Dear Parents,

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to chat with the parent of a child in Mr Vavrecka’s class who told me that, on her daughter’s second day of school this year, she said that she wishes “Year 3 could go on forever”! It is difficult to imagine a more gratifying or heartwarming compliment for a teacher than that. It made me think about how young people’s views change over the years and how our role as educators adapts to their evolving needs. A teacher of students in exam years would derive a similar level of satisfaction from hearing a student say, “You’ve made me feel ready for the next step in my educational career and I can’t wait to get there.” We really do need to savour each phase of the journey.

This week in Secondary, our Year 10 and 12 students, plus those new to our school, started their CAT4 (Cognitive Aptitude Tests), the results of which will be instrumental in setting personalised targets for each of our students. Next week, these same tests, adapted for children’s ages, will be given to students in Years 3 and 5, as well as newbies in Years 4 and 6. Please reassure your children that there is nothing they need to prepare in advance of these tests and there is no reason to be anxious about them.

Following the introductory events at the start of term, all curriculum overviews and presentations are now available for your reference on My School Portal. If you have questions about how to access this information, Adwoa in our Primary office or Gaël in our Secondary office would be happy to guide you.

In Primary, our Orchestra has kicked off the year with seven participants ranging in age from Year 3 to Year 6. We have a talented bunch of musicians taking part – two violinists, four pianists and one guitarist – and we look forward to their performance at the Rising Stars Concert in December.

Coming this evening, tomorrow and next week are a series of exciting activities and information sessions, namely:

• Tonight – Year 7 and 8 campout on the school field at Primary – Keep warm and dry, everyone!
• Tomorrow – SGIS cross-country race in Bern – All the best to our runners – Go, Team GES!
• Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th September – Phonics workshops for Reception and Key Stage 1, respectively
• Friday 19th – SGIS CAT E Football tournament for boys (at the Stade Collex Bossy) and girls (at the Stade du Blanché – Le Grand Saconnex)
• Friday 19th – Year 10 students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award leave for their kayak trip in the Ardèche

Of course, we will share news and photos when we have them.

For your diaries: Note that the date of this year’s GES Christmas Fair has been set as Friday 6th December – the same weekend as the Escalade races in the Old Town. We hope to see as many GES families as possible, representing both our Primary and Secondary schools, at both events. A link to the enrolment form for Escalade was recently shared – please sign up to run as part of Team GES! – and more information will be sent shortly regarding how you can contribute to making both the GES presence at Escalade and our Christmas Fair roaring successes. We truly appreciate the commitment and enthusiasm our parent community brings to these events for the sake of our children.

Importantly, I would like to extend a very warm thank you to GES dad, Andy Lee of Handy Andy Services, for having repaired the potholes in the Primary school car park. I am sure that everyone who has driven through it this week has felt the difference his handiwork has made, and we are ever so grateful for his help. In exchange, he and I ask that we all slow down and take extra care when dropping off and collecting children from school. Safety must remain our absolute priority in this busy part of our school grounds.

I would like to close my message this week with excerpts from two emails I received yesterday, both of which were an absolute joy to read, and now to share:

“My children run out of school laughing and full of joy… they are growing every day and it is thanks to the GES family.”
Primary parent

“… the teaching and the desire to get the best of each student is still top of the agenda and there is a passion for teaching which has not faded.”
Secondary parent

What a perfect way to end the week!

All the best,

Christina Matillon

This week we shine a light on Science at GES, from Early Years through to A Level.

Skills and methods are on par with content. Practical experiments form the basis of learning. Students are thus not only prepared for upper secondary exam requirements, they also develop essential skills such as leading investigations, collecting and analysing data, or forming hypotheses.

For our learners as young as 3 years old, Science is built into the curriculum. Starting with activities linked to the seasons, by the end of Primary school the children have learnt to plan, conduct and analyse investigations. They acquire such terminology as controlled and independent variables through songs and focus primarily on learning to think as a scientist.

Science is a core subject in the English national curriculum. All students taking GCSE exams at GES will leave with at least two grades in Sciences and can opt for the full courses in all three natural sciences: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. These are popular subject choices at A Level, with many students pursuing scientific paths. Amongst the 2023 and 2024 leavers, chosen courses included Astrophysics and Medicine.

Our enrichment programme includes STEAM clubs: Year 6 children are conducting various experiments in the Secondary lab, while Key Stage 3 are designing, building and testing a kite.

Beyond applying scientific methods to future university and professional careers in Science, the skills that the students acquire through Science prepare them for society at large. The ability to gather evidence before forming an opinion is increasingly important in a world of social media frenzies and polarised communities.

Dr Barbara Chalmers joined the GES family in August 2024 as our new Lead Teacher of Physics, focusing on the GCSE and A Level courses. Barbara decided to become a school teacher after a successful career in industry and academia. She has previously taught in a local British curriculum school, as well as several universities including the University of Oxford. Amongst the various subjects she has taught are Maths, Physics and Psychology.

Barbara grew up in Holland and left in her early twenties to undertake a PhD at the University of Glasgow. During her PhD, she worked on a CERN experiment and was often based in Geneva. Barbara’s greatest achievement is supporting her three daughters as they are growing up; two of them have gone to university in the UK. Beyond her many academic talents, Barbara enjoys life drawing.

As a teacher, Barbara particularly enjoys getting to know the students and discussing exciting concepts in Physics that are new to them, such as particle physics and special relativity. One of the things she loves about GES is the calm atmosphere in the corridors and the friendliness of the students. Her advice to students is that studying can be fun, that it’s ok to ask questions and to be critical, and that learning is not possible without making mistakes. It is only through learning new things and listening to other viewpoints that you can change your perspective and grow.