Message from Ms Matillon, Director General
Dear Parents,
We have had a great deal to celebrate at Secondary this week as our Year 13 students’ offers for university places in the UK have been rolling in. Each January, our senior students, their families, Mr Crabtree and the rest of our staff are on pins and needles awaiting replies to applications, and the responses have been fantastic! Highlights are:
· Of 22 students who applied to UK universities, all have received offers – in fact, an average of more than 3 offers each, so far!
· 82% of our UK applicants have received offers from Russell Group universities
· 2 students have received offers from the University of Oxford, one to read Physics, the other to read Theology
See the article below for more details of our students’ achievements and what they can look forward to. We are exceptionally proud of all our Year 13 class for their hard work and their ambition, and for the fine example they are setting for our younger students.
Looking ahead to next week, on Monday we will mark (a few days early) the International Day of Education, as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. We will celebrate, with assemblies for all Secondary Key Stages, the role of education in promoting peace and development.
Wednesday will be a particularly busy day as, on that morning, our Year 6 class will experience the life of a GES Secondary student, taking part in Art and Science lessons at Secondary with our specialist teachers. During this time, their parents are invited to join a presentation by Victoria Newbury, Head of Middle School, about our Key Stage 3 programme. They will enjoy a tour of the school, review student work, speak with young people from across the different Key Stages, and also participate in the Science lesson with their children.
On Wednesday evening, we will hold our annual Winter Showcase featuring Art, Drama and Music work by our Key Stage 3 students. I am delighted that we will also be treated to a performance by our Key Stage 2 choir coming up from Primary, and a preview by the Performing Arts Club of their production of Sister Act which will hit the Genthod theatre, surely to rave reviews, in June. I am very much looking forward to what promises to be a glorious evening!
I wish everyone an excellent weekend, particularly our Key Stage 3 students who set off today on an exciting overnight snowshoeing adventure with Mr Pearce. Happy trails, everyone!
All the best,
Christina Matillon
Celebrating Year 13 University Offers
With the UCAS applications deadline having just closed, we are delighted to share that all of our Year 13 applicants to UK universities have received offers, of which 82% are from highly selective Russell Group universities! These include offers from the University of Oxford, University College London, Imperial College London, Durham University, the University of St Andrews, the University of Bristol, the University of Warwick, the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh.
Offers are for a broad range of subjects, including Maths, Economics, Economics and Finance, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Physiotherapy Geography, Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, Psychology, Liberal Arts, Games Design and Fashion Design.
Congratulations to all our students! We are confident that you will do brilliantly in your A Levels and achieve the required grades to confirm your places.
This week in class
It was so cold last week that Reception students simply had to share some wintry stories together! They loved reading the book The Giving Snowman by Julia Zheng, noticing just how kind the snowman in the story was. This prompted a discussion about how they can be kind to friends and what they can do to help other people.
Our young learners have also been busy playing some special winter games together. Mrs Mackenzie read out a series of clues in French and they had to work out what she was describing in relation to winter/cold. They worked brilliantly as a team, even though some clues were a little tricky!
Students also loved listening to the ‘winter noises’ around them (footprints crunching in the snow, ice being scraped off a car…) and attempted to name the action in both French and English.
Music time also had a wintry theme with the bilingual song, “Flocons de neige”, which inspired our students to dance around like little snowflakes.
Year 1 have been revising colours in French through independent play and fun rainbow challenges. The children were asked to “Chercher quelque chose…” in a chosen colour, using French, and add their item to the French colours tray. They did a fantastic job applying their language skills.
Bravo, Year 1!
Year 3 have been exploring grouping and multiplication in Maths. They found objects around the classroom and grouped them into sets of 4, then recorded their thinking in four different ways: counting the groups, using repeated addition, writing multiplication sentences and working out the total.
It was great to see them connect numbers, spot patterns, and show their thinking in so many ways.
Today’s Year 4 English lesson was all about the literary technique of characterisation.
Students looked at how authors use the same core “tricks” to develop a character. To help structure this, they turned to the acronym STEAL:
Speech
Thoughts
Effect on others
Actions
Looks (body language and clothing)
Our literary critics had lots of fun analysing how Roald Dahl created Mrs Trunchbull, before heading to the library to dig into a wide range of books and pull apart what different authors had done. They found that books aimed at younger readers worked brilliantly for this task, as characters are often developed very quickly and clearly. Students chose a fantastic range of characters, from the Gruffalo to Voldemort.
Special mention goes to Artemis, who completed her work in her native language, French, and showed that no matter the language, authors rely on the same characterisation techniques!
Year 5 and 6 artists have been exploring cityscapes, drawing on their knowledge of and technique using pastels, wax crayons, fine-liner pens, pencils for their 5-minute sketches. They also sketched and painted a well-known Geneva cityscape. Can you guess from their artwork where in Geneva this is?
Year 6 kicked off their Science topic on “Evolution and Inheritance” this week by exploring animal adaptations and investigating how effective a polar bear’s layer of fat is at conserving warmth. Our investigators plunged both their hands into icy water, with one covered with a thick layer of fat and the other hand bare.
The results of this experiment led them to discuss the importance of a bear’s access to plentiful food sources to ensure its survival, and how the melting ice caps could affect this.
Our Secondary scientists have been busy leading all kinds of experiments this week.
In Year 7, investigations were all about Hooke’s law through an experiment involving the use of various masses to extend a length of spring. By illustrating Hooke’s law in action, students were better able to understand how it is applied in day-to-day objects, such as scales and balances, clocks or in the selection of building materials.
For our Year 9 biologists, the week’s lessons involved looking at samples of blood under the microscope to count how many blood cells they could see, whilst our Year 10 students learned how to calculate the density of a liquid, a regular solid (such as a cube), and an irregular solid (such as a stone).
Beyond the Classroom
Year 7 Dental Health Workshop
Dr Charlène Kasaven, a dentist specialising in paediatric dentistry, will deliver a dental health workshop on Tuesday 27 January to all Year 7 students as part of their Personal, Social and Health Education programme. Dr Kasaven trained in the UK and currently works in several practices across Geneva.
As part of the workshop, Dr Kasaven will explain the importance of toothbrushing during a demonstration. Students are invited to get involved and bring along their toothbrushes!
There is also the option to have a free dental check for interested Year 7 students. Please refer to the email sent on Thursday 8 January to confirm whether you would like your child to have a dental check from Dr Kasaven.
Extra-Curricular Activities
First ECA Experience for Reception Students
Reception and Year 1 students had a fantastic time at their first Play-Doh Creations Club! For Reception children, this was their very first after-school club, and they were excited to visit the Year 1 classroom and get started. Everyone had great fun creating Play-Doh pizzas, exploring a range of tools and techniques, and comparing creations. Well done, Reception and Year 1!
Secondary Art Club
Our Secondary Painting Club participants have been working on their still-life painting and lino printing techniques this week, with some terrific creations starting to take shape. How lucky we are to have such accomplished artists amongst our students!
Racing Down the Mountain
The long-awaited snowfall arrived just in time for our Primary and Secondary students who joined race training last Saturday in Les Crosets.
Despite the heavy snow, our skiers threw themselves into the session and had a fantastic day on the mountain.
Our SnowPros set up gates and with 11 students for 2 instructors, each skier received focused coaching and individual tips. The challenging conditions pushed them to sharpen their technique and stay positive throughout.
Well done to all the students—and the parents—who braved the cold! Some well-deserved hot chocolate during the day helped keep everyone warm and smiling.
Community News
Clothes Collection
Our school is once again mobilising to support those in need through the Mission Chrétienne pour les Pays de l’Est!
If you have any of the following items (clean and in good condition) which you would like to donate, please drop these off in black rubbish bags (max. 60L) at our Primary campus on the morning of Monday 26 January:
· Winter clothing for children and adults of all ages (no summer items)
· Underwear (new only)
· Shoes and boots (please place these in a separate bag)
· Bedding and towels (no pillows or duvets; blankets accepted)
All donations will go towards helping families, elderly people, people with disabilities, and especially children, who are living through conflict and harsh winters in Ukraine and Moldova.
If you have any questions, please contact Zita Sheikh on +41 79 538 03 96.
Thank you for your support!
Save the Date | Secondary Careers Day
As part of our PSHE curriculum, we are organising a Careers Day for our Secondary students on Wednesday 11 March.
We would be delighted to welcome parents who wish to join us to present their career, the pathway that led them to where they are and what their day-to-day at the workplace looks like.
Further details will be communicated at a later stage but we invite you to mark the date in your calendars if you would like to share your professional experience with our students.
Raising Funds Through Art
We are very proud of our Year 9 student Zoe for her inspiring initiative to raise funds for Children in Need and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, which works to ensure that no child has to face life’s toughest moments alone.
Putting her artistic talents to the service of this cause, Zoe created a side-splitting comic telling anecdotes about school life, which she put on sale at the GES Christmas Fair. Zoe was thus able to donate £164 to each charity.
Thank you, Zoe, for setting such a great example for your peers! We look forward to seeing many more such initiatives from our students.
