Message from Mr Crabtree, Executive Head
Dear Parents,
This penultimate week of term has again been wonderfully busy, so I will keep this week’s newsletter concise and recommend that you invest some time in viewing the fabulous photo galleries of the children’s activities.
This time of the academic year is one to look both back and ahead: our Year 3 and 4 pupils have arrived back from their residential stay in Torgon, likewise Key Stage 3 students have just landed with their teachers from their stays in the city and by the sea in Amsterdam and the coast near Bordeaux.
On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a wonderful celebration of our Year 11 GCSE class with their parents at Secondary as they finished their examinations. The evening was the embodiment of the GES Community values as we wished the very best to those students and families relocating internationally and moving on to new schools. My message was that, although they are leaving GES, they will always be welcome back at school should they be passing by Versoix in the future. They go with our best wishes, and will begin the next stage in their schooling with the deserved self-confidence of their academic achievement at GES.
As is the nature of life, next week we will bid a fond farewell to a small number of colleagues, as Mrs Cryer and Mrs Carr retire, Mme Duits and Ms Colwill move to pastures new, and we welcome back Ms Cesmat from extended maternity leave. I know you will join me in sharing our very best wishes to each of them as we thank them more formally next week for their contributions to our school.
I write this as we prepare for the academic highlight of the Secondary School year, the Year 13 Graduation! The sun is shining and I can’t wait to welcome our graduating class and their loved ones to celebrate the culmination of their Secondary education with friends, families, teachers, speeches, certificates and applause – truly deserved!
Best wishes,
Daniel Crabtree
Celebrating our Year 11 Cohort
We were delighted to host an end of year celebration for our Year 11 students this week at our Secondary campus!
Welcoming parents and family members to school, this festive occasion marked the culmination of two years of hard work and study for their GCSE and IGCSE exams, the results of which they will receive in August. They received certificates of completion from the hands of our Mr Crabtree, who congratulated them for all their achievements within and beyond the classroom.
We wish them all the very best for the next stage of their academic journey: A Levels and then university!
Beyond the classroom
A Trip Up the Mountain for Key Stage 1
Our Key Stage 1 students had the most wonderful day at Signal de Bougy, where the focus was all about fun!
Spending time with friends in the sunshine was the perfect way to celebrate a fantastic year together. They thoroughly enjoyed taking car and boat rides, exploring the vast park, visiting all the animals, and had fun playing in the sand and water. To top off a memorable day, they finished with a well-deserved ice-cream treat!
Thank you, Key Stage 1, for such a wonderful day out in the mountains and for making this year so special.
Year 3-4 Adventure in Torgon
Our Year 3 and 4 students were up in Torgon this week for their much-awaited residential trip!
During the day, they were divided into year groups to take part in a wide range of activities specially organised for them by the excellent team at Camp Suisse. For Year 3, this included a hilariously fun session of frisbee golf, archery practice and learning the valuable skill of shelter building. For our adventurers in Year 4, the trip’s events focused on teambuilding exercises in the forest, including an exhilarating mountain bike tour, a route hike whereby teams had to work together to solve riddles and find their way, and sports activities in the great outdoors.
Lodged in the same accommodation of Camp Suisse, Year 3 and 4 also shared meals together and both year groups delighted in showing us their spectacular dance moves during the groovy disco evening!
We are proud of all of them for the team spirit they demonstrated throughout the trip, and for throwing themselves so willingly into all the exciting activities. Bravo, Year 3 and 4!
A big thank you goes to Mr Bradley, Miss Sawyer, Mrs Humphreys, Mme Durey and Mr Rademaker for accompanying yet another successful trip to Torgon, and to all the coaches at Camp Suisse for this fantastic three-day trip!
Click here for photos of Year 3 in action.
Click here for photos of Year 4 in action.
An Artistic Session at Secondary
What a fabulous experience our Year 5 artists had during their Art lesson over at Secondary! Under the expert guidance of Mrs Hopley, they each created a mixed media artwork of a cat, using oil pastels and watercolour.
At the same time, Secondary students James and Zoe ran a silkscreen print workshop, enabling their younger peers to make a dragon print! The morning was rounded off with an exhibition of their work, during which the children were encouraged to appraise and discuss one another’s work.
Transitioning to Secondary
Students in Year 6 had a terrific, eye-opening transition morning yesterday to experience life as a first year Secondary student!
Our Secondary team of teachers had prepared a busy schedule for them: in their Science lesson, they investigated sound waves and pitch using a balloon, marble and hex nut, while in Performing Arts they took on the role of the witches in Macbeth to concoct all kinds of spells and wickedness. In Art, they designed their sketch books in the style of American artist Keith Haring, while in their Spanish lesson, they learned all kinds of football-related words as a fun celebration of the ongoing World Cup!
Travelling to Amsterdam
What a whirlwind of a trip our Key Stage 3 students enjoyed to Amsterdam this week!
Stepping into the shoes of scientists, their trip began with visits to the Space Exposition Noordwijk, the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, the NEMO Science Museum and Bodyworld Amsterdam. These institutions truly were a great occasion to see and experience science in action. Students were able to test their engineering skills and perfect their understanding of physics, discover the ins and outs of space exploration, and travel back millions of years to when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
At the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House, they put their preparatory work from their Art and History lessons to the test, recalling the historical contexts of both these figures from the past and the lasting impacts they have had on the world.
Well done to all of them for their impeccable behaviour, natural curiosity and enthusiasm throughout the trip, and thank you to Ms Newbury, Mr McSweeney and Mr Dupont-Panon for making this trip such a memorable one.
A Swashbuckling Trip
The other half of our Key Stage 3 students travelled to Carcans in France for a delightfully refreshing residential trip by the sea.
Their days were spent receiving expert tuition from the UCPA activity centre’s coaches on all kinds of nautical sports, including surfing, sailing, windsurfing, paddle-boarding and catamaran sailing! Working individually or in groups based on the sport they practised, they were able to develop their teamwork skills, balance and endurance, facing the unpredictability of the waves and the wind, persevering to get up and try again when they toppled into the water, and loving every moment of it!
Bravo to all of them for their resilience and thank you to our accompanying staff, Mr Sheppard-Burgess, Mr Pearce, Ms McGowan and Ms Rifflard.
A World Full of Illusions
A full, tailor-made programme of activities was planned for students not taking part in the residential trips, which included explorations of the great outdoors and cultural visits in the nearby area.
Two of our Year 9 students, James and Zoe, had a fantastic morning at the Museum of Illusions in Geneva! Exploring mind-bending puzzles and perspective-defying exhibits, they were thrilled to discover the stomach-churning vortex tunnel and clever optical illusions and interactive rooms that challenged their sense of balance and reality. A fun and fascinating visit all round that had our two resident artists come away buzzing with new ideas about the importance of optics in art.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Cooling Off at After School Care
Our After School Care students had so much fun this week during the sunny afternoons! From playing outside in the welcoming shade of our beautiful Primary campus gardens, to cooling off with ice-creams, to building delicious melon boats topped with kebab fruit sails, to relaxing with a yoga session in the air-conditioned dance studio, this week was truly one to remember!
Community News
GES on the Airwaves
Our new University and Careers Counsellor, Sabine Hutcheson, spoke with Katt Cullen on World Radio Switzerland’s Breakfast Show on how to prepare students for university and beyond.
In addition to presenting our school’s GCSE and A Level programme for students in Secondary, Sabine went on to explain the structured support offered when choosing the right pathway. This provision is organised in four key areas:
- independent research on recommended platforms
- one-to-one guidance to navigate international pathways
- extra-curricular and supra-curricular activities to boost their profile
- application support, including Oxbridge entrance exams and interview practice
Save the Date | End of Year Picnic
Join us on our Primary campus next Friday 26 June for the end-of-year picnic, organised by our Parents’ Association and open to all members of the school community, both Primary and Secondary.
You are invited to join us as of 12:30 and bring a picnic blanket and hamper, enjoy a drink from the bar and a free ice-cream for every student. For busy families, we will also have a pizza truck on site to feed hungry children!
We hope to see many of you there!
