Message from Ms Matillon, Director General
Dear Parents,
At Secondary, GCSE, AS Level and A Level mock exams have been running all week in our 5th floor exam room, and our Year 11 GCSE and Year 13 A Level students will continue with these exams until Wednesday. It gives me great satisfaction to see our senior students working so diligently, and, most of the time, to witness them emerging from their exams appearing confident in a job well done. Next week, students in Year 10 will also have the opportunity to shine in their end-of-term assessments.
On a lighter note, art appreciation has been a highlight this week as Year 10 students visited the Musée du Léman in Nyon yesterday and, as I write this, our Year 3 children are on a trip to central Geneva to take in a tour of the Museum of Art and History. We are privileged to live in a region with these cultural venues on our doorstep, and it is so nice for our teachers and students to enjoy them together.
Thank you to everyone who has completed our Parent Survey, and in particular to those of you who took the time to share detailed reflections and suggestions. Your comments will be reviewed by the team at Inspired and will inform their understanding of GES and, in turn, their development plans for our wonderful school. Please note, the survey will close at midnight on Sunday 29th March, so there is still time to complete it, if you have not done so already.
As stated in our Fees and Payment Terms 2025-2026 and on our website, the deadline for withdrawing children from Geneva English School without liability for next autumn term’s tuition fees is 2nd April 2026. Your consideration of the withdrawal deadline set is important and much appreciated.
Finally, I would like to remind you that Thursday 2nd April is our last day of school before our two-week Spring Break. It is sure to be a terrific day across both campuses as Primary school children will enjoy an Easter egg hunt, and Key Stage 3 students will perform in a talent show! Please note that lessons will end, and the school will close on that day, promptly at 12:00 in Secondary and at 12:20 in Primary. There will be no After-school Care on Thursday 2nd April.
As Monday 20th April is a staff training day, school will reopen for students on Tuesday 21st. If you would like to bring your Primary-school child to After-school (all-day) Care on Monday 20th, please contact Louise Merifield at [email protected] no later than Wednesday 15th to make arrangements.
I wish Team GES good luck and lots of fun at the International Netball Tournament tomorrow, and a relaxing weekend to everyone!
All the best,
Christina Matillon
Ski Season Finale for Team GES
A group of 11 skiers from Team GES took part in the Inspired Ski Race up in Verbier. Competing against some very accomplished skiers, including a truck load from St George’s, the hosts and our new friendly neighbours, our athletes had hopes of making a statement at our first event as an Inspired school, and that we did! Strong performances across the board meant everyone finished in the top 10 for their category:
U10 Boys
1st place – James L.
2nd place – Danny H.
U12 Girls
6th place – Valentina S.
U12 Boys
2nd place – Bram H.
3rd place – Arthur C.
9th place – Vasco S.
U14 Girls
5th place – Caiomhe M.
U14 Boys
1st place – Callum H.
9th place – Matt M.
U18 Girls
3rd place – Blaithin M.
4th place – Katrina S.
A big thank you goes to our accompanying teachers and to the wonderful team at SnowPros for their expert coaching and race support all season.
This week in class
Pre-school chefs turned to baking this week, decorating some delicious-looking gingerbread men… but lo and behold, somehow they didn’t stick around!
There were crumbs and flour all over the floor, tiny footprints leading straight to the door, and even a little “goodbye” sign left behind.
Our detectives are pretty sure the gingerbread men heard they were going to be eaten and ran away. This reminded our students of the story, The Gingerbread Man or Le petit bonhomme de pain d’epices, which they enjoyed listening to. Now they need to work out a plan to find the gingerbread men.
Later in the week, students found four of the gingerbread men’s buttons, some crumbs, a dusting of flour and a chunk of gingerbread. They also made sure to tell everyone they saw around school to keep a look out. Thank you, Mrs Humphreys, for helping them search! They have now decided to make missing posters to help spread the word!
Reception students have been celebrating the season of spring and have loved spotting all of the new shoots and buds emerging on the school grounds.
Our young learners talked about the changes happening outside at this time of year and have looked at photos of the different baby animals that are often born. During their spring walk, they spotted daffodils, primroses, and many buds waiting to open. They couldn’t believe how many buds there were on the big magnolia tree, estimating that there might be hundreds, even thousands! Our little gardeners can’t wait for them all to open up; what a truly magnificent sight that will be!
Students have also been very busy carrying out observational paintings of daffodils and primroses, and enjoyed listening to the story Owl Babies, which reminded them of the beautiful birdsong they heard during their spring walk.
Year 1 have been thoroughly enjoying this term’s Science unit, through which they have been exploring each of the five senses. This week’s lesson focused on hearing, and students had a fantastic time investigating how it works. They began with a simple hearing test and discovered that hearing changes as people age. Our scientists were delighted to learn that their hearing is even sharper than Mrs Vavrecka’s — and that it is at its very best in babies!
They then explored how sound travels through vibrations. Students were fascinated to feel these vibrations by speaking into a balloon or holding it against their ear. To take their learning further, they made string telephones and tested whether the length of the string affected how well sound travelled. They found that sound vibrations could travel just as effectively along 2 metres of string as they could along 5 metres. But they also learned that keeping the string taut was essential for the vibrations to move clearly.
Well done, Year 1, for these brilliant scientific investigations.
Our Secondary scientists have been pushing their investigations further this week in our Science labs.
For Year 8 students, the week was marked by their first attempt at balancing chemical equations. Using physical blocks to represent molecules as distinct units, they were able to visualise the atoms of each equation and ensure their number was correct.
In Year 9, the week was all about metal extraction through electrolysis, a high-energy process used to isolate reactive chemicals using electric current.
Beyond the Classroom
Swimming Success
Congratulations to all our Year 1 and Year 2 swimmers who received their swimming medals today! Thank you to Red Whale Swim School for a fantastic course of lessons – our students have absolutely loved it!
Finding Inspiration Below the Water
Our Year 10 Art students embarked on a journey to the Musée du Léman this week to visit the exhibition, “Plancton, le minuscule peuple du lac”.
As part of their project entitled “Fantastic and Strange”, they were tasked with drawing all the curious creatures that they saw exhibited.
Beyond discovering the incredible ecosystem of our nearby lake, this outing provided students with just the kind of inspiration they needed for their own creations in Art class.
Celebrating World Theatre Day
Our Secondary students celebrated World Theatre Day this week with some spotlight performances by students!
Taking to the stage of Chaplin Room, our Year 10 Drama students performed an extract from Noughts & Crosses. The audience watched the scene involving characters Sephy and her parents, brilliantly portrayed by our students, who gave their peers an insight into the love story of Sephy and Callum, two young people kept apart by bigotry, terrorism and injustice.
This excellent theatrical rendition was followed by a beautiful musical interlude by Angelica on the piano, who played Beethoven’s Sonata pathétique.
The audience of students was then treated to a sneak peek of Johanna and Emma’s Talent Show act, which they will be performing for their peers in full next Thursay!
Extra-curricular Activities
On Parade with the Choir
Our Key Stage 1 Choir and Drama group have been busy rehearsing two special animal songs and a performance poem, “The Animal Parade”. They gave a brilliant performance to their families on Tuesday, showcasing their growing confidence and enthusiasm, and performed at this morning’s Primary Assembly, to the applause of their peers.
Well done, everybody!
Primary Netball Tournament
Our Year 5-6 netballers produced some fantastic results in their tournament last Saturday. With grit and determination, our girls faced some tough opponents and improved with every match. They only lost their matches by a single point each time, demonstrating their strong performance and competitiveness.
Even in the final match, Florrie managed to score a hoop on the whistle, showing great resilience and determination. Players of the match included Evie and Connie
Well done, team!
Science Club to the Lighthouse
Our extra-curricular Year 6 Science Club students had a fantastic time building and testing their lighthouse designs during the last session of the spring term. This STEM challenge had them combining their knowledge of design, stability, aerodynamics and electrical circuits, and final designs were judged by our very own Dr Barbara Chalmers, who was very much impressed by our students’ creativity!
Our Netball Girls Climb the Podium
Our Year 7-9 netball team played in the ADISR Juniors netball tournament last weekend!
Across four games in the development league, our girls showed grit and energy to fight for each game. After five hours of intense netball competition and fantastic teamwork, the team won three out of their four games, finishing in a well-deserved second place.
The girls were delighted to win the first netball medals for GES in a while and were praised for their attitude and sportswomanship throughout the day. Well done to all of them and shout-out to assistant coach, Katrina, who gave up her Sunday to help coach the girls and support their development!
Community News
Yearbook Preparations Underway
There was a buzz of excitement in Year 6 this week as our entrepreneurial students began their yearbook project. They launched the project with a look at a range of past yearbooks before deciding how they would like the next edition to look. They have many new ideas and have already taken ownership of this exciting project. Stay tuned for more news about the Primary yearbook!
Erratum | Outstanding Pearson Learner Awards
A small mistake made its way into last week’s newsletter article about the Outstanding Pearson Learner Awards. Please find the correct, updated article below.
We are delighted to announce that the excellent results produced by our students have once again earned our school three Outstanding Pearson Learner Awards!
Congratulations go to Nia for earning the highest mark in Switzerland in her IGCSE Geography, and to Mitra for getting the highest mark in Switzerland in IGCSE History and the highest mark in Europe for GCSE Mathematics.
Our two students and Mr Crabtree received the awards this week from the hands of Ms Nicola Fox, Regional Development Manager for Pearson Edexcel Europe.
