Issue: 34 | Friday 14th June 2024

Message from Mr Williams, Headteacher

Dear Parents,

I don’t know about you, but some of my favourite memories from school are from residential trips I went on as a child. Camping in Wales, visiting the south of France, exploring caves, not being able to sleep because everyone in the dormitory was talking! All of these things are special memories of growing up and are ones that children across GES will be making next week. Our Key Stage 3 students will be exploring Naples whilst our Primary students will be closer to home in Switzerland. This weekend as you may be dashing around shops trying to get everything on the kit list, please spare a thought of thanks to the teachers who have planned, organised and are supervising the trips. The trips couldn’t happen without the hard work of our staff and I for one am very grateful for all the work that has gone into creating these experiences for our community.

Our Year 10 students will be experiencing the world of work on work experience and I hope that they enjoy their first experience of the workplace. Thank you if you or your work are hosting GES students next week, we really appreciate the effort that will go into making sure that they have a great time.

Next week also marks the final stretch for our GCSE and A-Level examinees, who have all been working extremely hard. We are proud of how resilient they have been during these intense few weeks and look forward to celebrating the end of exams with them. The end of exams also means that our Year 13 students’ time in school draws to a close. Each of them, no matter how long they have been with us at GES, has made a mark on our school community and we will be honouring their time with us and toasting their future successes at a graduation send-off next Friday.

When everyone returns from the trips, we then have an action packed week of after school activities with the Beauty and the Beast production on Monday, The Addams Family on Tuesday, our Year 6 graduation event on Wednesday and then our end of term community picnic on Friday. Please come along to these events, especially the picnic, so we can see the school year out in style.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Matt Williams

From the Primary School

An Action-Packed Morning for Early Years

The sun shone and the parent turnout was great for our Early Years Sports Day this week! Giving it their all at the various activities planned for them, our youngest learners hiked over obstacle courses and sprinted down the running track to the cheers of their families, teachers and older peers, who had come together to coach them during this athletic event.

Well done to all participants!

Click here for photos

Reminder | Beauty and the Beast

Don’t forget!

The Year 5 and 6 performance of Beauty and the Beast will take place on Monday 24 June at 17:30 at the Espace Culturel de Genthod.

We look forward to seeing many of you for this evening of song and dance.

Free admission


N’oubliez pas !

Le spectacle, Beauty and the Beast, des classes 5 et 6 aura lieu le lundi 24 juin à 17h30 à l’Espace Culturel de Genthod.

Nous nous réjouissons de vous voir nombreux pour cette soirée de chant et de danse.

Entrée libre

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

You know there is something especially tasty being concocted in After School Care when there are beaming smiles across the board! In their latest cooking session, our little chefs baked some mouth-watering banana and chocolate chip muffins, which permeated the school with that oh-so-comforting aroma of warm sweet treats.

Click here to see them in full cooking action

News from Secondary

All Hands on Deck

Our Year 7 and 8 Outdoor Club participants had a fantastic time during their overnight trip to Rolle last weekend. Spending the afternoon sailing, our mariners put to the test their skills in and understanding of navigation, wind awareness, balance and docking.

They then set up their tents at a nearby campsite and came together to cook their own food and dine together.

See photos here

Reminder | The Addams Family

Coming up on Tuesday 25 June at 18:00 at the Espace Culturel de Genthod, The Addams Family musical comedy will bring to life eccentric and ghoulish characters whose affinity for all things macabre has enchanted audiences around the world.

Save the date for this performance by our Secondary thespians!

Free admission

A Melting Pot of Fun in Science Club

Our Science Club participants have ended the year with a bang! To mark the Club’s final session, our scientists went all out and organised some exciting explosive experiments using dry ice. Learning about the process of sublimation, they witnessed how dry ice changes from a solid to a gaseous state, and each participant took home a dry ice fountain as a souvenir.

See the photos here

School News

Flying with Sunflowers at Geneva Airport

Geneva Airport has joined a wonderful global initiative, the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, which our school wholeheartedly supports and which we wished to share with you.

Henceforth, persons with hidden disabilities can opt to wear a sunflower badge (available at the GVAssistance desk) to signal discreetly to airport personnel that they may need special assistance or extra time in their journey through the airport. This enables airport staff to propose an adapted route that takes into account the individual needs of persons with disabilities so as to ensure they enjoy smooth and successful travel.

Find out more here

Faces of GES

Our next Faces of GES goes to Secondary as we put the spotlight on Diana de Bortoli, English and EAL teacher since August 2023. Coming to us from the United Kingdom, Diana previously worked in inner-London schools in both Westminster and Camden. From her very first contact with English at age 8, Diana fell in love with the language and knew she wanted to be an English teacher. Beyond the creative aspect of planning lessons and working out how to make difficult concepts accessible to students of all abilities, she especially enjoys working with young people and experiencing their understanding of the world. Her advice to her students? To choose a course of study that they are passionate about and not think about work or what might come next because, after all, school and university are just the starting point! At GES, Diana was delighted to find students who feel not only happy with their studies, but also safe and, therefore, in ideal conditions to learn and grow.

Unsurprisingly for a language teacher, Diana is also a ravenous bookworm, and if she could invite any three people to a dinner party, she would choose Mikhail Bulgakov, Nikolay Gogol and Aldo Palazzeschi, three authors whose extraordinary novels Master and Margarita, The Dead Souls and the Materassi Sisters, she especially loves. Beyond books, Diana is in love with the arts in general, always keen to see a new exhibition, visit a museum or enjoy a good film.