Message from Mr Williams, Head
Dear families,
As we start the build-up to the festive season, we are looking forward to the Escalade races on Sunday, and then all the festivities in school until the end of term. If you are coming to Escalade on Sunday, remember to look out for our GES flags at the start line, finish line and our tent in the children’s village. Hot drinks and a GES photo will be available in the tent once you have finished the race, so please come and say hello to us there.
Over the next few weeks, we have lots of events coming up, both during the school day and after school. As always, these are in the school calendar and you are warmly invited to participate in some or all of them. Sadly, I may not be at as many events as I would like to be. I had a small operation at the start of the half term and things are taking a little while to heal, so I will be in work for half a day each day up until the holidays. I will try to move my time around to come to some of the evening events, but send apologies in advance if I am present only in spirit.
At Secondary, our Year 10 and 11 students have been working hard in their mock exams and there is a lovely studious feeling across the Secondary school. Good luck to all the students doing assessments over the next week.
Finally, I am pleased to report that our safeguarding audit went very well. We were confident that would be the case, but it is always reassuring to have external experts confirm that we are doing our jobs well – particularly when it concerns the safety and wellbeing of the children in our care! From myself and the leadership team, a big thank you to those parents and students who contributed their time and insights to this process.
Have a great weekend and maybe see you on Sunday.
Mr Williams
Head
Christmas is in the air!
Advent Calendar Challenge
The countdown to Christmas has started! We are feeling especially festive this year and have decided to produce our very own GES photo advent calendar that celebrates our school community. But we need your help!
What to do?
- Dress to impress! Take out your best Christmas outfit and take a photo (with family, friends, colleagues – the more the merrier).
- Send it along to [email protected]
- Watch our social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter), where we will be publishing the photos we receive.
Christmas Fair: One week to go!
Only 1 week left until the GES Christmas Market; the countdown is almost over and the festive fun will begin on Friday 8 December, between 15:30 – 18:00!
The bottle tombola collection is underway – thank you for all your donations, and please don’t forget to bring a nice bottle next week to the school office(s), if you haven’t already.
GES bakers, we really hope you’ll amaze us again with some Santa cupcakes, reindeer brownies or gingerbread men.
A big thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help on the day – this special afternoon wouldn’t be possible without you.
With Santa in his Grotto, Christmas crafts, games, bottle tombola, a range of tempting stalls (including some manned by very enterprising GES students), the pizza man, bake sale and bar, there will be something for everyone. We kindly remind Secondary students that they are welcome to run their own stall and can plan for this by speaking to Year 13 Student Council leaders.
Please note that there will be a school shuttle from Secondary to Primary at the end of the school day.
And don’t forget the Christmas Quiz Night starting at 19:00 at Secondary! Form a team and put your general knowledge to the test in this challenge open to students and adults alike, or join in reading out questions to our competitors.
Save the dates!
- Monday 4 December 10:35 – 10:55 Bake Sale in support of Médecins Sans Frontières – Please send in cakes to sell and/or change to buy a cake
- Tuesday 12 December
- Primary and Secondary Christmas lunches – If your child is not registered for hot lunch and you wish them to take part, please email us
- 14:30 – 15:00 Early Years and Key Stage 1 Christmas Show – Remember to book your tickets via Classlist
- 17:30 – 19:00 Key Stage 3 Disco – Tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 6 December at 3 CHF. Please bring cash in
- Wednesday 13 December
- 8:30 – 9:00 Year 3 and 4 Christmas Sing Along
- 9:00 – 9:30 Early Years and Key Stage 1 Christmas Show – Remember to book your tickets via Classlist
- 18:00 – 19:30 Secondary Winter Showcase
- Friday 15 December 8:45 – 12:00 Key Stage 3 Talent Show
From your teachers
December Reading Challenge, from Mrs Vavrecka
Ho! Ho! Ho!
This month our theme is Christmas. We hope you will enjoy this month’s reading challenge ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’.
Participants can tick off each challenge as they complete it and hand in their sheet to the class teacher once completed.
All participants will receive 5 stars for their house and a reading challenge certificate.
Happy reading and Merry Christmas!
Movember: We have a winner!
For Movember, our Secondary students mobilised to raise money by paying 1 CHF to vote for the best staff moustache. Each week in November, staff with the highest votes had to keep growing their moustache for another week until a final Movember champion was chosen.
After a month of voting, our King of the Mo is… Mr Sheppard-Burgess! Bravo to our moustachioed teacher and to our students for raising 170 CHF!
Thank you to everyone for participating and helping raise money for this important cause!
En français
Visite au Musée Romain de Nyon
Ces dernières semaines, les élèves de classe 5 ont étudié l’histoire des Romains, en commençant par le mythe de Romulus et Remus.
Tout en apprenant la chronologie des événements, les enfants ont travaillé en binômes pour créer un livre ainsi qu’un panneau dans la classe retraçant la légende de Rome.
Cette semaine nous avons passé l’après-midi au Musée Romain de Nyon.
Les enfants ont pu partager ce qu’ils ont appris en classe avec notre guide, et ont aimé répondre à ses questions, aussi bien en anglais qu’en français. Ils ont appris de nouveaux termes de vocabulaire lié aux Romains, et c’était super de les entendre parler français!
Courage à tous nos coureurs !
Venez nombreux soutenir nos élèves ce dimanche à l’occasion de la Course de l’Escalade. Pas moins de 130 de nos courageux athlètes* s’élanceront depuis la ligne de départ pour parcourir le tracé de cet événement phare de l’histoire genevoise.
Portant haut et fier les couleurs de leur école, ils battront le pavé de la Vieille Ville sur plusieurs distances.
Nous invitons toute notre communauté à nous rejoindre ce dimanche 3 décembre dès 9h00 à la tente “GES” pour encourager nos jeunes coureurs tout en partageant un moment convivial autour d’une boisson chaude et d’une gourmandise.
*Nous recommandons à chaque coureur d’apporter sa propre gourde remplie d’eau.
