Dear Parents,

This is a bittersweet day at GES Primary as we say farewell and “un grand merci” to our caretaker, Patrick Toussaint, who is taking his retirement as of next month. Patrick has worked persistently to keep our Primary grounds and buildings tidy and in good repair since before any of the children currently attending our Primary school were born! Patrick will be missed by children, parents and colleagues alike, but we are very lucky as he loves our GES Christmas Fair so much that he has agreed to come help us set it up next week. As Mme Durey so eloquently said in this morning’s assembly:

“Patrick, tu n’as jamais été simplement un membre du personnel. Tu es devenu une véritable institution ici… N’oublie pas : la porte de cette école, que tu as si souvent ouverte pour les autres, restera toujours ouverte pour toi.”

We had a great deal to celebrate in this morning’s assembly, including our Year 6 Maths Challenge winners – bravo to you all and, parents, please read below in this newsletter for details. I would like to congratulate one student in particular who has put Geneva English School on the world poetry map and made all of us in school proud: Sathiya won this year’s Poésíæ poem recitation competition in the Year 6 French category. This competition has had entries from 250 schools worldwide, so Sathiya’s achievement is quite extraordinary. Félicitations, Sathiya !

Moving over to Secondary, Year 11 students started their mock exams yesterday and will complete this exam series on Tuesday. Many of our Year 11s have expressed feeling anxious recently, but they have been well prepared and will certainly come out encouraged, focused and determined to continue applying themselves in preparation for GCSE at the end of the year. I wish them, as well as our Years 12 and 13 students who begin their exams later next week, all the best. I have also been sending positive energy to Year 13 students as they complete their UCAS applications, due today, and to Mr Crabtree for his hard work and ambition on their behalf.

Key Stage 3 students will dance this evening away at their Christmas Disco taking place in Chaplin, while their parents will enjoy an apéro upstairs in our comfortable Sixth Form study rooms. Many thanks to Mr Dupont-Panon, the Student Council and Secondary Parent Reps for organising what is sure to be a memorable night, and a special shout-out to Mrs Wainwright for championing the Tuck Shop!

Looking ahead to next week, on Thursday we will welcome to school an inspector from the Département de l’instruction publique. This regular inspection generally occurs once every four years and will touch on all aspects of our Primary and Secondary sections. I have no doubt that the inspector will be especially chuffed to see those on our Primary site dressed in pyjamas in celebration of Escalade! Of course, I will share the outcome of his visit once I have received feedback from the DIP.

On a lighter note, we will hold our traditional Christmas Fair on Friday 6th December straight after school at our Primary site, with market stalls and games on the playground, and a disco in the gym. I see on the sign-up sheet for volunteers that our tireless Parents’ Association organisers and class representatives could still use more help, so please remember that this is a whole-school event and consider contributing to its success for all of the GES community.

Many thanks, as always, for your support of GES!

All the best,

Christina Matillon

Yesterday marked the start of a busy period for our GCSE and A Level students as they launched into two intense weeks of mock examinations.

Functioning as a practice run for the final exams, these test papers are done under real exam conditions. They enable students to get a feel for the kinds of questions to expect in their official exams, how much time they have to answer them and how stress and nerves can affect their performance.
In addition to highlighting their strengths, mock exams allow students to identify the areas that they need to work on, which they can then revise both individually and with the help of their teachers.

We wish them all the best for this trial run of their future exams!

As part of the first actions of the newly formed Parents’ Association, a committee of parents is looking to help GES Secondary expand its school library. In collaboration with the school, our Parents’ Association will build extra bookshelves for more children to be able to make use of the library. A school library is an essential place for children not only to continue their reading journeys, but also to provide a quiet space where children can relax and study outside of the classroom. We would like to expand the current library’s choice of books and, to this end, are asking for your help as we launch a book collection.

The library is able to accommodate hundreds of additional books, so this is a wonderful opportunity to pass on books that you no longer need at home, but that could make a real difference to students. Please share any books in new or near-new condition that are appropriate for 11 to 17-year old readers by dropping them off at the Secondary school front entrance before Wednesday 11 December.

Once we have an idea of the number of books we have received, we will send out a further request asking for volunteers from the parent community to help us sort through them. Upon completion of this ‘stock take’ we will compare our library versus a list of the essential reads for secondary aged students and work to add any missing books to the collection.

With support from teachers, students will then take over organising placement and displays in the library, giving them a wonderful opportunity to understand how a library system works and to engage in a volunteering project for the broader benefit of their school community.

We look forward to receiving all your donations. Thank you from the Parents’ Association!