April 3, 2026 - Secondary School Principal Blog
Mr Mike Simpson
Dear Secondary School Families,
| 🎨 Human Art: How Refreshing! |
This week I have been reflecting on how important human art is right now.
In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence - where images are perfected in seconds, music is generated on command, and social media offers a constant stream of curated, polished lives - it is easy to forget what it feels like to encounter something real. It feels great!
Last night, I experienced exactly that at the IB Art Exhibition. Walking through the exhibition, I was energized and curious. These were not works designed by algorithms to please an audience or maximize engagement. They were pieces shaped by wonderful humans, full of personal meaning. Some were technically refined; others were raw and exploratory. All were real. I loved hearing what inspired them and how they were made. It was so refreshing. It is the back story that makes art special, and AI has no story.
And tonight and tomorrow night, we get to enjoy more wonderful human art - the ISY musical production of ‘Once Upon a Mattress.’ I have had a sneak preview of what is coming and it is fantastically fun. I will go to both performances and I know they will be slightly different because they are performed by real humans who are energized by a real audience. 
In contrast, so much of what surrounds our students today is fake and engineered toward perfection, and to me, that is tiresome and boring. And in striving to be perfect, we need to be careful that we do not become tiresome and boring ourselves.
Our students are neither tiresome nor boring and I am so grateful that they are pushing back against perfection and creating their own art for all of us to enjoy together.
See you at the show!
Kind Regards,
Mr. Mike Simpson
Secondary School Principal
| 🎭 ISY Musical: Once Upon A Mattress |
Tonight and tomorrow night, April 3 and 4, your family is invited to the school to watch our Secondary students perform the musical Once Upon a Mattress. This musical, made famous on Broadway, is based on the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." Our students have worked incredibly hard over the past few months to present an engaging show!
| 🗞 ISY IB Diploma Art Exhibition |
Our Grade 12 students have developed a body of work that is the culmination of sustained inquiry, experimentation, and creative exploration. A private viewing took place last night and it was wonderful. The exhibition will remain up in the Chinthe Hub until Wednesday. I thoroughly recommend stopping by.
| 👨🎓 Graduation in sight for our seniors |
Our Seniors have finished their mock exams and are now in preparation mode for their final examinations in April.
They also continue to be offered places at some very prestigious institutions. We are excited to celebrate these achievements with our community, so look out for more information from our communications team in the coming weeks.
Roll on Graduation!
|
🗞 University Admissions: Insider Tips 6:00 PM | 💻 ONLINE: Zoom Link |
This week’s University Admissions: Insider Tips workshop will be on Tuesday, April 7. It will focus on scholarships. These workshops are online (see Zoom link above) from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. See below for a schedule of upcoming workshops.
| 🏅Sports at ISY: Personalized pathways to excellence |
At ISY, sport is not only about performance; it is about how our athletes respond to challenge. They learn to adapt, stay focused, and keep going when things are not easy. This approach builds resilience, self-awareness, and confidence over time, something you can see reflected in our recent match highlights and updates on the Athletics Department page.
✨ What’s On:
