Creativity is one of 12 attributes that constitute the IB Learner Profile and a trait that can be found strongly represented in the Lauremont School mission and vision. Across the early part of this year in both the MYP and DP programmes, evidence of student creativity can be seen directly in the work of students and is embedded across the MYP and DP curricula. 

One such example is in Grade 8 where our students, led by Ms. Wong, have hit the ground running with their exciting MYP Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU), Revving Up the Future. This dynamic project brings together Language & Literature and Design, encouraging students to tackle real-world challenges through a creative and interdisciplinary lens. At Lauremont School, we are proud to see principled action—a hallmark of the IB experience—come to life as students dive into this meaningful endeavour.

In Revving Up the Future, students are tasked with designing an electric car concept aimed at revitalizing the Canadian auto industry. Guided by the MYP Design Cycle, they will progress through the key phases of research and investigation, ideation and prototyping and refinement to bring their innovative concepts to life. Complementing their design work, students will leverage their English skills to craft a professional patent document and deliver a persuasive pitch. The grand finale? A presentation at our very own Canadian Auto Show on January 16, 2025, where their creativity and hard work shined.

To further enrich their journey, we have planned an exciting field trip for Friday, November 29. Students visited the Canadian Automotive Museum in Oshawa to explore Canada’s vibrant history in automotive design and engineering. They will also participate in a hands-on workshop at the local STEAM Project, where they dived into 3D modelling—a perfect blend of history and cutting-edge innovation.

This interdisciplinary project is a celebration of creativity, sustainability and Canadian ingenuity. It exemplifies how Lauremont School’s IB programme empowers students to think critically, act responsibly and engage meaningfully with global challenges. We cannot wait to see the sparks of innovation fly as our students rev up their imaginations!

A second noteworthy example occurred in October when Governor General Award winner Cliff Cardinal heard parts of his play, William Shakespeare’s As You Like It: A Radical Retelling (2022), performed by others for the first time, it was the Grade 10 Drama class, led by Mr. Benson,  who did it. Their self-selected monologues made the playwright cover his mouth to steady involuntary exclamations, astonished by the play’s possibilities through these young actors’ interpretations of a complex, visceral work addressing the ongoing injustices faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.

In Theatre Arts, creativity is a vulnerable trifecta of mind, body and soul. Bringing a politically significant Canadian work to life demands an enduring process. For their first creative act, the students chose lines they felt would provoke the community to reflect on land acknowledgements and connections to Indigenous Peoples. They interpreted Cliff Cardinal’s depictions, developing an understanding of his play at the word and image level to empathise with its ideas.

Understanding the emotional possibilities of the play’s production and reception context means the performance is more than mere recitation. The students had to embody Cliff Cardinal’s voice and intent. To assess their impact, they first performed for each other, seeking clarity in their articulation. After collaboration they supplied revisions and performed for Grade 10 History and Grade 11 Theory of Knowledge classes as an audience. Each word, muscle and moment became a culmination of layered creative acts.

When the Drama class learned they would perform for Cardinal himself, they made last-minute adjustments to refine their delivery with sincerity. His visit became a lesson in humility, humour and the importance of culture and context in shaping a deeply personal, revolutionary work. Most significantly, when Cardinal shared how Lauremont’s young actors inspired new ideas for his own staging and lines—perfectly illustrating the creative continuum inherent in the Arts—the class began to understand the profound relationship between actor, audience, and playwright. This connection, I believe, is beautifully captured in the play’s final lines: “We. / Are. / All. / Related. / Family.” (Cardinal 74).

A final example comes from our DP Group 4 Science classes. Every year, students in Grade 12 undertake the IB Internal Assessment (IA), which in Science is a student-designed lab report that must address a specific research question. Students are able to choose an area of interest, develop their research question and hypothesis, design their experiment and make reasoned conclusions based on their results. 

This year, Sarah O. (Class of 2025) through her interest in medicine and physiology, wanted her IA to stem from human anatomy. After coming across a website called Human Benchmarks, Sarah found herself quite fascinated by the ideas presented on the site and was spurred to design an experiment that would measure the causal relationship between temperature and human reaction time. In mid-January, when the Grade 12 students had designated time to conduct their experiments and collect their data, Sarah ran a number of trials to collect an extensive set of data points in an attempt to substantiate her hypothesis. As part of her design, she is also hoping to compare the reaction times between genders as well. 

The IDU, Grade 10 Drama initiative and DP Science IA are good examples of how the IB Programme stimulates and helps to develop creativity. Students are tasked with applying their creative thinking to design challenges, to interpret readings and dramatize their ideas and to pursue experiments in passion areas. At Lauremont, creativity knows no bounds.