IB TOK Exhibition Sep 2021

We were delighted to be able to welcome our IB families to school on Thursday 16th September to enjoy our first IB TOK Exhibition.

This Exhibition is the culmination of a great deal of work that took place in Year 12: students had to choose one of the 35 Exhibition prompts and 3 objects from their own lives that they will explore this prompt through. An example of a prompt is 'Why do we seek knowledge?' The choice of objects is practically endless: we saw on display a dictionary, a piece of cardboard, pictures of fish, and a digital watch.

The Year 13s took it in turns (first Mr Crismond's class, then Ms Donnelly's class) to stand by their exhibits and explain the thinking on display. It was wonderful to hear the clarity of thought they possess about questions so challenging and complex! It also felt really positive to have families in school, something many of our guests commented on. We hope to be able to host more events for our families in the very near future.

We also invited other Secondary teachers and our Year 12 students to the Exhibition. Armed with a reflection task, the Year 12s circulated the Exhibition, hopefully getting inspired as they listened to their Year 13 peers explain their work! Year 12s will be hosting their own Exhibition at the end of this Academic Year, so this was a great way to show what is in store for them.

Please see some students' quotes below.

"The TOK Exhibition was a new experience for me as I had to present my exhibition to people who had limited TOK knowledge and did not know about TOK before. Therefore, I had to learn how to explain the exhibition by using different terminology and formulating my ideas in a simpler but precise way. Additionally, I enjoyed listening to other classmates presenting their exhibitions."

"Before the TOK exhibition started, I felt this nervous but an exciting emotion because this was a new experience for me. I was afraid that I would stutter or forget what to say, but the moment I was standing in front of an audience, I found myself speaking the language of TOK fluently. To say I was also surprised at myself is an understatement, but the encouraging words and compliments from teachers, parents and other peers was what made all the hard work I put into my exhibition worth it. What was also interesting was to see non-TOK learners take their own perspective in answering the prompt; it made me realized how TOK as a subject can interest a wide range of communities."

Update from Ms. Sarah Donnelly

Assistant Head of Secondary - IB Coordinator, Higher Education Advisor