Caroline de Loriol-Ryssel was a student at Geneva English School in the late 1970’s and worked recently as Office Administrator at both the Primary and Secondary campus, between 2019 and 2022. Her oldest son is still attending the School, currently in Year 12, studying A Levels.

Caroline has kindly agreed to share some photos and memories of her time at school when she was a pupil.

My years at GES as a pupil

I arrived at GES in 1978 as a pupil in Year 4 and left in Year 6. It was a small school and was located in La Capite, Vésenaz. At that time, Mr. Unsworth was the Headmaster alongside many of the staff members who had been there for many years it seemed!

Friendships

I have very fond memories of my time as a pupil at the School for a variety of reasons; namely, the friendships that I made and which continue to this day. We were a very close-knit year group; one of my fondest memories was sharing a room during Ski Camp in Rougemont and arguing as to who would sleep in the top bunk bed.

Staff

The staff were highly respected and had a caring attitude towards us: they had the pupils’ best interests at heart and whilst there was a strong sense of discipline, kindness prevailed in each specific situation.
I am still in touch with some of the Upper School teachers who guided us towards Secondary which, in my case, proved to be an entirely different experience to GES as I left Geneva and went to boarding school in England within an extremely formal setting.

Values

The values that GES taught me were the importance of allowing each individual to be truly themselves and encouraging a sense of belonging to a like-minded community with common goals: respect, kindness and above all, that learning can take place in a fun and interactive manner. These core values remain essential to GES today which is why I decided to send three of my children to the School.

Former member of the GES Community

Nearly 40 years later, I was back at GES working in an administrative capacity! Being a member of staff was an exciting opportunity to experience the School from within as it continues to expand, both in terms of the development of technology with new, innovative platforms as well as interacting with prospective parents and last but certainly not least, working alongside an amazing array of dedicated teachers and managers alike.