Message from Mr Williams, Head
Dear Families,
Thank you to all Primary parents who joined us on Tuesday at our ‘meet the teacher’ and curriculum information evening, and we are looking forward to seeing our Secondary parents tonight. It has been wonderful to welcome you back to both our campuses, to share plans for your children’s learning over the coming year, and to show you their classrooms. There is a great deal of value in everyone coming together in person, however, I know that online events are much more convenient for many of you. As such, Parents evenings at both Primary and Secondary for the rest of the year will take place online.
As it’s the start of the year, I would like to communicate a few key housekeeping reminders. Firstly, since changing our catering provider over the summer the new lunches are popular with both children and staff. Please note that you must sign up your children a week in advance for hot lunches to enable us to order sufficient food. If a child forgets their packed lunch (we understand, it happens!), we will do our best to provide lunch and then this will be invoiced. Reducing food waste worldwide is extremely important, and so we are making sure we keep this to a minimum by not ordering extra meals.
Secondly, for Primary parents, I would like to clarify arrangements for drop off in the morning to ensure everyone’s safety. Please observe the following:
- Speed must be limited in the car park.
- Keep the middle lane in the car park clear – cars can then line up in three lanes so that we do not block the main road.
- Parents must drive up to the end of the drop off zone, and children should only be dropped off in this area. If there is a queue, all children need to stay in the car until they can safely exit the car.
Thank you for your help and cooperation to ensure everything runs smoothly and safely at school. We are aware that the traffic diversions in place near Primary are causing delays to your journeys: please be assured that we will update you as soon as possible once we have heard back from the local authorities.
Finally, next week school is closed to pupils on Jeûne Genevois, Thursday 7 September, and on Friday 8 September: the next newsletter will be in your inbox in two weeks’ time.
Have a lovely weekend.
Matt Williams
Head
Second-Hand and New Uniform Sales next week
For new families who need a Sport & PE kit (or other optional branded items) for their children, Mr Sheppard-Burgess along with the Parent Reps will be selling second-hand and brand new uniforms next week:
- Monday 4 September from 8:00 at GES Secondary (Grand Café)
- Wednesday 6 September from 8:10 at GES Primary (playground)
Payment for second-hand items will be in cash or TWINT.
For new items, we still encourage you to fill in the online order form from My School Portal beforehand so your order will be prepared in advance and ready to collect.
Your order will then be invoiced as normal by our Finance department.
Sport & Extra-curricular
Primary After-School Clubs
NEW THIS TERM AT GES PRIMARY:
Explore your creativity and learn valuable, life-long skills, from sewing your own accessories to designing and crafting your own clothing.
The Bobbin Studio Sewing will be running every Monday afternoon from 15:20 to 16:20 and is open to Key Stage 2 children. The price for the whole term is 480 CHF.
Mrs Salgado is happy to offer a trial session to any child who expresses an interest, so please come along and see what we do during the club.
We also have spaces available in Mrs Jamay’s popular Bricks for Kidz club, open for Year 1 up to Year 4 (on Monday afternoons from 15:20 to 16:20).
Learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through play with Lego bricks. Children build our unique models, created by experienced developers and thus have access to a quality educational programme with more than 800 models available in 60 themes (forces of nature, life sciences, architecture, etc.)
The price for the whole term is 240 CHF.
Sign up to both clubs via Gaël at [email protected].
Ski Camp 2024 Reminder
A reminder that we still have spaces for our upcoming residential ski trip on 2 – 6 January 2024 in Saas-Grund & Saas-Fee.
The trip is open to Year 6 and Secondary students.
Please refer to the letter, sent on 5 June, for all the details.
Registration is open and we encourage you to sign up and make a deposit payment of CHF 250 as soon as possible in order to secure your child’s place (in My School Portal, under Sport & Extra-Curricular, Ski Residential Trip 2024).
Outside of school hours
October Holiday Camps
As mentioned last week, our Holiday Camps for October half-term are now open for registration!
The camps are designed for 7-11 year olds, and will run across both weeks:
- Sport & Multi-activity from 16 to 20 October
- Expressive Arts from 16 to 20 October
- 3D Printing lab with TechLabs from 16 to 20 October
- Fun French immersion from 23 to 27 October
- Multi-Sport, Wellbeing and Fitness from 23 to 27 October
All details and registration on our website here.
Connecting communities: The HUB Geneva
A parent of former GES students, Mrs Malloy, has asked us to share this information with our new (and existing) families.
The HUB Geneva is a free local resource to help to connect the dots between Geneva and Nyon.
The HUB was set up by a group of GES parents in 2020 to help families to feel connected locally as well as to share information about local activities and services available.
We run regular free events in the Versoix area including bi-monthly walk and talk (a coffee morning on legs!). Follow us on social media, check out our website for more information or drop us an email at [email protected].
