branksome Hall on Tuesday, January 14.

New bursary celebrates retiring Board Chair Wayne Barwise’s extraordinary volunteer service and his commitment to accessibility