MOTTO Spring 2019
Maths Riddles
4th Year KCV
History
- Holocaust Project
- Ancient Greece
P.E. Projects
Music and Theatre
Art and Design
4th Year CKV
Geography
- Ice Age
- Oxford
Exchange Trips
Social Studies
THIMUN
IB English
Biology - dissection
From the TTO Co-ordinator’s Desk Time flies when you’re having fun and this was certainly true for the RLW exchange
students. Two students spent six weeks at our Reed’s School in Cobham, while
eight others were lucky enough to spent part of the dreary, Dutch winter in South
Africa or Australia. In this Spring MOTTO, you will be able to read what it was like
for several of these Year 4 TTO students to go to school in a different country and
to experience, as you will read, the adventure of a lifetime!
The exchange is one of the highlights of the Senior TTO program and for all of the
exchange students it is a truly valuable experience. Not only, because they get
to experience what school is like on the other side of the world, but also because
they form a strong, international friendship with their exchange brother or sister.
The release of this Spring MOTTO also marks the start of an exciting period for our
Senior TTO students in Year 6. These students will soon be leaving the RLW after
completing six years of TTO education. Before they will be truly, “vrij, niet
stuurloos”, however, they need to successfully complete their IB English A exams
in the middle of the central exam week. It goes without saying that Miss Stout has
prepared them well and we wish all of the Year 6 IB students the best of luck!
Our Junior TTO students have also been busy in the past few months. The Year 3
TTO students have been taking several of their ERK B2 exams and will, hopefully,
be awarded their Junior TTO Certificate in July. Moreover, they created some
wonderful projects, which can be found in this MOTTO.
The Year 2 TTO students also worked hard this spring. After spending a truly
amazing week in Oxford, which you will be able to read all about in the Summer
MOTTO, they wrote their Oxford reports. A huge thank you to Mrs. Royle and Mrs.
van Otterloo for making this trip a success! (Miss Haasnoot, especially, is very
appreciative that she got the chance to visit the Harry Potter Studios again.)
And, finally, the Year 1 TTO students will get their first taste of writing a report after
they visit Leiden and The Hague on 16, 17 and 18 April for the Year 1 Project Week.
In short, there is never a dull moment in TTO at the RLW and this Spring MOTTO
shows you what our students experience and create in their TTO classrooms. We
hope you will find their achievements as inspirational as we do!
M. Haasnoot
Logical and Mathematical Riddles by B1A and B1B
In between two regular maths
chapters, B1A and B1B spent
three classes solving a
mathematical riddle – each
group working on their own
puzzle.
Almost all students managed to
solve their assigned riddle,
which is no mean achievement.
Their final report consisted of not
just a solution, but also an
explanation of how they found
this solution.
Of course, the human mind is
itself a riddle, wrapped in a
mystery, inside an enigma;
indeed, looking back on your
problem-solving process, what can
you say but “we tried until we found
the solution” or “we used brainpower”?
Finally, students were invited to think of a riddle similar to the one they had just
solved, with the same logical or mathematical structure but in a different context.
In this they were (not unexpectedly) creative.
Here are some of the riddles they came up with….
One of the riddles B1A and B1B worked on
Shopping Bags Riddle: Marieke, Stella, Eleanor (B1B)
“You went to the supermarket and bought frozen stuff that will defrost in
44 minutes. It takes 10 minutes to drive home. You need to take all the
shopping bags from the store to the car. The time it takes to carry a bag
depends on the weight of the bag.
If the yellow shoppingbag is the heaviest bag you are carrying then it
takes you 2 minutes.
If the red shoppingbag is the heaviest it takes 4 minutes.
If the green shoppingbag is the heaviest it takes 10 minutes, and if the
blue shoppingbag is the heaviest it takes 20 minutes.
The blue shopping bag weighs more than the green bag, wich weighs
more than the red bag, wich weighs more than the yellow one.
You always need to carry one bag with you to put your car keys in.
Because you only have 44 minutes to bring them to the car and drive
home you need to hurry up. So you have 34 minutes to get the bags in the
car.
You can't leave a bag behind or ask someone to help you (or cheat in
any other way)”
Dividing Cookies: Edlan, Sweder, Isabel, Lara (B1A)
“Miss Honey has found 96 cookies and wants to divide them under her 6
lovely students. Miss honey is very smart, just like all of the 6 students. She
tells Matilda (the first student) to propose a smart way to divide the 96
cookies. Matilda knows that all the other students are almost as smart as
her. If she proposes a way to divide the cookies, but if 4 or more people
say no, she can't propose a way anymore, and needs to sit next to Miss
Honey.
She also knows that:
1. Every single student wants to have cookies.
2. Every student wants as many cookies as possible.
3. And all the students are extremely hungry. They will trick their
students, and won't care if one of them has to sit next to Miss Honey,
as long as he or she will get their cookies.
Which student is going to get the most cookies, and why?”
Teachers in a Spaceship: Roni, Harini, Sofie, Nicolaas (B1A)
“Mr. Bouterse, Mrs. Campbell and Mr. James get abducted by aliens. The
alien space ship has a teleporter inside. They all want to get inside, But there
are two problems.
The teleporter holds a maximum of two people. It only moves with at least
one person in it. Whenever the aliens outnumber the teachers they get
aggressive and eat them.
How does everyone reach the spaceship safely?”
KCV in 4th Year
From January until now we have been working on Greek and Roman art and
architecture, including the way this forms of art have been used in later periods of time,
like the Renaissance. Every student had to research one subject, e.g. archaic sculpture,
red-figure vasepainting or Renaissance architecture. They had three lessons to carry out
their research and prepare a handout for their classmates about their subject. Next,
everyone had to give a presentation about his/her subject, using the handout they
prepared.
In this way, everyone has become an expert on one subject, and they have taught
eachother about it. As you can see, when you compare handouts, the one made by
Floor Holleman is more extensive than the others. This is because Floor is one of our
exchange-students, who were not here to present their subject. The handouts made by
the exchange-students are therefore a bit more elaborate, so everyone will still be able
to understand these subjects without a presentation.
We were delighted by the level of their presentations! The students have been doing an
amazing job.
Classical Sculpting (500-323 v.Chr)
• Polykleitos
• ‘Spear-Bearer’
• Original of bronze: ± 440 BC
• Roman marble copy made in 120-50 BC
• Treatise Kanon
• Idealism
• Nude sculptures of men
• Well-developed anatomy
• Contrapposto
• Twisted torso
• More details than Archaic Kouros
• Proportion: head 1
7 of body
• S-curve
• Facial expression: sad/emotionless
• Simplified hairstyle
• From 4th century BC on: nude sculptures of goddesses
By Roos Aziz
Geometric vase painting (900-700BC)
• Horror vacui: the painters were afraid to have empty spaces. You can see
that almost every part of the vase is covered in paintings.
• Dominance of geometric motifs: almost every pattern includes geometric
figures.
• Geometric patterns originate from one continuous line, with geometric
patterns (like zigzags, triangles, meander, spirals, swastika) between the
lines.
• Picturing animals/humans, often on the widest part, because it depicts for
example funerals, mourning rituals and the stories of heroes.
• These vases were mostly used as grave markers.
• Humans have triangles in bodies standing for breasts/private parts and
their arms are painted as cylinders.
• Leading up to the Geometric Period, the designs of the vases were quite
simple instead of crowded with figures, which it had been before. This
then slowly transferred into the Geometric Period.
• The period can be divided into 3 smaller periods:
o The Early Geometric Period, when there was not as much Horror
Vacui.
o The Middle Geometric Period, when specifically the meander
dominated the patterns.
o The Late Geometric Period, in which the Dipylon Amphora was
made.
• Towards the end of the period more figures like exotic animals and flowers
were used (characteristics of The Orientalizing Period style) slowly
transferring into the Corinth pottery style.
By Floor Holleman
The Dipylon Amphora, mid-8th century BC
Archaic Architecture (750-500 BC)
• Temple of Hera, Olympia, 590 B.C.
• Doric Style
• Columns are made of stacked drums
• Fluted
• Tapered
• Altar located in a restricted area inside of the cella
By Emil Pascanean
Cornice Tympanon Pediment
Frieze
Metope
Triglyph
Architrave
Column Fluting Column rests on
bottom drum
Echinus
Ab
acu
s
Architecture of the Dutch Classicism (1620-1700)
• After the Renaissance
• Occurred because of prosperity
• Follows the classical architectural orders of the Ancient Greeks and Romans; the
Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite orders.
• The imaginative use of elements
• Harmony and symmetry
• Hardly any decorations
• Garland
• Tympanon
• Ionic pilaster facades
• Cornice
• Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post
Mauritshuis, 1644, Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post
By Stijn Terlouw
History – Greek Gods
Julia Rueb, Frederieke Smit & Amy Bernoski 1A
The Year 1 History students have successfully completed their first presentations!
The topic was Greek Gods, in preparation for the presentations they worked with a
partner to make a poster of the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus.
I was impressed by their creativity and English!
History - Reading Together
Some of the 3,4 and 5 year TTO students partnered last schoolyear with students
from Jerusalem’s oldest gymnasium to discuss a book (‘The daughter we always
wanted’) written by Naomi Morgenstern who survived the holocaust as a young
girl. On the basis of these exchanges the students picked a project to work on,
hence the title,’ Reading Together’. This could be for instance a poem, a song or
as many did a letter written to the author. Next schoolyear we are continuing this
project with the Gymnasia Haivrit in collaboration with the holocaust study centre
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The certificates also count for your so called
‘plusdocument’. To give you an impression Jecobien Wiersma and Robert-Paul
van der Velde (both 5V now) tell us something about the project on the following
pages.
R. Schreurs
I enjoyed the project mostly because we got to talk
to people our age who live in a very different
environment. Via instagram, I talked to two people
who live in Jerusalem. We had a lot of similarities
such as a shared love for art and drawing. One boy
I talked to really loves theme parks and he showed
me the coolest ones in the world that he would like
to travel to. He also told me about what it’s like to
live in Israel, he for example told me about how
everyone there has to join the army for at least two
years.
I really liked the fact that we could have
conversations in ‘real-time’ and share pictures with
each other. We mostly talked about friendship in
the book, which we both read, because it is a very
recognisable and universal theme and the girl in
the book survived the holocaust because many
people who became closely connected to her,
who became her friends, were able to help her.
Jacobien Wiersma, V5
In one year time, I have learned a lot about life during the Holocaust. I was
interested in participating in the project because of my Jewish descent. My
Israelian buddy and I have had great discussion about the book we both have
read.
Robert-Paul van der Velde
Physical Education
In P.E. we had to make a poster about good/bad posture it was a cross curricular
project with biology. The practical part in gym and the theoratic part in biology.
When making it we wanted it to be unique, so we used pictures of our self. Julia
for good posture and Laurel for bad posture. We also did an extra subject
(curtwheel) on the poster apart from all the other subjects. When we pasted the
pictures, a few of us wrote the texts and the rest of us decorated. We decided to
use rainbow colors all over the poster. Eventhough half of us had homework
course, we still managed to do everything evenly. After we got our grade we
were very happy because we had the highest grade of the class. We really
enjoyed making it and we are happy with the result of our hard work.
Amy Bernoski, Julia Rueb, Frederieke Smit, Sofie Snow, Laurel Rutten, Lara Pilouw. B1A
In our second year we had a assignment for Drama and PE together.
We had to make a rhythm with PE equipment. We were in groups and worked on
it during the lessons, we really enjoyed it.
Quirine VLiegenthart, Eline Verhulst and Feline de Maat from 2C
Biology and P.E. Project
As part of the Physical Education curriculum at the Rijnlands Lyceum TTO
department we were asked to make a poster project. The poster project
combined aspects of Physical Education and Biology. Our class was split into
groups of six. In our Biology class we learned about bones and what their functions
are in the human body. In the P.E. class we did some movements, like stand, sit,
jump, run. With the knowledge we obtained from Biology class and the P.E. class
we were able to translate that information on to the poster. In order to have a
nice poster every group had to work together. At the very beginning of the poster
project our group split all the jobs and gave everyone a task. When everybody
had finished their task, we met up at school to put all the pieces together. Once
everyone put their pieces on the poster, we drew the background of the poster
to make it look nice. In the
end our group got an 8.5
overall. We are very happy
with our group’s results and
we thought it was fun. We
learned that we all need to
work together because
otherwise we will get
nowhere.
Olivier van Kempen 1B
Music and Theatre
During Music and Theatre, the year 2 had to create their own board game or
magazine. Of course, this had to be revolved around music! We had to make
groups of four, in our 2B class there were many groups which wanted to make the
board games. We had two weeks to come up with ideas and create the most
original game we could. The board game option did not have that many rules,
but the magazine option had a couple of ‘must haves’. You had to choose two
music genres per group. You had to make a front cover and write about the
history and style of the chosen genres.There were many really creative pieces of
work that came out of the hard work!
Anna de Niet 2B
TTO ART & DESIGN
Year 1 students researched different aspects of the jungle and learnt how to paint
a jungle scene using visual aspects as shading and overlap to create a sense of
depth in their painting.
Elena Fokké 1A
Julia Rueb 1A
Lara Jonker 1B
2nd Year Art
Students did research into different non-western cultures and learnt how to create
a moodboard with patterns and designs for a product that shows their
interpretation of the chosen culture.
Sena Aras 2A
Feline de Maat 2C
Quirine Vliegenthart 2C
3rd Year Art
Below are a few examples how our 3rd years have interpreted an assignment
inspired by Klimt. Firstly, they created a design made up of patterns within the
roots of a cross-section of a semi-abstract tree. They then took the idea of pattern,
semi-abstraction and abstraction a step further, by making their own abstract
paintings and incorporating them in and around a self-portrait. The end result
being a digital artwork.
Step 1: patterns, roots & semi-abstract tree:
Lisa Smychkovich A3A Talia Croughs G3A
Aloyse van Waesberghe A3A
Step 2: the final digital artwork
Evelien van der Schee G3A Luca Renes G3A
Amy de Boer G3A Talia Croughs G3A
4VWO CKV
Our CKV students have been making games, all with the purpose of expressing
typical characteristics of some important art historical eras. Namely, Antiquity,
Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
Fleur Wakkerman and
Frederique Hondelink
with their Baroque
Monopoly game!
Axel Taal and Geert Vliegenthart. Each playing card asks questions relevant to
characteristics of the Renaissance
Josephine van Duren, Chloë van Es and
Sterre Hoving.
Test your knowledge! Each card highlights an
important artwork or feature from Antiquity and
gives a choice of answers. Have you been
paying attention? Which of the terms on each
card is correct?
Femke van Houdt, Névine
Noordhoek Hegt and Fleur van der
Sterren.
Their card game uses famous
artworks all depicting iconic
female figures from Antiquity,
Renaissance and Dutch Baroque.
Geography
In Year 1 the students learned how to identify
features of the world’s landscape zones with the
correct subject terms such as deciduous forest,
coniferous forest and tundra. The current unit is
about the impact of ice on the Earth’s
landscapes. To practise subject terms of the
unit, students wrote a story about what they
would do during an ice age.
Hi, I live in Kilkenny, Ireland. Today I am going on a great adventure, I am going
to travel trough time to 20.000 years ago, I am going to travel to an ice age!
20.000 years ago, Kilkenny was covered by huge ice sheets, just on the border to
the tundra. So, I am going to take a warm coat, hat and gloves with me. I could
take my mobile phone with me, but there will not be any signal, so that is not
necessary. I am going to be away for 3 days, so that means I will need a thick
sleeping bag. A map is always handy, so I will not get lost. Then good boots are
very important, because I cannot walk around in sneakers. To climb big glaciers
and ice mountains, I will need a very strong rope, and metal sticks, so I can hold
on to the mountains. And I cannot forget a big backpack, to put all my stuff in.
It is finally time, I am going to go in the time machine, and travel to Kilkenny 20.000
years ago. When the time machine began to fly, it was a weird feeling but when
arriving was even weirder. It felt like nothing had changed, except for the
temperature. I knew, of course, that everything had changed. I mean, there were
no houses, cars or trees, and the biggest change was, no people! It was a big
white landscape which was so, so peaceful. In the tundra, you see mammoths
and bison trying to find their way through the snow instead of dogs and cats
running around the streets! The mammoths and bison were woolly and big.
The first day, I was enjoying the beautiful landscape and my first priority was to
find a place to sleep. When I found one, it was already dark. I could hear the
Arctic foxes trying to find food. The next day, I walked to the west, to the water
between England and Ireland. But after walking and climbing glaciers and
mountains all day, there was no sea! That was because the water was locked up
in ice, so it was land! On the third day, I walked back to the time machine while I
was thinking what an amazing adventure it had been. I will never forget this!
Julia de Visser 1A
The Geography of Oxford and Wassenaar
The year 2 TTO students went on a trip to Oxford in March! A good opportunity to
compare and contrast two different countries. For Geography, the students were
required to use new geographical vocabulary in their descriptions of both
Wassenaar and Oxford. We currently work with five different perspectives to
analyse a geographical place or region (called the physical, demographic,
political, socio-cultural and economic dimensions). These perspectives help to
focus on a particular aspect or characteristic of a place or landscape. But what
do demographic and socio-cultural even mean? And how can you see
demographic or socio-cultural aspects of a city when you are walking around?
We practiced this during the lessons by looking at all sorts of photos of landscapes
and cities and then describing what we were seeing from the five different
perspectives. As the final unit outcomes, students made a poster and a
geographical diary that compared Wassenaar to Oxford. The posters had to be
presented in class by the students, so their geographical as well as language skills
were all practiced! Some examples of the posters and diary entries are shown
below.
My Adventure Down Under
My name is Frederique Kampen and in this article I am taking you with me to the
other side of the world aka Sydney, Australia! I had the time of my life here as an
exchange student at PLC. Curious about my adventures? Then read on!
The 24-hour plane flight
Australia is an amazing country but
as you good things don’t come
easy ;-). Therefore, I had to go on a
24-hour plane flight. Well, I can tell
you that I’ve done things more fun
in my life but it wasn’t THAT bad. I
was lucky enough to be chosen to
go on exchange with one of my best friends ever; Phoebe! So it was like chilling
with your bestie non-stop for 24-hours. Apart from that, I watched a lot of movies
which made the time pass 10 times
quicker.
The host family
Once we had finally arrived in Australia,
we were picked up by our host family: The
Wedds. They were everything you could
wish for as an exchange student; They
were kind, they had delicious food since
the mother was a nutritionist, they took us
on so many fun activities and Phoebe
and I shared a super cute little house in
their garden. I’m sure they already know
how much I appreciated everything they
did for us since I had the biggest smile on
my face all the time, but if they ever read
this I would like to say again; thank you
again for everything! I am forever
grateful!
The activities
Phoebe and I went on many activities both with the Wedds as well as the lovely
Mrs White from PLC who was the exchange coordinator there. We did too too
many things to name them all but here are some of my highlights from my
exchange experience: Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, the Museum of
Contemporary Art, the National Art Gallery, the Sydney Opera House, walking the
Sydney Harbour Bridge, celebrating Australia Day on a boat, visiting the Blue
Mountains and Jelly Bean Pool and visiting Taronga Zoo.
The boarding-house
Once school started in Australia (two weeks
after my arrival), I moved from my host family
to the boarding house. It was really interesting
to experience the life of a boarder. I soon
made a lot of friends in the boarding house.
They helped me getting used to all the
different rules they have in a boarding house. I
had most fun during the dinners with all the
girls. Writing about this experience makes me
smile again. I am very thankful towards the
RLW for giving me the opportunity to make such awesome memories.
Apply, apply, apply!
In conclusion I would give my exchange experience in Sydney a 10 out of 10.
Everyone I met was super chill, I saw almost everything of the city and I became
even closer friends with one of besties. To all the third years thinking about
applying to go on exchange I would say, “Just do it!” You will not regret it. Of
course there will be some little obstacles since you cannot control everything
when you’re on exchange but I think everyone
who goes on exchange comes out as a
stronger person. And to all the parents; sending
your child to the other side of the world may
give you a little panic attack (although my
parents didn’t have any trouble with this part,
how come… hahaha ;-)), I am begging you
right now to let them go because this is a once
in a lifetime opportunity they will never forget!
Exchange to Australia by Phoebe Poort 4V
I remember being really excited to meet my exchange sister when I first started
contacting her. Now we are really close friends and we are still in close contact.
Going to such a beautiful place as Australia and learning the language and
culture was amazing! Almost every day when we were free we went on a trip. For
example, one day we went to the vacation house of my exchange sister’s family
and celebrated Australia day. Another time we went to Bondi Beach, that was so
beautiful! I would advise anyone to take the chance to go on exchange. When I
look back at it I feel so lucky I have done this!
Exchange to South Africa by Pien Oostwegel
This year I was one of the lucky ones
who was allowed to go to Cape
Town. I had the most amazing time
ever so let me give you a summary of
some of my highlights. In Cape Town I
went to Herschel which is a slightly
different school than the Rijnlands.
First of all it is an all girls’ school, they
have to wear uniforms and they do
their sports at school. I really enjoyed
experiencing all these new things and
seeing how different their lives are.
Another of my favourite moments of
exchange was Garden Route. This is a
tour along the coast organized by the
schools for the exchanges. You do lots
of fun activities and see how a
landscape can change completely
after only driving for an hour. But for
me the best thing out of this exchange
was definitely the friendship that came
out of it. You spend a lot of time with your
exchange sister and I had the luck that
we clicked really well and became really
close friends. This exchange was an
amazing experience one that I will never
forget, I learned a lot.
My Exchange to Hershel School
In the first week of January, five of my classmates
and I left the cold winter of our little country
behind in order to go to the warmer temperatures
of Cape Town. After ten, long hours of sleeping,
watching movies and eating airplane food, we
finally arrived in Cape Town. We were all picked
up by our hosts, whom we had hosted for eight
weeks in the Netherlands at the beginning of the
school year. We had a few days to settle in
(involving a lot of beaches, surfing and sun)
before school started.
We followed several classes, made new friends,
learned what it is like to go to an all-girl school
wearing uniforms and of course what life is like in a
different country. We explored Cape Town on the
weekends and had several outings during the weeks with all the exchanges,
including exchanges from Chile, Colombia and Canada. One of the highlights
was definitely climbing Table Mountain. We woke up awfully early and hiked up
the mountain for three and a half hours in the burning 30° C weather! However,
once you got to the top of the mountain, you had a stunning view of all of Cape
Town and realised it was all worth it.
During one of the last weeks, we went
on the so-called garden tour, which is
a five-day-long trip through the
western cape. We saw wild animals,
zip-lined, rode on Segways, walked
with elephants, petted a cheetah
and bungee-jumped off the highest
bungee jump in the world. I’m sure
you can imagine when I say this was
one of the best weeks of them all.
Unfortunately, after six unforgettable weeks, it was time to go home again. We
had dinner with all twelve of us, zipped up our suitcases and were off to the
Netherlands. Although we were glad to see our friends and families again, we
were also sad we had to leave our life in Cape Town behind.
Jasmijn Goossen
Exchange to Bishops Diocesan College, Cape Town
Before I went to South Africa, my exchange brother stayed with me, in the
Netherlands, for eight weeks. We had a lot of fun together here, and I actually
got to see some parts of the Netherlands that I never would’ve seen if it wasn’t
for the exchange.
After these eight weeks, it was hard to say goodbye, but it was only a few weeks
until I got to visit my exchange brother in South Africa.
In South Africa, I had the most amazing time. We went surfing a couple of times,
climbed Table Mountain, visited boulders beach and went on the garden route.
I made a lot of friends while I was there and am still in contact with them to this
day.
When I heard about the exchange program at our school I didn’t even think
about applying. I figured it would be devastating for my grades and I would
constantly miss my family. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. I had
a lot of fun whilst my exchange brother was in the Netherlands and whilst I stayed
in South Africa, and up until now, my grades have even slightly improved after my
return. I would highly recommend applying to the exchange program to all the
students in year three.
Hidde Schuuring V4A
Exchange to Reed’s School, England by Kiki Douwes
On November 4th, Tjalline and I
were on our way to an
amazing experience at
Reed’s. We went by car.
Unfortunately, it took a while
before we could enter the
train, but it was well worth the
wait! We arrived at around one
o’clock at night. One of our
hallmates had been waiting for
us to arrive so she could give us a warm welcome. This immediately made us feel
welcome. However, we were all very tired, so we crawled into our beds as fast as
we could.
The next day we went to breakfast along with our hallmates, who were both really
nice. They introduced to the rest of the Sixth Form boarders and to a few friends
of them who came to school early so that they could have breakfast with
everyone. All the people we had met already tried to make the start of our
exchange as comfortable as possible, they were all very helpful.
Once we had been to Form, which is a sort of
‘mentoruur’ in England, one of the teachers
called us into his office, ready to set up our
timetable for the coming six weeks. Tjalline and
I were very excited, perhaps a bit too excited,
so we chose to follow physics, chemistry and
biology. The teacher said that the Rijnlands
students were always a bit too enthusiastic with
choosing their subjects, because we
apparently almost always choose the harder
subjects. Tjalline and I thought this was really
funny, but were very motivated to choose them
anyway. Well, the next day we already
returned to his office to ask if we could drop
physics, because they were way ahead of us! This caused a bit of a laugh, as you
can imagine.
The first week was mostly meeting new people and settling in. The students were
very excited to meet the Dutch girls, so it was not that hard to meet new people.
Tjalline and I only really made real friends, however, once we met our hockey
teams. Tjalline was in the first team and I was in the seconds. This was actually
quite fortunate, since we both had two groups to join in the breaks.
During the six weeks, there were lots of activities. Take the House Hockey
Tournament for example. We both participated in the team made by our House
leaders. We had to compete against three other houses. Eventually we won. It
was very fun to play in a totally different team for once, because we met even
more people.
Those six weeks went by too quickly in my opinion. I have made such great friends,
that I still talk to them frequently and actually really miss them! If you were to apply
for exchange, I would definitely recommend to consider the Reed’s exchange in
England. This exchange really helped me open up to new people and it made
me more comfortable around strangers. The school system there is also very
different, but very fun whatsoever, I have not found it boring for one minute!
My name is Fiona White and I am currently in
the 4th year at the Rijnlands Lyceum
Wassenaar. This year, I was one of the lucky
ones, who had been given the opportunity to
go on exchange to Cape Town, South Africa.
During the last couple of months, I have hosted
a student from Cape Town and I have stayed
at her home.
During my time in South Africa, I attended Herschel Girls’ School and I explored
the stunning city and its many beautiful surroundings. Together with the other
exchanges, we hiked Table Mountain, surfed at Muizenberg, went on the Garden
Tour, and visited Robben Island, to name but a few.
Not to be forgotten, I met many new people, who were all very different and kind.
Additionally, I learned a lot about South African culture. I have tasted typical
South African foods, admired the South African art and much more...
To conclude, I believe my exchange was more than incredible but challenging
at the same time. Now looking back at my exchange, I can definitely say that it's
a once in a lifetime experience and I encourage everyone to do it!
Social Studies
5th year social studies students had to make a political cartoon for their pluralism
test. These two cartoons had to focus on the integration of muslims in the EU. Ana-
Lisa and Richard were the lucky students who made cartoons worthy for their
school exam.
THIMUN 2019
During the week of January 28th to February 1st, the 51st annual Model United
Nations Conference was held in The Hague. A week of debating and
brainstorming about real and relevant issues with delegates representing nations
and organizations from all over the world was simply an amazing experience. The
conference allows you to take a peek into the workings of the real United Nations
and you improve your debating skills further as a bonus! Furthermore, having to
host a Chinese exchange student from Beijing, who was also attending THIMUN
2019, added to the experience of interacting with people with different cultures
and languages. The challenge to overcome some of these language-barriers
proved to be both complicated and fascinating. Meeting so many students from
all over the world made making new friends and connections a lot of fun. Overall,
the THIMUN 2019 Conference was an enormous success. I take great satisfaction
into knowing that this conference was both the best as well as my last MUN-
conference and I can honestly say that I have been so proud to be a part of the
MUN-team here at the Rijnlands Lyceum Wassenaar.
Gijs Vroege 5V
International Baccaulaureate
Our May 2019 IB cohort have completed three of their five final assessments. In
December 2018, The IOC’s (Individual Oral Commentary) took place. Students
were required to engage in a 15-minute, oral critical examination of a particular
extract drawn from a work that has been studied in IB (selected poetry by
award-winning poets, Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy; as well as the
Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy). The IOC allows
students to analyze the relationship between formal elements and meaning in a
particular literary text.
In January 2019, they completed their final IB Further Oral Activity (“FOA”) and in
February, they electronically uploaded their best and final written tasks.Now the
students are busily preparing for their final two assessments (so-called Paper
Exams), worth 50% of their IB grade. Essentially, IB students sit three “Final” Exams.
For the 19th time, twenty-one RLW students will sit these Paper Exams; five will take
the Higher Level Exam and 17 will sit the Standard Level Exam. These exams will
take place during the CSE weeks. Paper 1, a textual analysis essay of an unseen
and unknown text, will be on Thursday morning, 16 May 2019. Paper 2, a literary
analysis on an unknown essay prompt about two (or three) of the novels they
studied, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret
Atwood (as well as The Crucible by Arthur Miller), will be on SATURDAY (!!) morning,
18 May 2019.
This will be the final year
that the IB students will be
allowed to swap their IB
grades (which will be
made known on 6 July
2019) for their “vwo
engels” grade on their final
“cijferlijst,” should they
wish. This is an exciting time
for all involved! We wish
the students good luck –
with their IB exams, of
course, but also their other CITO exams! May 2019 IB Pizza and Movie Night
Deb Stout, IB Coordinator
Today’s subject: dissecting!
We sent our reporter to the Rijnlands Lyceum in Wassenaar where the students were
about to do an exceptional experiment; dissecting a lamb’s heart! The students of class
A3A were the lucky ones to be able to perform this experiment under supervision of mrs
O’Herne and mr De Wit.
By our correspondent - Aloyse van Waesberghe
WASSENAAR. When walking into the classroom, you could see this experiment was taken
seriously; all the attributes to perform the experiment were all lined up on the tables.
When the students came in, they were told to make groups of three. After that, these
groups of three students were designated a table to begin the experiment. They all wore
a labcoat in order not to get blood or liquid of the lamb on their clothes. However, there
was one little surprise the students were not told: they would need to perform the
experiment without gloves! When hearing this, the students were all shocked and some
thought this would be too scary. However, in order to really get the feeling of the
experiment, this would be the best option. After some arguments, all the students had
accepted the fact that their hands would be covered in blood and other liquids from
the heart. The students were given a document with questions and needed to find the
answers to those questions. The experiment ‘dissecting a lamb’s heart had begun!
When walking through the classroom during the experiment, you could see the students
were really interested in the anatomy of the heart; they were carving into the heart and
really trying to get an overall view of it. After some carving, they found the places where
the blood vessels named arteries, carry away the deoxygenated blood and where the
veins bring oxygenated blood back to the heart. Some really enthusiastic students were
even massaging their lamb heart to know how that would feel.
After around 30 minutes, the students needed to clean everything up and so I had time
to interview some of them. The experiences and opinions differed a lot between them.
Some thought the experiment was really interesting. However, others felt bad for the
lamb and didn’t approve of the experiment. Nevertheless, those students too still thought
it was an informative experience.
BioNews Thursday 7 March 2019