Dear Parents,​​

We have been so impressed by the infectious nature of our Movember activities and I want to personally thank you for your contributions both in spreading awareness, support of your children and your contributions to the JustGiving page. As I am writing this, we already stand at over 1600 CHF, the page isn’t closed yet and the students are eager to make each and every of their runs in the playground, the fields, and their contributions to the Friday movie afternoon count. So, many thanks to all of you – I hope you enjoy the brilliant pictures of moustaches from across the school as well as from some committed dads and teachers!

The Christmas fair committee’s preparations are going really well and they are now looking to all of us to get involved in volunteering just a little of our time and donate a bottle or something for the Tombola. If you can, please help us to make this a memorable event for our school community.

At the same time, students are working hard across both campuses engaging in great, innovative learning and demonstrating their progress. Starting with Year 7 on Monday, all of our Secondary students will get a chance to show how much they have learnt since the beginning of the academic year. For our Year 11 students, this will be the first set of mock exams and we are confident that they will do very well.

The curriculum enhancements that we made at Primary mean we are ready for our second part of the carousel lessons from Art, Drama, Film-making and Robotics. Before we do so and in order to let you have just a little bit of insight into what your children have learnt and achieved, the Primary team have produced some wonderful video showcases for you.

Enjoy the insights these videos provide, they are a wonderful testament to the innovative learning that goes on every day across GES. And if you have any friends or colleagues moving to Geneva or generally looking for new schooling options, our next Virtual Open Day will take place on 9 December and we would appreciate it if you could pass on the message.

Have a great, relaxing weekend.

Matt Williams
Head

Thank you so much for all the bottles that you have donated so far!  With only two weeks now to go until the fair we really need you all to donate one GOOD bottle and one FUN bottle (wrapped in newspaper/brown paper if possible).  We will be collecting donations at drop off next week.

We also need your donations for our PRIZE TOMBOLA – we would like anything!! Chocolate, toys, bubble bath, vouchers, home items, experiences…ANYTHING!  These can also be donated at drop off next week.

Lastly, if you do have anything bigger that you can donate for example, a stay in a chalet, a restaurant voucher, photography session, spa voucher or you have any strong relationships with any local businesses please get in touch with Marybeth, [email protected] – we want to be able to offer you all amazing prizes to win!

We are delighted to be able to share showcases from our first ever Carousel lessons with you.

As you may be aware, we introduced a number of curriculum enhancements, including new subjects such as robotics and film-animation.

Here is the showcase video for Reception up to Year 3. The showcase video for Year 4 to Year 6 will be shared in next Friday’s newsletter. They cover a selection of what your children learned over the last 11 weeks but by no means all they have explored. Do encourage your children to explain at home all the other different elements they experienced.

The Stop animation technique is an example of this; it required the pupils to develop a storyline and characters, then physically manipulate objects in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion, adding a voice-over and finally transitions.

In Robotics, the demonstration and race of the small cars, for example, was developed and coded by the pupils themselves. The wonderful props in the drama pieces have been lovingly crafted and produced in Art lessons.

We are very proud of the pupils’ achievements and hope you can see in their own expressions how proud they are of themselves. A huge thank you to all the teachers involved in making the carousels creative, fun and innovative learning experiences.

Nicky Fortune, Primary Deputy Head

Ten GES students from Year 11 and 12 were brave enough to take the Senior Maths Challenge this year. Two Year 12s – Mimi Hunt and Jacopo Beetham – earned bronze certificates; an impressive feat for fledgling A Level mathematicians. Even more impressive were the results from Year 11, who have been attending the Maths Extension Clubs run by Jen Brewin.

On top of two bronze awards for Detolani Oshin and Harry Anderson-Endean, Dylan Ford was pipped to Best-in-School by Karlis Kaurats, both of whom achieved silver certificates. Sophie Von König also put in an excellent performance, missing out on a certificate by just one mark. These results are outstanding for their age – the senior challenge is mostly aimed at sixth formers, so they will have another chance to show off their skills next term in the Intermediate Challenge (not to mention the SMC again next year!).

KS4+5 Maths Extension Club takes place every Wednesday after school.
KS3 Maths Extension Club takes place every Friday lunchtime and will help prepare students for the junior challenge, which takes place in the summer term.

They are open to anyone who enjoys maths and wants to learn some ideas beyond the school syllabus.

Luke Pearce, Head of Secondary Maths and Outdoor Education