Message from Mr Williams, Head
Dear Parents,
This will be the last newsletter of the Spring term as we will all be on a well deserved holiday next Friday. It only seems like yesterday that we were returning after Christmas and in school we are already finalising Summer term activities – sports day, residentials and end of term shows. I hope that you have a lovely break when the Easter holidays arrive, next Thursday from 12:00 at Secondary and 12:20 at Primary.
Each school year the Board of Governors visits the Primary and Secondary campuses and this week it was wonderful to welcome all of our Governors for a day at Primary. These visits offer the Governors the opportunity to experience a day at school, and yesterday they visited lessons, watched morning break and had lunch with the KS1 students. We do have Governors vacancies coming up and a letter will go out shortly about this – please do consider joining the Board and helping to make GES an even better school than it already is!
On Wednesday we have our monthly Virtual Open Days for next academic year. Please pass on the invitation to friends and colleagues who are relocating to Geneva. We have a few students leaving us at Easter and I would like to say a fond farewell to those going to pastures new: we hope that you will stay in touch with us over the years ahead. We are also looking forward to welcoming the new families who are joining us after the holiday.
If sadly you are not going to be with us next academic year then you have until midnight on Monday 24 April to let me know – after this date the following term’s fees will still be due.
Finally, a final plug for our Easter holiday camps: please click here to sign up as we still have some spaces available.
Have a good weekend,
Matt Williams
Head
Primary Pupils' achievements
Music exam
Congratulations to Oliver (5MP) who passed his cello exam (degree elementary 3) this week.
Despite it being a bit stressful as his first exam in the Swiss system, Mum reports that he did amazingly well!
Year 5 Igloo challenge
Following Year 5’s virtual Arctic adventure last Friday and the students’ participation in the sugar cube igloo challenge, we are pleased to announce the winner.
Congratulations to Sienna and Izzy in 5MP who won with 14 votes. One of their supporters put the reasons behind their vote very nicely:
“There is the added extra of security provision, on the alert, just outside the grand entrance of what is clearly a luxury polar establishment.”
The winners will receive some exciting educational goodies from the Wicked Weather Watch.
Well done to all igloo constructors and thank you to all who voted.
At Secondary this week
Girls Active Switzerland
Our Year 7 and 8 girls and mums had a fun and exciting cycling experience at SpinBox Gland on Wednesday.
This free event was initiated by GIRLS ACTIVE Switzerland to encourage girls of all abilities to be physically active, with the added extra fun of disco lights.
It was great to see the grit and determination of both students and adults cycling hard and motivating each other 🚴🏽‍♀️ Well done!
We are hoping to be able to invite other schools or parents in future and to offer regular visits for the students who are taking part in the GIRLS ACTIVE Switzerland scheme.
Article en français, par Thomas (Classe 12)
Ces deux dernières semaines, les classes 11, 12 et 13 ont eu des examens blancs.
Il y avait des examens chaque jour, le matin et l’après midi mais quand nous n’avions pas d’examens, nous restions dans les salles de classe pour rĂ©viser.
C’était une période stressante pour tout le monde mais, ayant fini les examens mercredi, nous nous rendons compte que c’était très productif pour nous car ça nous a rassurés de nos capacités et nous a montrés ce que nous avons besoin de réviser.
Tout le monde est content que les examens soient finis, sauf les profs qui ont maintenant beaucoup de copies Ă corriger !
From the Primary Library
'Mix it up March' reading challenge
Thank you to those children who participated in our ‘Mix it up March’ reading challenge and sent us photos of reading new genres in unusual places.
You can see a selection of these photos in the gallery below.
As usual, you can send photos/videos of your children reading via email to Mrs Vavrecka and Mrs Pillot.
'A Poem a Day' - April challenge
This month in the Library we are celebrating poetry.
Try to enjoy a range of different themes and poets and even try performing your poems aloud to friends and family. A selection of poetry books will be available in the library and in your classroom libraries.
For this challenge, note down the title of the poem and the poet on April’s Reading Challenge sheet and hand it to your class teacher by the end of the month to receive a reading certificate and 5 stars for your house.
Good luck!
Sport & Extra-curricular
Netball tournament on Saturday 29 April
SAVE THE DATE!
Straight after the holiday, on Saturday 29 April, GES has been invited to a Netball tournament at La Châtaigneraie.
We are currently confirming how many teams we can enter and will send out the selected players (from Years 6 to 9) by email once we have all the details.
Skateboarding club
This week’s skateboarding shout-out goes to Kayula, Arjan, Jewel, Yannick, Matt, and Benjie.
Superb shredding!
From the Office
Last week of term
A reminder that there will be no extra-curricular activities nor Wednesday Academy sessions next week except for a couple of catch-up sessions which have been communicated by email to the relevant parents.
Primary After School Care will be running as usual until 18:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The bus will leave GES Primary at the following times:
- Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 April: 15:30
- Wednesday 5 April – 12:30
On Tuesday and Wednesday next week, the Primary lost property will be displayed on the steps of the Salève buiding.
Please encourage your child(ren) to take a look. Any items that are not collected will be donated to a charity during the holiday.
Last day of term & Office opening times during the holiday
On Thursday 6 April, there will be no bus service, nor After School Care in the afternoon.
ALL students should be picked up at 12:20 from Primary / 12:00 from Secondary.
During the Easter holiday, our normal hours in the school office will be from 9:00 to 15:00 and emails will be checked regularly.
We wish all our families a nice and relaxing break, and we will see you again on Tuesday 25 April.
Theatre recommendations, from Mrs Ball
For all of our theatre and performance lovers, here are Mrs Ball’s latest recommendations for local theatre productions.
If you would like further information about any of these, you are welcome to email Mrs Ball at [email protected].
Sister Act, the Musical
A feel-good musical comedy, based on the story of the blockbuster movie starring Whoopi Goldberg.
- GAOS
- Théâtre de Marens, Route du Stand 5, Nyon
- This weekend
- Details and tickets here
The Prom
What happens when four stars leave the bright lights of Broadway and take leading roles in a small-town controversy making national headlines? Big drama. Bigger laughs. And the biggest musical showstopper in years!
- Simply Theatre Studios, Versoix
- This weekend
- Details and tickets here
And for our 12-18 years-old students, there will be some auditions for GAOS youth show Disney’s High School Musical on 27, 28 & 29 April.
All details can be found here.
