Issue: 17 | Friday 24th January 2025

Message from Ms Matillon, Director General

Dear Parents,

Those of you who have come to our Primary campus since Wednesday will surely have noticed that our brand new minibus has arrived! This bus replaces our two smaller, less useful, buses which can seat only our smallest children and are in the process of being sold. This new addition to our modest fleet will allow us to vastly reduce our reliance on an external transport provider and, accordingly, the cost of our Secondary Physical Education programme and outings.

Speaking of vehicles at Primary, I would like to remind everyone, please, not to park on the basketball court and MUGA (i.e. the multi-use games area) other than during the short time allocated to drop-off and pick-up of children in Pre-school and Reception. Cars left in these areas during the school day or after school interfere with playtime and extra-curricular activities, and are at risk of being damaged by a flying ball.

Another reminder: GES is a nut-free school. For the safety of our children and staff-members who suffer from potentially very dangerous allergies, please do not send your children to school with snacks or lunches containing nuts or nut products in any form.

A focus in this newsletter is Tuesday of this week – a remarkable day for both our Primary and Secondary schools.

In Primary, children from Years 3-6 enjoyed a ski day taking off from Morgins and enjoying the majesty of the Portes du Soleil resort. As you will see in the many photos below, a magnificent time was had by all. A very big thank you goes to Mr Sheppard-Burgess and Ms Bugeja for planning this event and ensuring that everyone made great progress in safe conditions. As predicted, combining the originally separate days for Years 3-4 and Years 5-6 surely doubled the fun.

In Secondary, Tuesday marked the third of this year’s PSHE Enrichment Days, this time with a focus on Careers. Thanks to the enormous organisational effort of Ms Newbury and the contributions of all teachers, students had the opportunity to learn about higher education pathways, as well as the careers to which they can lead, through presentations and workshops on an impressive range of topics. We were privileged to welcome eight guest speakers who got our young people thinking about sometimes surprising professional experiences and what their own futures might look like in the working world.

Yesterday evening, Mr Crabtree hosted an information session for parents of our current Year 11 students regarding their upcoming move to our A Level programme in August. Over the coming weeks, discussions will be held between Mr Crabtree, each student and their parents to review and agree their subject options for the next two years. As was outlined in yesterday’s presentation, any combination of 3 or 4 of our 17 subjects on offer is possible, but university and professional aspirations must be considered when making these choices, so the support provided by school is critical throughout this process.

Each year we welcome young people to our A Level programme who are new to GES. Currently, half our Year 12 cohort joined us just this year, forming a robust group of bright and ambitious students, and allowing us to offer such a broad range of subjects and ensure healthy classroom dynamics.

In order to promote our A Level programme to local families who are considering an alternative to other pre-university programmes available in the region, we will be holding an Open Event in school (in the morning) and online (in the evening) on Monday 3rd February. Registration is required in advance of attendance and the sign-up form, along with details of the event, are available on our website. Please do encourage friends, colleagues and family members to join us, if you think A Levels (or, to start, GCSEs) at GES may be right for them.

Thank you for your continued support of GES and for being such strong and enthusiastic advocates of our school and community!

All the best,
Christina Matillon

PSHE Day at Secondary

Secondary students had the third of their Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic (PSHCE) Education days this week on the theme of “Careers”!

Welcoming a number of fascinating speakers, our learners were able to start thinking about potential future careers, reflect on their personal strengths and how they can link these to future employment, and research careers that they knew little about.

Among our guests, we were thrilled to host:

  • Margot L. Denomme, author of The Family Smartphone Guide and expert on social media
  • James Anderson, Executive Director for Global Health at the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), who delivered a talk about careers in Science and the pharmaceutical industry
  • Clémentine Liu of Accenture, who joined us through Young Enterprise Switzerland, on quantifying experience in CVs and interviews
  • Niall Kelleher from UEFA about careers in Sports
  • Amy Wootton-Hickson, Economic and Trade Delegation Coordinator at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, on careers in Anthropology
  • Sandro Lanfranco, Professor and Head of Biology at the University of Malta and researcher in Botany, Ecology, Evolution and Taxonomy, who spoke about careers in Biology
  • Marco Russo, Global Customer Payment Service Program Manager at Richemont, on careers in Business
  • Dr Jane Cunningham, Senior Technical Officer, Diagnostics Global Malaria Programme at the World Health Organisation, who worked on diagnostics for emerging diseases and zoonoses, including Covid-19

Thank you to all our speakers for their precious time and exchanges with our students!

Click here for photos of the day.

This week in class

Year 1 mathematicians have become number line experts this week!

Working individually and as a class and using their skills in counting forwards and backwards, they found numbers on a blank line, worked out any hidden numbers and estimated where numbers might fall on a number line.

See photos here.

Year 5 were faced with a historical conundrum this week as they learned of the mysterious disappearance of Olaf’s prize sheep! Jumping back in time into the shoes of Viking folk, the classroom was turned into “The Thing”, a meeting place where Vikings gathered to make decisions.

As Thora, Ivor and Hakon were all accused of stealing Olaf’s sheep, witnesses were called in one after the other, and the community were given the opportunity to ask questions to both witnesses and the accused. Our Viking children worked hard preparing speeches and questions to ask, before role playing the trial held at the Thing. A lawmaker led the proceedings, and finally the Vikings voted on who they believed stole the sheep. Sadly, it transpired that the guilty suspect, Thora, was very convincing with her false alibi, and she walked free, while Hakon, an innocent, was outlawed.

This re-enactment was a fantastic way for students to dust off their History books by bringing it to life!

Click here for photos of The Thing.

Year 6 have been learning about the features of a play script. Taking the prose from their class text, Grimm Tales, students transformed it into a play script, complete with cast list, stage directions, props and lighting notes. They have worked collaboratively in pairs and groups and demonstrated our school’s core values of excellence, community and integrity. We can’t wait to watch these plays come to life on stage!

Photos available here.

This week’s Year 11 GCSE P.E. lessons were marked by a basketball assessment session! Focusing on progressive skill development and application, our athletes demonstrated their abilities and received expert coaching from Mrs Windell-Simoni, whose top tips ensured our students achieved the best level in their chosen sport.

Click here for photos.

Our GCSE Drama students had an action-packed day on Thursday as they prepared for, performed and filmed their devised piece.

Well done to all of them for their professionalism, attention to detail, enthusiasm and passion all throughout the day!

“How do balls bounce?” was the question of the week set for our Year 13 Further Maths students.

Seemingly un-mathematical at first glance, this question actually involved careful experimentation by our students, who gathered data with the tools at hand in order to answer it: by using the coefficient of restitution, they were able to predict the outcome of oblique impact with a smooth plane.

Beyond the classroom

A Motivational Push for the Primary House Cup

The Primary House captains mobilised their troops this week by leading inspiring assemblies.

Dôle House captains, Charlie and Aleyna, shared top tips with their House for earning stars. With their supernova-worthy motivation and presentation skills, they presented why they think Dôle is the best, firing up the whole House to take home the House Cup next Friday!

Challenge accepted by Jura, who have a cunning plan to win next week’s star total after being rallied by House captains Kai and Kaede.

Current cup-holders Rhône were inspired by their captains, Madieke and Romain, to keep hold of the House Cup next week.

Léman captains, Lea and Emma, led an equally motivational assembly for their House, sharing some carefully selected music and artwork reflective of our locality. Their gentle prompting elicited some really thoughtful responses as to why Léman House is the best!

Photos available here.

A Successful Ski Day for Primary

Year 3-6 enjoyed a fantastic ski day this week in Morgins! 33 students took to the sunny slopes to work on different skills with their instructors.

Developing ski proficiency at each level, from beginner to experienced, our Primary students made incredible progress, with Marlow and Daisy even venturing off the beginner’s slope, tackling the button lift, and conquering a blue run! Bravo!

View photos here.

Extra-Curricular Activities

ASC Energy Cooking

Another successful and tasty cooking session took place in After-School Care club this week as our chefs made delicious cereal bars with all kinds of healthy ingredients, such as mango, apricot, chocolate, oats and Rice Krispies.

These scrumptious treats were certainly full of energy and gave the children all the oomph they needed to enjoy a session of hockey after cooking!

Click here for photos of them in action.

Climbing the Chess Ladder

Our Primary players have launched a Chess Ladder competition this week in Chess Club. Taking turns to play against each contestant, they have been refining their strategy skills to make sure they remain three steps ahead of their opponents.

The goal: moving up the Ladder to reach position n°1!

See photos here.

A Wealth of Treasure in Science Club

Our Science Club students experimented with electrolysis this week in an attempt to make fool’s gold!

Looking specifically at electroplating, our scientists explored this widely used method for producing a metal coating by means of a direct electric current. Learning about its uses in the jewellery industry, they discovered how the technique of electrolysis can improve the surface quality of various objects, including those made of gold and zinc.

Click here for photos.

Community News

News from our Ski Champions!

Our very own Danny Halestrap (Year 4) has had some smashing successes on the ski piste! He recently won a gold medal in slalom and a silver medal in giant slalom at the Anglo-Scottish races in Verbier. Last weekend, he came third in the tough Valais FMV Cup, arriving 100th of a second short of the silver medal! Well done Danny!

A big congratulations also goes to Year 4 student Alice Caulton, who also produced excellent results at the Anglo-Scottish races in Verbier!

Faces of GES

Having joined us at the beginning of this academic year, Lead Chemistry Teacher Dermot Feeney is the focus of this week’s Faces of GES.

With close to twenty years teaching experience in schools in the UK and Geneva, Dermot was drawn to GES by the “intentionally small school” ethos, believing that the opportunity for teachers to get to know all of their students closely provides major advantages in terms of tailoring educational strategies to each learner’s individual needs.

The small class sizes also make it easier for teachers to observe how students learn to reapply concepts and understanding from one context or class to another, which Dermot finds particularly enriching, as well as the fact that no two days are ever the same. Keen to impress upon students that school is about much more than grades, Dermot loves the fact that GES celebrates the whole range of student achievements and creates a happy environment where diversity of thinking and being is celebrated and everyone can feel at home.

A strong believer that the best educators must also be lifelong learners, Dermot is currently also juggling being a hands-on Dad with studying for a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership with the Open University.

A Level Open Event

On Monday 3 February we will be holding a series of open events for our A Level programme, at 8:00 and 10:00 (in-person at the Secondary Campus) and 18:00 (online). These events provide an opportunity for students and parents to visit the school, meet with current A Level students and teachers, and understand why A Levels are the most popular international school qualification globally.

If you were unable to attend the recent event for Year 11 parents, or your child is in an earlier year group, you would be more than welcome to attend. We would also be extremely grateful if you would share details about the event with any friends or acquaintances whose children are not yet at GES, so they can find out for themselves the benefits of A Levels over alternative systems. A downloadable poster is available here.

More information and the registration form can be found on our website.