Message from Ms Matillon, Director General
Dear Parents,
Many people have heard me say that the backbone of any school is the three-way relationship between children, their parents and school staff. Teachers, management and associate staff look after your children all day, ensuring their learning, development and safety, but it is only when we include parents that we have a thriving and joyous community.
With that in mind, I would like to thank the parents who, at Monday’s AGM, made the commitment to drive the 2024-2025 Parents Association forward. In a quick and efficient meeting, the PA’s Articles of Association were approved and key committee members were elected, namely:
- Fiona Henderson-Ross (President)
- Zita Sheikh (Treasurer)
- Sarah Wainwright (Secretary)
- Hermione Garelli
- Susie Leslie
I look forward to working with these brave and dynamic mums, along with Class Reps and hopefully many parent volunteers, to make upcoming events successful and lots of fun for all. Onward ho (ho ho) to the Christmas Fair!
Whilst on the topic of parent involvement, this week Ms Mounzer came in to speak to our Year 3 and Year 4 classes on behalf of her “Send My Friend to School” campaign. Ms Mounzer first spoke to me about this extremely worthy cause many months ago, and I know her to be deeply passionate about education – that of her daughters and of all children. As such, I was not at all surprised when I heard that she had volunteered her time to speak in school. I am certain that she gave her audience a great deal to think about, including how lucky they are to be growing up in such a sheltered and stable environment. Thank you, Nada, for sharing with us.
Whilst we are extremely privileged here in Switzerland, enjoying greater safety than most anywhere in the world, we are also conscious of potential dangers and the need to be alert and prepared. I would like to recognise the effort made by teachers across our Primary and Secondary campuses as they rehearsed a “remain” (AMOK) drill with our students. This sensitive, but vitally important, exercise was completed in an appropriate manner for all year groups, ensuring that children know what to do in case of an emergency in school. I believe that our teachers did an excellent job of instructing and informing the children, being careful not to frighten them – a delicate balance to get right. We held fire drills in school earlier in the year, and we will organise others in the coming terms.
Following our Personal, Social, Heath and Economics curriculum, we celebrated anti-bullying week in our Primary school with an assembly today focusing on kindness. Everyone present left our gym determined to be kind, which, after all, is one of our school rules! In Secondary, the second of five days this year dedicated to PSHE will take place on Monday, this time with the theme “Living in the Wider World”. Topics covered will range from the very practical (for example, how to effectively budget and evaluate savings options) to discussions of much broader ideas, including equality in life and work, how to challenge stereotypes, and how to use feedback constructively when planning for the future. I can tell from the work that has gone into planning the curriculum that our Years 7-13 students will have a thought-provoking and constructive day.
In closing, I wish the best of luck to our Year 5 and 6 netballers for their tournament tomorrow, and a lovely weekend to all!
All the best,
Christina Matillon
A Successful Trip for the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition
This week, ten adventurous Year 11 students took on the challenge of their assessed Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition in Alicante.
On top of the usual Spanish sunshine, the route was even more varied and beautiful than expected, and our expedition-goers enjoyed some spectacular sunsets over a desert, canal paths and sea views along the coastline. The first night spent at a campsite with hot springs was a bit more luxurious than most expeditions but the idea behind the award is to push students to challenge themselves in an unfamiliar environment and the area most certainly did this. Day one involved setting up bikes, 75 km of challenging navigation and many hills, leading to both groups arriving exhausted in the dark. Resolved to get up early the next day, the hot springs got the better of our adventurers and this, along with a flat tire, led to another hectic finish. Finally, both groups showed they had learned from their previous mistakes and finished strongly, showing great teamwork to help each other through cramps and fatigue on the final day.
Our students were a credit to the school. In fact, a couple who sat next to the accompanying adults during the celebratory meal after the expedition finished mentioned how impressed they were with how social and grown-up the group were. Special credit goes to Finn, who really carried his group with his diligent planning, navigation and general organisation, and to Ella, who has already completed all the other elements of the award in advance of the expedition.
Click here for photos of the expedition and mark your calendars with the dates below for more exciting trips to come:
- 19-20 January: Year 11-13 walking to a berghütte and sledding in Suisse alémanique.
- 7-8 February: Year 7-8 snowshoeing to a cabane in the Jura.
- 7-8 March: Year 9-10 walking from a berghotel and sledding in the Valais.
This week in class
Year 2 kicked off the new term with an exciting delivery: an old fashioned suitcase packed full of belongings including a leather jacket, hat, goggles, map and diary from the late 1920s/early 1930s. Using their detective and inference skills, our young sleuths found out that the owner was none other than Amelia Earhart, the American aviation pioneer.
This discovery launched both their English and History topics about notable women who impacted the world with their groundbreaking engineering skills, pioneering spirit and record breaking flying achievements. Students continued to discover several texts about other more modern flying modes of transport, exploring the features of explanation texts and sharing their new-found knowledge with their friends.
To mark Remembrance Day, Year 4 spent time thinking about all the things they are grateful for, including safety, nature, family and friends, access to food and water, and much more.
Turning to art, they designed poppies and labeled each petal with all they are thankful for.
What do the French words “canine”, “molaire”, “prémolaire”, “incisive” all have in common? They are all teeth!
Seizing the opportunity for transdisciplinary learning, Year 4 combined their knowledge learned as part of their Science Unit on “Animals including Humans” with their understanding of French vocabulary to label a diagram of the mouth.
Today, our Year 3 and 4 students explored how emergencies like famine, floods, droughts, and conflict affect education worldwide.
Our guest speaker, Nada Radwan Mounzer from Send My Friend to School, sparked a lively debate on what defines an emergency and how these events impact children’s education. She shared how SMF supports these children and challenged our students to think of ways they can help ensure every young person’s right to quality education is respected.
Inspiring conversations for future change-makers!
Beyond the Classroom
International Day of Tolerance
Tomorrow, Saturday 16 November, is UNESCO’s International Day of Tolerance, a day that marks respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.
Ahead of tomorrow’s global celebrations, our Head of Secondary Geography, Mr Jake Shreeve, exchanged with students about what tolerance means and stands for.
Using the trailer for the film The Old Oak by Ken Loach, Mr Shreeve invited students to share their thoughts on how tolerance towards Syrian refugees was demonstrated (or not) by inhabitants of a poor mining town in northern England.
The assembly concluded with a powerful lesson for all: to show respect to one another regardless of differences in culture, language and beliefs.
Year 11 Geography Fieldwork
Our Year 11 geographers participated in an educational visit to Nant du Braille River to complete fieldwork investigating river processes. This aligned perfectly with the theoretical work that they have been completing for their Geography iGCSE, and enabled them to gain a deeper, practical understanding of the river processes that shape the landscapes around them.
Fieldwork is an integral part of the iGCSE Geography curriculum as it enables students to experience the subject in action. Fieldwork strengthens students’ skills by allowing them to explore issues and questions in a real-world context that frequently produces uncertain or ‘grey’ outcomes. This, in turn, encourages them to question their own findings and nurtures analytical and critical thinking competences and builds resilience.
A Cultural Tour of Venice
Our Year 12-13 returned from their trip to Venice with stars in their eyes from all the art, music and history they absorbed during their travels.
Visiting numerous museums and galleries, as well as the one-of-a-kind Venice Biennale, our culture vultures travelled through Venice’s millenium-long history through the prism of the works of art it has produced through the years.
They returned with only positive memories and feedback, some of which we have shared below:
Fleur: I really admire the passion that Ms De Bortoli has for Venice and how she shared her love of this city with us. I learnt so many things about religion and art, for example at the Academia museum, which was full of imagination and creativity from different cultures.
Qaira: Seeing the enormous paintings in the Academia was mind-blowing, as it shows that they were painted with so much passion, care and dedication. The paintings being 10 times my size amazes me, especially given how much detail is being put into every shadow and highlight, on everything from clothing to fingernails
Yannick: I enjoyed the variety of paintings and conversations we had surrounding them, and the Guggenheim was extremely interesting.
Matthew B: Art in Venice not only teaches one about how things change over time but how people change over time too. Discovering modern art and the ways it provokes the brain was undoubtedly stimulating and inspiring.
Celeste: I loved spending time at art galleries and museums, especially the Academia.
Antonio: I was inspired for the year ahead by our group’s visit to the Biennale.
Eva: Our visit to the Biennale left no room for anything but wonder. Each country’s creative and powerful understanding of the theme “Foreigners Everywhere” was captivating and made me feel less alone in the world.
Matthew C: We had the best guide who really conveyed how much they loved the city and an amazing art teacher who made me gain even more appreciation for the subject. So much joy was crammed into four days. This trip was a real gift and should of course be carried on to the next generation of GES students as it would enrich them culturally. I hope they will have as much fun as we had!
The students were all very grateful to both Ms De Bortoli and Ms Hopley for organising the trip.
A full account by teachers and students will be available soon.
Extra-Curricular Activities
There’s no such thing as “too many cooks spoil the broth” in After School Care! In fact, the more, the merrier! Joining forces in concocting their latest recipe, our ASC-goers thoroughly enjoyed deciphering the recipe instructions and baking some delicious muffins.
School and Community News
Registration Open for Quiz Night
Next Friday 22 November is our Quiz Night, organised by our wonderful Class Parent Representatives!
Primary and Secondary parents and students are welcome to attend, and can register to participate as individuals or teams on this link.
We look forward to seeing many of you there!
Christmas Fair | Call for Volunteers and Stall Keepers
The countdown has started for our beloved Christmas Fair, which is only three short weeks away! We are still missing many volunteers, and would love to have as much student and parent participation as possible on the various stands that make this community event such a great success. We have a number of volunteer slots available for parents to lend a hand on tasks as varied as food and drinks sales, face painting and crafts workshops for children, tombola holders and more. Click here to sign up.
Students and parents wishing to hold a stall at the fair can register on this link.
Save the Date
With the festive season coming up, we have an exciting programme of cultural events lined up to celebrate our students’ progress in their music and dance lessons.
Save the date for our upcoming concerts, recitals and performances!
Mark Your Calendars | Key Stage 3 Disco
Don’t forget to pencil in the Key Stage 3 disco coming up on Friday 29 November.
Parents whose children will be attending are invited to an apéritif at Secondary while their children dance the night away! More to come from the Class Representatives.
Faces of GES
Our Faces of GES microscope falls on Amik Lanfranco this week, our dedicated Secondary Science and Art Technician who joined our school in November 2023. Amik graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Malta and an MSc in Sustainability from Anglia Ruskin University, and has experience working in a number of schools in Malta and London as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. Among her many achievements, Amik successfully led a team of biology experiment demonstrators for Malta’s Science in the City festival in 2015 and 2016.
A fount of knowledge for anything scientific, Amik is the go-to person for both students and staff whenever the idea for a new experiment comes to mind. This is precisely one of the things she enjoys most about her role in our school: that no two days are the same and that every day brings with it a new challenge! Especially appreciative of our school’s welcoming atmosphere, Amik considers GES the perfect environment for students to thrive and she is the first to urge each of our learners not to measure their life by anyone else’s, but to set themselves their own challenges, dreams, goals and aspirations.
Beyond the laboratory, Amik is a music enthusiast and her training as a classical pianist has not only enabled her to learn songs by ear but also to develop perfect pitch!
